Photo credit mindbodycoach.com
One fabulous thing tool that yoga has given me over the years is breathing deeply. Life throws us some pretty crazy situations sometimes and I find it immensely helpful to pause and take three deep breaths before I do anything in response. In the time it takes to take three deep breaths, you end up responding rather than reacting.
Take frog pose for example. Holding that hip opener pose for four minutes certainly isn’t easy! During the first minute, it’s doable. After the second minute, my muscles and mind are screaming and I think - I can’t do this, I have to move, I have to get out of this - but then I take three deep breaths and it turns out it’s not pain, its just big sensation and I can breathe through it. The last minute goes so much quicker.
When we move immediately to a sensation or situation, we are reacting. It’s a base action, often not something we think through. Reactions are commonly defensive and lead to confrontation. No matter what we want to do in life, we often do it better if we are relaxed. Deep, conscious breathing relaxes you, releases tension and brings you in control of your concentration, giving you an inner calm from which to respond to the situation. The space it takes to take three deep breaths is the pause in which mindfulness is cultivated. It creates the difference between responding and reacting. Try this! The next time someone cuts in front of you in traffic, or your child accidentally ruins something or you are faced with a difficult situation, before you do anything, take three deep breaths.
After so many yoga classes of pranyama and breathing exercises, I relate deep breathing to being in the present moment. Deep breathing is something you have to be aware to do, as it is often not our habitual style. It brings you back into your body, back into the present moment. Breathing is the link between the mind and the body and both need oxygen to survive. We usually do things with our body while our mind is thinking about something else, and go for days (weeks?) without unifying the two. This is why yoga is so important. Being in your body in the pose. Being in your body while living your life makes it such a more conscious, awake experience. Seems to me, we would all be much happier if our bodies and our minds were in the same place at the same time. (I know, I know, easier said than done, but all it takes is practice.)
Resetting your breathing is also one of the easiest things you can do for yourself. Sounds silly, but taking time to take three deep breaths can center you. Bringing in enough oxygen is key. Every cell in your body needs oxygen to be chemically balanced. We often focus on our basic needs like food and water, but forget that oxygen actually comes before those two. Think about it: you can go for days without food or water but only minutes without oxygen. In fact, many of the vital ingredients we need to sustain ourselves come not food, but from the air we breathe.
Habitually, as a modern population, we have slipped into shallow breathing, slouched posture, external focus. In doing so, we are doing our body a disservice. We become so involved in our daily duties and situations that we forget to breathe. Stress also restricts our breathing. And yet, if we take the time to breathe deeply, we become more calm and the stressors are almost immediately reduced. With shallow breathing, our bodies become oxygen starved, we become tired, have a slow build up of toxins, have increased anxiety and decreased immunity as a result. Recent studies show that those who breathe the shallowest tire and become irritated more easy. It makes perfect sense to be more on edge if you aren’t getting enough of a vital ingredient needed for brain function, heart function, nervous system balance, regeneration of cells, etc.
Fun fact: The animals that breathe the slowest and deepest live longer. For example, one of the longest living creatures, the tortoise, takes 4 breaths per minute and lives nearly 150 years. The house mouse takes 95 to 160 breaths per minute and lives on average a year and a half. Just for a moment, picture the stress levels of a tortoise and a house mouse. More erratic, stressed movement and quick shallow breaths are not going to make us live longer.
In the space of three deep breaths, amazing things can be accomplished. I see this in my divers all the time. When we are presented with a stressor, our body’s natural response is to tense up, to hold half of our lung full of used/dead air and then breathe on top of that. In this way, we are only allowing in half as much oxygen that we need, and our rate of breathing becomes more rapid as our brain panics and tries to get more air. This quick shallow breathing leads to hyperventilation. If I can catch it in my diver’s habits before it becomes hyperventilation, I tell them, “Mind over matter. Make yourself do huge exhales. Breathe in 1,2,3. Breathe out 1,2,3,4.” Big exhales dispel the used air and carbon dioxide and bring in what your body needs to be calm. When you focus on the exhalation, your inhalation tends to come naturally. And it truly is mind over matter. People forget you can make your body relax, you can make your body tense. Like with scuba, your body knows it can’t breathe underwater, so immediately we tense up and hold our breath, or half of it. But with regulators, it is possible. We can breathe underwater! We just have to relax and trust the equipment. If you are going to have the glorious experience of diving, you have to convince your mind it is possible. Don’t let the conditioned responses stop you from things that were once thought impossible. Mind over matter. Know you can do it, breathe deep and begin.
Photo credit: Georgia Tech University
So rather this breath work helps you respond rather than react, makes you healthier and more energetic, links your mind and body in the present moment, makes you live a longer happier life, or allows you to do things you thought were once impossible; it really is that simple, that easy: Three deep breaths can change your life.
