Whether you’ve just realized that breathing can serve a purpose beyond staying alive, or if you’ve been for ever practicing yoga or a similar discipline that taps into breathing, in this article we invite you to rediscover your breath to improve your physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being, and to bring more enjoyment, fulfillment, creativity, and calmness into your life.
We often forget that breathing is also, a skill to be learned. We take breathing for granted and assume that we know how to breathe because we are doing it but in reality, breathing happens on its own as an involuntary act most of the time… as if it is something that happens to us and not something we do…
Breathing is a mirror of what is happening within us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Through breathing, we adapt to our environment, to the demands of different situations, and we prepare ourselves for action. And this is crucial. It is absolutely necessary for breathing to occur as an involuntary process that helps us dynamically adapt to the environment.
What we don’t know, or sometimes forget, is that by consciously contacting and using our breath we can influence those internal states and bring greater harmony, balance, and clarity to our inner reality… This is what we call bottom-up regulation (bottom being the body and up being the mental/cognitive aspect).
Instead of trying to use a top-down approach, meaning from the mental to the physical, and trying to convince or talk to ourselves to calm down, we do it directly by speaking the language that the body understands. When the body returns to that state of harmony, which is actually its natural state, it “notifies” (sends the necessary signals) the mind that there is no longer a need to be alert or vigilant, or that we are no longer in danger and can return to a state of greater mental harmony.
Through breathing, we communicate to our inner reality that it is possible and safe to return to a state of greater calmness and harmony.
That’s why today we want to share a practice that focuses on breathing, so you can start exploring it, using it in different moments, and gradually noticing how it influences your inner reality and what changes occur in your physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, and inner dialogue.
To begin with this practice, I invite you to find a comfortable position where your body feels supported. Then, bring your attention to the movement of your breath, the coming and going of the air, the sensations in your body as you breathe, as if you truly wanted to become present in touch with your inner self and all that is happening in your inner reality now. You can close your eyes for a few moments and immerse yourself in that breath.
When you feel te time is right, I invite you to start with this practice called Staggered Breath. For this practice, you will take very short inhalations, followed by a brief pause, and then another short inhalation and a pause… This cycle repeats until you feel your lungs are full. At that moment, you allow the exhalation to happen freely and deeply, and rest for a few moments, allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm…
Take your time, when you’re ready to continue, take a brief inhalation followed by a pause. And like that, simply continue the cycle of inhalation-pause, inhalation-pause, inhalation-pause until your lungs are full. Then allow your exhalation to happen freely, giving yourself time to enjoy and relax.
Why don’t you try it now and see how it feels? Even when exploring this practice for the first time, to familiarize yourself with it, you may start noticing changes in your internal experience.
We invite you to return to this practice whenever you realize there is agitation, anger, anxiety, or inner confusion, so you can restore an organic and harmonious inner rhythm.
Please remember that since this is unsupervised work, it is essential to respect your own limits, timing, and natural pace.
If during this exploration, you find that you need additional support, or if you have any comments or would like to join one of our exploration groups, subscribe to our newsletter or email us at hello@desajustecreativo.com.
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