Breathing is killing you!

In the hierarchy of control, breathing is the most important thing you will do today for supporting life.

Bringing in Oxygen and removing Carbon dioxide is a daily task that comes with 26,000 breathes.

Oxygen helps produce your energy and is responsible for cellular functions, so if you lack the efficiency factor, you are sub-optimal.

This may seem like a simple automated task, but 'I'm here to tell you how your bad habits are killing you!

75% of all illness has a big component of faulty breathing patterns.   

If you have uncontrolled stress, anxiety, chronic musculoskeletal pains, digestive disorders, any visceral dysfunction, poor posture, or sleep / rest problems, then the chances are your breathing needs some serious rehabilitation.

Take a really big breathe. 

Notice what happens. Firstly, most people mouth breathe on inhalation and throw it straight up to the upper chest and neck. This is not your ideal primary technique. This tells me you are stuck constantly in a fight or flight stress response. 

If your body perceives that you are in danger, then your physiology sets up for war!

Imagine if a lion was chasing you all day!

Upper chest, mouth breathing is bad habit that I guarantee will cost you your health at some stage.

Of course there is a time and a place to take on the lion and work hard, run fast, battle and exert force, but it must be intermittent. 

I will use the description of a Yin Yang picture. 

We require a balance to working hard. It's called rest, recover, digest, anabolic, growth. 

Yang is the heat. The fight. It's highly addictive, exciting, productive and requires lots of energy. 

Yin is the cooling energy. The being moments. The body goes into bliss mode. Repair mode. 

Let me take you to a place where your health can regain it's integrity and resilience.

The first two thirds of the breathe should initiate from the diaphragm. Pushing the organs downwards and allowing the stomach to protrude. This wonderful mechanism creates a pumping system. Pumping fluids, moving/ massaging organs, producing an electrical charge and making you taller!

Being able to take in more oxygen into the lungs is crucial. Everything must get out of the way. Organs go down, the ribs expand forward, sideways, and even backwards. 

So why are you not doing it properly?

This gets a bit tricky to have an absolute answer, so I will list an array of possibilities:

• You copy from parents and friends that do it wrong. (monkey see , monkey do)
• Trapped emotions that close the posture
• Thoughts, emotion, beliefs that mirror into the body
• Food intolerance that inflames the organs creating faulty compensation patterns
• You sit all day and don't have a mobility routine
• You have asthma
• Increased stress that is not balanced with rest
• A blocked nose
• Your exercise program overemphasizes the bracing mechanism (remember the bloody plank?)
• You forget to sing, express, and dance/ move like no one is watching

If you think having your tummy look flat with never a movement in sight, then get ready for pain, and a lifetime's worth!

I always state that I can spot an old school aerobics instructor or an Instagram influencer a mile away. 

Having a braced abdomen is seen as strong and attractive??

Strangling the internal organs and glands is a recipe for disaster. 

The body loves movement, and a 24/7 constant flow of Chi or Prana throughout every bodily system. 

An inverted breathing pattern is very common.

When you breathe in , instead of the tummy moving outwards, you breathe high into the shoulders and neck with the tummy not moving or even sucking in. 

Over activating the accessary respiratory muscles attaching to the neck can lead to headaches, migraines, jaw dysfunction and a host of emotional woes.  

So what is a good practice?

How do we change our habits?

How do you get inspired to be amazing?

I could teach techniques for a week straight and still be inspired to keep going. In this short blog it can only give so much justice with tips and tricks, so realise this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Basic breathing tips:

• Be aware of posture
• Keep the tongue on the roof of the mouth when possible. The tongue connects the Conception vessel and Governing vessel meridians (a topic for another day). 
• The first 2/3 of breathe is into the abdomen
• The last 1/3 of breathe is into the entire rib cage in all directions
• Breathing inhalation through the nose controls your nervous system (can aid in repair, relax)
• The speed, rate, depth and intention can drive your behaviour of choice.
• Ideally at rest, 6-10 breathes per minute is ideal (normal population average 12-16, and super stressed are 16+ per minute)

Authentic breathing is a skill worth having

Did you know that the most authentically popular and confident people in a room are the ones that are in control of their breathe. Worth thinking about perhaps?

Correction tips:

• If you have a very closed tight posture, try stretching all the muscles that bind you inwards. The pec muscles, the upper abdominals, the hip flexors, and all internal rotators.
• Unwind a restricted diaphragm (Ask your coach to help)

Good exercises for calming and retraining:

• Bottle breathing daily: Lying down on the ground with a full one liter bottle on your tummy, spend a few minutes raising the bottle on inhalation, with 3 in 6 out tempo. 
• 4-6-8 breathing technique. This really calms the body. Breathe in low, nose, slow for 4 seconds, hold for 6 and out for 8 seconds keeping the tongue on the roof of the mouth and creating a throat Darth Vadar sound. 

Good exercises for energising naturally:

• Piston breathing: This is a fast pumping breathe to get you high on your own supply of oxygen. It will very quickly wake you up and be ready for activity. In good upright posture, take a deep inhale through the nose and force the nose breathe out without a posture change. It will look like an abdomen pump. Build up speed and depth. repeat 10-20 times.
• Breathing squat: Using your whole body, take a big inhale and exhale into a deep squat, then inhale to bring the body up to an upright posture like a wide winged eagle. Repeat 10-20 times.

Taking in beautiful strong breathes is a spiritual experience. Breathe in Latin literally means "Spiritus"

This is your personal choice and belief system to work with.

Letting out long slow breathes fully is what I call "taking out the trash". Let go of anything your body has finished with. 

Putting specific intention and attention into your breathing practice is very powerful and worthwhile.

It will take 4-6 weeks to organise a better breathing habit, so make sure to understand your bad habits, and re program some precision software into to your amazing body.

Attach awareness or exercises to other daily habits:

• Sing while you cook and shower
• Breathing squats before you eat breakfast
• 4-6-8 breathing every toilet break
• Ball stretching before you get into bed

I teach this on a daily basis. so come and have a play some time.

😤💨😇💓