Vidyamala’s online course, Mindfulness for Women, starts on March 1.
Breathing properly is really helpful right away because when we’re stressed or in pain—whether it’s mental, emotional, or physical—the first thing we tend to do is hold our breath. Here’s a quick exercise to try:
Make a fist with one hand and notice your breathing. Chances are, you’re holding your breath. Now imagine breathing into the fist. What does it want to do? It probably wants to relax a bit.
This fist exercise is a metaphor for any form of discomfort or stress. When we’re not aware, we automatically tense up and hold our breath in response to stress. This creates a vicious cycle of more tension, more breath holding, and more discomfort, possibly leading to physical issues like headaches or tension in the neck, back, and shoulders, or even gut problems. You can alleviate many of these issues by simply becoming aware of your breathing patterns and consciously directing your breath into the areas of tension. Gradually, the tension will soften, and the stress will ease.
Breath holding can show up in various ways, with shallow breathing, breath holding, or over-breathing being the most common problems. At the keyboard, for example, we often breathe as if we’re constantly in fight/flight/freeze mode, leading to hormonal imbalances. Think of it as ‘screen apnea,’ similar to sleep apnea, where our breathing pauses while asleep. In this case, it causes shallow breathing from the upper chest or infrequent breathing, negatively impacting our health.
You might feel a lot of pressure at work or suffer from poor posture, sitting for hours with hunched shoulders. Or maybe you’re just in dire need of a break. Whatever the cause, breathing-pattern disorders can occur.
Breathing is the most fundamental physiological function, affecting your heart rate, gut, blood pressure, digestion, and musculoskeletal system. So, consciously changing your breathing using mindfulness and awareness can significantly improve your body’s physiology. It can greatly benefit your health, relieving headaches and shoulder pain and strengthening your core.
Take a moment to check your breathing right now. When we’re stressed, we often don’t exhale completely. Here’s a quick exercise to try:
To remind yourself to do this throughout the day, place a green dot somewhere you’ll see it regularly. If you work at a computer, stick the dot to the side of the screen. Every time you see the dot, breathe out. Relax your jaw. Breathe in through your nose and then out through your nose. Pause. Let the next in-breath happen naturally, like a wave gathering before it flows up the beach. Breathe in and then breathe out fully. Repeat this a few times.