The Breath of Life
How we Breathe is How We Live!
Breathwork is the conscious manipulation of our breath for a desired result and using our breath intentionally is a powerful free and natural healing tool.
Did you know that something as simple as breathing can help you transform your life, improve your health and be your ally in addressing the root causes of issues that are holding you back and preventing you from finding and attaining the truly happy, healthy life balance you desire?
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Most of us remain unaware that we have the ability to change and manipulate our physiology/bio-chemistry perspective, our psychology, emotional processes, feelings, our energetic state and all the trillions of processes and chemical reactions that happen inside our bodies in every moment to keep us alive and animated, JUST BY HOW WE BREATHE!!!!
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We enter this world with our first breath and our breathing continues automatically for the rest of our lives without thought or consideration unless and until something goes wrong.
Our breath and how we breathe has an enormous impact upon our health, but we are never taught how to breathe properly. When breathing is below par, it creates problems throughout the systems of the body as our hidden breathing dysfunctions cause havoc with the health of our body and mind, and can have a huge and deleterious impact in how they influence the very quality of our daily lives.
Research has shown that a huge percentage of the entire world´s population breathes badly, resulting in a variety of adverse health conditions, such as stress, anxiety, panic attacks, asthma, high blood pressure, sleep disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, lower back pain, etc…..
The body needs the oxygen it derives from breathing in order to work properly. Therefore, and quite logically, if you are breathing under-par it follows that your body/mind must respond in the same vein.
Oxygen is absorbed into your lungs from the air that you breathe. It then enters your blood from your lungs and travels to your organs and body tissues. Your cells need oxygen to make energy and to regulate physical mechanisms in the lungs, heart and blood vessels, as well as moderating our stress responses. It is essential and without it we die. So,….
Learn to breathe well and live well!!!
The Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system can be broken down into two parts, it goes up or it goes down. Just as in a car we press the gas pedal to access more energy, or the brake pedal to slow down or stop. the sympathetic nervous system – SNS - takes us upwards, and the parasympathetic nervous system – PNS – takes us downwards. Both up-regulation and down-regulation of the SNS are biological processes that we can feel and experience happening within us.
Sympathetic nervous system
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The SNS increases the amount of energy available in the body. It is often referred to as the ´fight or flight´ state. The SNS upregulation can feel terrible when it’s a response to something we find stressful, which is usually accompanied by a variety of unpleasant pangs and sensations, like involuntary muscular tension, fast shallow breathing and heart flutters etc. However, it can also up-regulate in pleasant situations requiring more energy and focus, and can feel great when it´s in response to something fun or exciting, like watching your favourite team score a goal, or dancing to your favourite song.
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The para-sympathetic nervous system
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The PNS is incompatible with states of anxiety, rage or stress. It helps us to come down into calmer, less aroused states and also keeps the SNS in check, so that it doesn´t “overshoot” and produce too much stress to effectively cope with a problem.
Down-regulating the stress response is an acquired capacity. Like a muscle, it can be developed and built over time to become strong, more dominant and your default state.
GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE ARE PARA-SYMPATHETICALLY DOMINANT. Our breath is full, slow and deep. The digestive system works well. The body can focus on repair, including reduction of inflammation, tissue repair and hormone production. Subjectively, people feel fully present and alive. They have energy to get through their day, but they can stay calm and present in challenging situations and feel as though they have a ´buffer´ for stress.