Benefits of breathing fully and deeply
By simply beginning to breathe fully and deeply, we immediately switch our bodies from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic. From a state of fear and flight to one of slow acceptance and the ability to calmly process. By exhaling through the mouth after inhaling through the nose, we not only detox, we release – emotions, fears, traumas. If we add sounds, maybe the sounds of the chakras to an oral exhale, we can even tune into specific areas within the body that need attention.
If you try consciously breathing for just a second – breathing in through the nose for a count of four, and then out of the nose for a count of four – you may start to feel the shift. The subtle release of tension, of holding.
By taking the breath to the very pit of your belly, perhaps placing your hands over the belly, you will begin the journey of coming home to your body.
Repeat the cycle four or five times, and then try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, still counting slowly to four and see how you feel.
Perhaps close your eyes, and bring a form of meditation in… because that really is all meditation is in its very basic essence, a withdrawal to your internal space, focusing on your breath, your body and your inner world. Here are a few guided meditations
It may initially feel slightly overwhelming. You may find you instinctively want to shy from your body and all the pain it’s been holding both physically and emotionally. That’s okay. And if it gets to be too much – shake it out, if you can.
Start by gently shaking your hands, arms, shoulders, perhaps bringing the shake to the whole body and gently bouncing on your feet (if youre able and nothing hurts while you’re trying it). Shaking is a wonderful way to release trauma, held emotions, anger, fear, anxiety. Inhale through the nose and out of your mouth as you shake, perhaps incorporating the sound haaaaaa on the exhale.
This is the initial phase. Allowing your mind and body to become one. They aren’t separate entities, who knew, they work as one, who knew? I didn’t.
Your gut talks to your brain, your brain talks to your gut, what you eat influences how your mind works, and the workings of your mind influences your digestion. Emotions are taken in as food and energy to the cells, tissues and muscles. A tight back can make you feel anxious, and anxiety can tighten your back. It’s all one, all a circle, and all within your power to soothe, to heal and to release.
Obviously, if you’re very unwell, you also need to find out what’s causing the illness and treat it in whichever way resonates for you, if you can. And likewise, if the trauma is ongoing, try to find your way out, if you can, and if possible, maybe find someone to talk to. Someone who can actually hear what you’re saying.
It’s such a weird concept to grasp, that in opening the deep muscles of the hips for example, you can let go of anger and fear.
I had taken so many lower belly punches over the years, in the form of so many lost opportunities, a complete lack of love or kindness from anyone, and the inability to move forwards in life while those around me went speeding off, that my hips and psoas had literally seized up and frozen. The psoas is known to house deep emotional pain and is the flight and fight muscle, it contracts under pressure.
The first time I tried to open my hips in a reclined Baddha Konasana on my bed (I didn’t get very far), I spent the next three hours crying and the rest of the evening feeling strangely calm, which was a sensation I hadn’t experienced in years. My heart rate dropped a little (it had been in the mid 200’s for a very long time), and I started to sense that I was coming home, back into my broken body. I didn’t want to come back to it, I want to get the hell away from it and buy a new one, but they don’t sell them in Tescos, and I knew that if I didn’t sink and release and return, it would break further and we would die.
So I tried yoga and it saved my life.
