We take our first breath, we take our final breath. And in between the two, contains the cycle of life. Breath Awareness Matters! Conscious breathing 5 amazing benefits that will help you gain awareness. Today you will learn, how your respiratory system is unique, how toxins are eliminated through your breath, the amazing benefits of breathing through your nose, how the breath is the bridge between the mind and body, and how conscious breathing can help relieve pain.
Did you notice that all self-care tools and techniques begin with conscious breathing? So it’s important to understand and gain awareness of how your respiratory system (your breath) works for you and also with you.
Along with the many benefits of conscious breathing, I’ve also included a “Bonus Exercise“. A conscious breathing exercise that will enable you to support your immune system naturally.
If you’re curious about personal development and have a desire for growth and learning, self-awareness is the key to change. Because self-awareness allows you the possibility of changing something that doesn’t feel good. I truly believe that self-awareness begins with conscious breathing.
Become aware of your breath, so that with each inhale you claim life, and with each exhale you release it. And with each inhale you are activating your central nervous system and as you exhale you are regulating it.
Your Respiratory System is Unique.
Breathing is the only system in your body that is both automatic ( controlled by your autonomic nervous system – we breathe without having to think about it). But our breath is also under our control, we can hold our breath or slow down our breathing when we need to – This is conscious breathing. Conscious breathing is an invitation for you to take part in your own life, through your breath. It is an opportunity for you to take the time, to tune into your inhale and your exhale and become more aware of your breath.
Pausing in Meditation
“Practice pausing often”…..
You don’t need to leave your room, remain seated at your table, and listen. Learn to become quiet and still and solitary. Just listen to your breath, as it flows gently in and out. This practice will allow you to become more self-aware and go beyond the turbulence of your inner dialogue to connect with the present moment. It is our way to connect mind and body.
Conscious Breathing 5 Amazing Benefits.
Eliminates Toxins.
It is a fact that you eliminate approximately 70% of toxins from your body through your lungs. Deep slow breathing flushes the excess carbon dioxide from your body and replaces it with fresh cell energizing oxygen.
Nasal Breathing.
When you breathe through your nose there’re two advantages. Firstly the air is warmed before it gets to your lungs. Secondly, nitric oxide is produced in the nasal sinuses and carried to the lungs during nasal breathing. Nitric oxide is known to be broadly antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial. Nitric oxide also helps to open up our nasal passages and the bronchiole (passageways) in the lungs. And it helps to dilate your blood vessels so that oxygen can be properly distributed throughout your body.
So become conscious of your breath and use gentle nasal breathing often. This will raise nitric oxide levels in your airways and your blood to optimize the oxygen going to your cells.
Connecting mind and body.
Your breath is a way to connect your mind and your body. It is like a bridge. This is seen at its best, in the practice of mindfulness, meditation, and EFT emotional freedom technique). Mindfulness involves taking control of your breath and using conscious breathing methods, in which you become intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment, just connecting mind and body with compassion. Conscious breathing methods are also used in Meditation, a reflection exercise, which uses the breath as a way to focus your attention, with the intention also, to connect mind and body.
I personally love EFT(emotional freedom technique) energy tapping on acupuncture points while breathing gently to relieve stress, and using positive directed words to gain solutions to any problem. These are just three of the many modalities which use conscious breathing to connect mind and body for positive change. It’s a matter of preference but your breath is always the starting point.
Relieving pain.
Breath control helps to slow down the stress response when you experience pain. There’s always an element of stress when you experience pain. When you allow yourself to feel everything, and breathe into any sensation, no matter how heavy, you can finally release it from your body. But this takes practice. When you become conscious of your breath and slow your breath down, you’re telling your body you are safe. And when your body feels it is safe, it’s like a little switch that releases the chemistry of safety that matches that sensation.
I have personal experience of getting relief from chronic pain, when using conscious breathing and tapping together. It is so empowering to be able to use techniques for self-healing. Yes, the pain returned but not as severe, so I just repeated the slow breathing into the sight of the pain, plus tapping on acupuncture points with great success. Try to feel your sensations as deeply as possible during breathwork then tune into your Intuition and listen to what is going on with your body. Always start with a soft slow breath.
This is not a replacement for medical care, it is a way for you to support yourself along with your medical care.
BONUS EXERCISE.
The Benefits of Humming.
We’ve already discussed the fact that nitric oxide is produced in the nasal sinuses and carried to the lungs during nasal breathing.
What I want to share with you is that HUMMING on the exhales leads to a 15% increase in nitric oxide levels in the nose that helps with both opening up your airways and killing pathogens (infections).
It’s our first line of defense against infection and viruses.
In a book called ( The Humming Effect by Jonathan & Andi Goldman),: https://www.healingsounds.com/product/the-humming-effect-book/#https://www.healingsounds.com/product/the-humming-effect-book/
- Reduces stress.
- Enhances sleep
- Lower heart rate
- Lowers blood pressure
- Produces neurochemicals such as Oxytocin
- Releases endorphins and creates new neural pathways in the brain.
All these help to reduce stress and promote well-being.
People generally associated Humming with cheerfulness, and you’ll notice it’s difficult to hum and feel down at the same time.
Humming Exercise.
Here is a simple humming exercise you can do if you feel like you’ve got a cold coming on.
You can do this exercise anytime, as a prevention method and to help boost your immune system.
- Breath through your nose with your mouth closed and the tip of your tongue resting behind your top front teeth.
- As you exhale slowly through your nose make a sustained “hmmmmmm”( humming ) sound.
- Avoid pushing the air out with force.
- As with everything done with breathing, this should be done gently.
- Now breathe in gently through your nose and repeat.
- The sinuses are air-filled cavities located around your nose, face, and eyes that become swollen when you have a cold or flu.
- To increase the effects of the exercise you can gently massage those points while doing the exercise.
- When doing the exercise the vibration that the “humming” creates, helps to increase air circulation and the production of Nitric oxide in your nasal & sinus cavities.
I hope you’ll try this, and encourage your children to hum. It’s a cheerful way to prevent you from picking up colds and viruses and to boost your immune system.
When I babysit my grandchildren, I hum a melody for them if they wake up and need comforting. It always works to settle the child. But I didn’t realize until recently that I was also boosting my immune system against viruses while enjoying humming to my grandchildren.
If you’d like to know more about the impact stress has on your health and how combining conscious breathing & EFT(emotional freedom technique) can help you to manage your daily stressors. Visit my website https://midlifeenergymatters.com/
Or you might like to read my blog https://midlifeenergymatters.com/from-stress-to-success