Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.
“Alight on your breath, focus on what you are doing at that precise moment and enjoy the appreciation and feeling of being present in the moment.” ‘Uncovering Mindfulness: In Search of a Life More Meaningful’
Mindful Breathing which uses the breath as an anchoring point, can calm and centre the mind and body and allow us just to Be.
Quite simply when we focus on breathing in and out, we are less prone to focus on our thoughts and more likely to engage our Spirit. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for Spirit is ruah and it appears 389 times in the Old Testament.
The basic meaning is wind, but it is also taken to mean breath, as well.
And did you know You have 3 Brains?
The science tells us that deep slow breathing stimulates the Parasympathetic System. This is responsible for calming the body and the integral Vagus Nerve connects the Brain Stem with the Abdomen.
In fact, we have 3 Brains — Head, Heart & Stomach, and all are connected by the Central Nervous System. Breathing then, and more importantly how we do it, is rather vital n’est pas to both Life and our Being?
Your 120 Sec Daily Breathing Exercise
So, here is how I approach and do my daily 2-minute breathing exercise:
- First I lay semi-inclined on a bed, ensuring that my chest is higher than my legs.
- I then make sure that I am comfortable and that my head and neck are supported, perhaps with a pillow.
- Next I place my hands on my lower stomach, just a few inches below my belly-button and relax my jaw.
- With my mouth wide open I then start to take deep breaths through my mouth and notice that my belly-button begins to rise like a balloon.
- I exhale through my mouth with a quick, but gentle sigh.
- I then focus on breathing in deeply through my mouth for the count of 7 and out for the count of 6, without pausing.
- If over the next 2-minutes any thoughts and feelings arise, as they shall, I imagine that they are either a balloon — each with a different colour, gently floating away on the breeze — Or, they are gently floating away in a stream that is flowing quietly at my feet — And with kind compassion I accept whatever is in the moment.
Paul Mudd is the author of ‘Uncovering Mindfulness: In Search Of A Life More Meaningful’ available on Amazon and www.bookboon.com; the ‘Coffee & A Cup of Mindfulness’ and the ‘Mindful Hacks For Mindful Living & Mindful Working’ series. He is also a Contributing Author to The Huffington Post and a Contributing Writer to Thrive Global. Through The Mudd Partnership he works with business leaders, organisations and individuals in support of change, leadership excellence, business growth, organistional and individual wellbeing and well doing, and introducing Mindfulness. He can be contacted at [email protected] and you can follow the continuing journey uncovering Mindfulness on Twitter @TheMindfulBook and at @Paul_Mudd
Originally published at medium.com