The Beath of Life

Breathing is life. We can exist for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without breathing. Your body contains seventy-five trillion cells that provide energy needed to carry out every brain and organ function and body movement. Our cells need two things to produce energy – nutrients and OXYGEN. Cell oxygen starvation results in numerous problems, including anxiety and stress, confusion, fatigue, depression, loss of focus, and physical performance disturbances.

Each brain cell is a highly complex communication center, responsible for carrying critical messages to other cells through the body. You cannot think or function without them. Tiny thread-like membranes, called dendrites, stretch from each neuron (cell) like telephone lines, delivering messages among the communication centers.

Researchers have concluded that brain (neuron) loss occurs – as we age- mainly because on an insufficient oxygen supply. So if you are aging prematurely, you need to get more oxygen to your brain. Although it represents only about 3% of our total body mass, the brain uses twenty percent of our available oxygen.

An oxygen-efficient body is the secret to health and longevity; the most oxygen-efficient exercise is proper breathing, which I will describe shortly. Improved oxygen supplies have been found to cure diseases. It also helps to avoid various diseases and conditions while aiding physical and emotional balance and accelerates mental and physical performance.

The way we breathe is inseparable from our state of consciousness; that is, the way we breathe affects our state of mind and our state of mind affects the way we breathe. Under normal circumstances, the average person takes about fifteen breaths per minute. Stress, anxiety, mental agitation or overload, and a hectic lifestyle cause us to breath rapid, shallow, and erratic. Rapid shallow breathing provides less oxygen to the brain, making it more difficult to process information. Individuals who lead fast-paced, hectic lives tend to breathe rapidly all the time. They become so acclimated to this lifestyle that they aren’t aware of their dysfunctional breathing patterns.

Because our state of mind is connected to the way we breathe, if we change our breathing pattern we change our state of mind. When we breathe slowly, deeply, and rhythmically we think more clearly and are more likely to be in an “Awakened” or “High-performance” mind state. Breath control is such a powerful techniques that it is a cornerstone of many eastern philosophies and disciplines like Yoga, Tai Chi, Karate’ and Qi Gong.

Watch a baby breathe, especially when it sleeps: that little belly continues to rise and fall in perfect rhythm. The child is completely relaxed so it gets much needed rest. This breathing pattern creates greater relaxation. Being relaxed causes more oxygen to travel through your body and brain, boosting confidence in the midst of pressure, providing you more clarity of mind, and facilitating your performance.

Belly breathing is the way we were designed to breathe, filling our lungs completely and allowing oxygen to travel throughout our body. Somewhere in early adolescence our breathing pattern changes. We hold in our stomachs and breathe completely from our chests, allowing very little oxygen to travel to the rest of our body. We need as much oxygen as possible flowing through our respiratory system to move stress-induced impurities and toxins from our body.
Changing your breathing pattern is easy, but it takes time and practice. Spending 15 minutes per day for about a month makes belly breathing your dominant pattern. If you’re ready here’s how it’s done.

· Sit in a comfortable chair
· Keep your head up, spine straight and chin pulled in slightly. (Don’t rest your chin on
your chest however)
· Place both feet flat on the floor and one hand on each leg.
· Close your eyes.
· Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose to the count of four. When done properly,
your abdomen expands first, followed by your chest and upper back, in that order. At no
time should your chest, back, and shoulders rise up towards your ears. They should
expand outward only.
· Hold your breath for two seconds.
· Exhale through your mouth for eight seconds, allowing the air to leave your upper back
first, followed by your chest and finally your abdomen.
· Hold your breath for one second and repeat the process five more times.
· Allow your breathing to return to normal for 60 seconds and then repeat the belly
breathing as described above five more times.
· Repeat the entire process for 15 minutes.

If you do this just before bed you will find that you sleep deeper and longer, clearing your body of all unnecessary stress hormones. If you belly breathe when you’re stressed you will eliminate many of the toxins that circulate through your body from the stress.