Conscious Breathing
The Grind
You wake up in the morning, your eyes burst open and the day flashes before you. Did you finish the assignment last night that is due today? Have you reviewed for the presentation? Did you do your conscious breathing? Should you hit the snooze button one more time?
Before you answer that last question you are up and out of bed, have taken a shower, gotten dressed, had a quick breakfast and are out the door.
Is it Lunch already, really?
You get home and eat whatever is left accompanied by your current favorite binge show. You put your finger on cruise control and swipe through the endless void that is social media.
Exhausted, you lie awake dreading the same routine for tomorrow knowing something needs to change. But what?
How do you fit something else into an already maxed out schedule? How do you add one more thing on your “to do list?”… “help!”
Good News about Conscious Breathing
For the past 10 years, we at Live Love Relax have seen this and similar patterns emerge in our clients. They are too stressed to think clearly and too tired to do anything else.
Well, I have some good news for you. What I am about to outline, that you already read in the title, is so stealthy and so easy that you are already doing part of it over 10,000 times a day.
I am going to relay some practical ways to implement breath, but not just any breath, but a conscious breath.
I am also going to get nerdy with some of the anatomy and physiology behind why this particular practice is the very first thing you should be doing each day!
This short blog is the ultimate bang for your buck that can add value and space into your life!
*** Don’t have the time right now to read the whole thing, skip to the “How to Practice conscious Breathing” near the bottom. ***
The Nerdy Bit on Conscious Breathing
When I ask my clients how do they breathe, the most frequent answer I get is a “dude, c’ mon” look followed by the statement “with my lungs.”
And I simply agree, that is a correct statement; the lungs absolutely take in air. However, minus the physics of pressure differentials and the microscopic physiology of gas exchange via the alveoli, practically, what are the biomechanics (what are the muscles) we use in breathing?
Remember I am going to make it super easy, so here goes. The most important muscle of breathing is the diaphragm (with associated ligaments). It is located on the inside of your ribcage nearer to the very bottom ones, and it is placed inside there really good and snug-like. When it is relaxed it kind of looks like an open umbrella. When it contracts or flexes, it flattens downward like a pancake, or waffle – if you’re into those even better! So as we breathe in and out it moves from an open umbrella to a smooshed umbrella looking like a pancake/waffle. Yeah?
Ok, that’s cool, so what is the big deal about the diaphragm? Well, I’ll tell you. As a child, I was taught the same thing in Colombia, Canada, and the United States: Breathe up into your chest.
Is breathing up into your chest wrong? Well, for our purposes of aiding your structure to become more aligned and access a fuller, deeper, and more relaxed breath, yes. So I would like to talk more about what it looks like to do this the less correct way and the more correct way.
The Less Correct Muscles: Conscious Breathing
When we inhale and breathe up into the upper rib cage and chest, we tend to breathe with muscles in our upper back and neck. (You can observe or try this as you’re reading & see what you notice). This way of breathing is great when you are being extra and sprinting around second base at the kickball league and need more juice.
However, if you aren’t in immediate danger and perhaps just walking to the elevator or getting ready for bed, these muscles are the wrong muscles for breathing.
So what are the More Correct muscles?
A More Correct Muscle: Conscious Breathing
You see, when the lungs are empty, the umbrella is open (diaphragm relaxed).
When the diaphragm flexes, it flattens out, and the lungs are pulled down with them forcing that precious air to get sucked in.
When we breathe with the diaphragm, it is called diaphragmatic breathing. This type of breathing happens when you breathe into your stomach and your belly fills out.
Screech! Whoa, hold up! Breathe into the stomach, and the belly fills out? I will get into the 3Dimensional mapping of our bodies in another article, but for right now this is just a kinesthetic visual aid. And remember sucking the gut in during breathing is all sorts of wrong on a myriad of levels.
Now, go with me here.
When you breathe with your diaphragm it is going to feel like and look like your belly is filling up and out when you inhale. And when you exhale or breathe out your belly will deflate. That is how you know you are doing it right.
Benefits of Conscious Breathing
This can be explained by noting the difference between the following:
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is associated with fight or flight, stress, and anxiety. And over activating the SNS creates numerous health risks. So, the opposite of the SNS is the PNS, it’s what I like to call the stop and take a chill nervous system.
Deep or Conscious breathing via diaphragmatic breathing will help activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).
Slow deep breaths activate the PNS and some of the benefits include:
- Lowering blood pressure
- Slowing the heart rate
- Relieving muscle tension
- Improving concentration
- Reducing anger and frustration
- Increasing body mind connection
- Allowing mental function to slow and relax
(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2011.)
The list of benefits is really much longer, but these are some of the highlights that are of great relevance to point out for this article. Pretty awesome!
How to Practice Conscious Breathing
* Before you put this into practice you may want or need to read the next paragraph a few times to help you remember what is happening and when.
Diaphragmatic breathing AKA Conscious Breathing, is when you breathe into the bottom of your stomach and your belly comes out and forward, then your lower rib cage expands. When you exhale, your stomach comes in and your ribs cage shrinks in size again, while still maintaining a sense of uprightness.
Let’s try it now:
- Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
- Each time, breathe in deeper and with a little more force.
- From here moving forward with every breath, breathe in through your nose for four (4) seconds, counting…
One Mississippi – Two Mississippi – Three Mississippi – Four Mississippi
Hold for 1 (one) second
– And then exhale through your mouth for four seconds, counting….
One Mississippi -Two Mississippi-Three Mississippi-Four Mississippi
Hold for 1 (one) second
-Do this 5 times, which will total about 20-25 seconds.
Conscious Breathing made easier: 1 cycle
For those of you who need a resource while amidst the chaos, just practice step #3 and do it for one conscious breath.
Seriously, before you have to make that rash decision or before starting that next thing, just take one conscious breath and it will be a game changer.
Hopefully, it will inspire you to do just four more ?
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Alejandro is a co-founder of Live Love Relax. He has been an LMT since 2008 and a Reiki Master since 1998. He has taught Anatomy and Kinesiology, is a father and a spouse. His passion is in simplifying concepts and deepening his understandings. He loves living in Austin for the community of people and the abundance of cultural diversity.