Our breath is probably the most powerful natural healing tool we have. It is the outward expression of our Internal life force. Many years ago when I first heard someone talk about the power of our breath, I remember thinking, "We all breathe automatically. It is a function of what we know as the autonomic nervous system." But I have come to know that "just breathing" is not enough for health.
The breath, left to its autonomic function, merely acts as a mirror of what is going on in our body. When we are stressed, our breathing pattern is quick, short and shallow breaths, and we experience the fight or flight syndrome. Our busy lives today tend to unnaturally create this "alert" state, and appears to be responsible for many physical problems we experience. Fortunately we have the ability to consciously use our breathe to reverse this pattern.
Most if not all natural healing disciplines teach learning to control our breath in order to create and maintain health. Good examples are Yoga and Qi Gong. Yoga teaches that prana (our life force) enters the body through the breath, and Qi Gong teaches that we manipulate the Qi (life force) in our body to maintain a healthy relaxed state, and to release blockages in the flow of our Qi to maintain health.
Begin a practice of conscious breathing merely by taking "breathing breaks" for about two minutes several times during your day. Place your hands, one on top of the other, on your lower abdomen, and breathe deeply into the abdomen. Just imagine a balloon in your lower belly, and that as you breath it expands, and as you exhale bring your abdomen as close to the spine as possible.
Make your inhale through the nose, long, slow and deep, and then exhale very slowly, also through the nose. This is the basic relaxing breath. For a cleansing, detoxifying breath, inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, being careful to exhale all breath from the lungs.
More breathing tips soon.
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