If you’re looking for an internal fountain of youth, I would ask you to develop a relationship with your diaphragm muscle and vagus nerve. Sounds boring doesn’t it. You were looking for something that sounded a little more exciting right? I have found that the most profound improvements to our health and wellbeing come from the simplest of tasks.
The way we breathe, fast or slow, mouth open or closed, shallow or deep affects our biochemical, physiological, biomechanical and psychological states of being. Breathing, however, is not something we consciously think about. We don’t need to right? It happens automatically.
The problem today is our brains are not regulating our breathing properly. We have trained our breathing patterns to follow that of being in the stress response which we all know is the driving force behind chronic illness and poor lifestyle choices. When operating from fight-or-flight, we’re in a hyper-vigilant state, physically, mentally and emotionally. Our body and mind believe they’re in danger and operate biochemically and physiologically in this fashion. Chronic stress damages the feedback loop in the brain responsible for executive functioning. Not to mention, we train our Autonomic Nervous System to live in fight or flight which has a myriad of negative affects on various systems and organs driving the leading chronic illness conditions.
In 2017, discover a “life with breath”. Here are 5 breathing techniques you can begin to implement into your day. They’re designed to repair, restore and reboot your nervous system working in concert with the natural ultradian rhythms of the body.
AM Technique
Mid-Morning Technique
Mid-Day Brain Break At Your Desk Technique
Ending The Work Day Technique
Preparing For Sleep Technique
Go BE Great!
Originally published at medium.com