For over 3,000 years meditation has been used to help us connect to our sweet divine inner selves. Meditation helps calm and clear the mind, relax the body, and promote self-awareness and mindfulness, among many other benefits. While many of us are beginning to learn and incorporate the ancient practice of meditation into our daily or weekly routines, for a lot of us it is still a challenge to make the time and create the habit.
The trend of 2018 has shifted from long meditation to shorter breathwork series. Meditation is a very useful practice and one that we should all learn how to do. However, in moments of anxiety and stress, many of us are seeking a quicker and more accessible means of alleviating such uncomfortable and oftentimes debilitating responses.
There are hundreds of different breathing techniques. But learning how to breathe as a holistic approach to alleviating psychological and neurological ailments isn’t difficult by any means. When we aren’t intentionally focusing on our breath, most of us are naturally shallow and short breathers. Learning how to control, deepen, and elongate the breath is a simple practice that can have immense and immediate benefits.
What makes breathwork more accessible than a full meditation practice is that you can do it anytime and anywhere. It is a practice that can quickly quell stress and anxiety as well as other maladies such as headaches, insomnia, and depression. Coherent breathing also promotes an overall sense of wellbeing and can help lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
While there are classes and professional energy healers you can seek out to learn various breathing techniques, you can learn and practice simple breathing techniques easily on your own. One of the most basic breathing exercises is to breathe in through your nose for four counts and then breathe out through your nose for four counts. There are all different inhale, hold, and exhale configurations though.
The breath is one of the most powerful energies we possess. Breathwork goes hand and hand with meditation and yoga, but it can be used in shorter sequences when you find yourself in a situation or moment where you feel anxious, flustered, stressed, overwhelmed, or fatigued. It is also a discreet practice that can practiced literally anywhere!
Here are two videos links to get you started and a very useful link to six basic breathing exercises.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/08/6-breathing-exercises-to-relax-in-10-minutes-or-less/
All you have to do is breathe in and breathe out.