BREATH!
The nuclear weapon to send Bad Mood Momma back to Bitchland
Slow,deep breaths that fill the belly with air.More information on how to do that correctly.
The first defense against unhealthy responses to stress is not Tylenol or Motrin, but deep breathing.
In response to stress, our breathing is immediately affected as it becomes shallow and focused in upper chest
Three basic mistakes in breathing are made:
• We’re so consumed with our appearance…looking thin that we learn to hold in our stomachs or wear clothing (tight fitting clothes or undergarments) or belts to do so which limits our breathing to the upper chest. Forget the Mama belly and BREATHE!
• Then when we take a deep breath it forces our lungs to expand against our chest putting chest muscles in spasm creating chest and back pain. With schleping kids around, doing laundry, running to work…do we really need to add more stress on our overworked backs?
Even as we sleep, we may be breathing in a tense manner. This tense breathing also starves the body of much needed oxygen, affects our posture, and blocks any one of our Chakras–the natural flow of energy through our bodies. In general, no matter what the physical health problem–headaches, muscle tension pain (direct effects of stress)–or disease–cancer, heart disease–ones breathing must be addressed.
The only problem is that no one makes any money from you taking deep breaths.
There are no drugs required so you will not hear an announcement on the radio, “Did you remember to do your stress reducing, feel calmer, deep breathing today!” And then hear the announcer spell out some statistics as to how many stress related illnesses are in part due to tense breathing?( Stress is directly related to over 80% of doctor visits)
Have you heard of a TV commercial offering a deep breathing break for one minute as you watch the commercial? Ah wouldn’t that be nice?
Look for times during the day when you are feeling stressed, under pressure, in a rush, defensive, tense…
It’s during these times that instead of tensing as you normally would, that you instead remember to do your stress relief deep breathing. And all you have to do to engage your first defense against stress is to consciously become aware of your breathing and consciously shift from your upper chest tense breathing to an abdominal breath.
By looking for opportunities to breath deeply, you reduce the chance of being taken prisoner of the bad mood mama.
As you learn to do this deep breathing its easier to practice while laying down.
Within 3 days you will have it down and start making it instinctive.
Practice does not take long….5 deep breaths and you will feel energized and focus, if your going to bed then turn off the lights, then breath into the darkness, gathering your thoughts, relaxing your body and allow your self to melt in to sleep
Lay down, place a hand on the chest and other on the belly
Let your stomach and abdomen relax.
Inhale from your nose(unless you have sinus issues, then the mouth is fine) down through your chest into your stomach.
Let your stomach expand outward as if you had a balloon between your rib cage
Let your chest expand slightly at the end of the breadth.
Imagine as you deeply inhale that you are gathering all the stress, anger, fear, tightness……..
As you exhale you release all the physical, emotional toxins, you will feel your stomach relax inward.
• Expel all the air up through your chest.
As the breath leaves the body will notice, yourself relaxing
By the way this is a great toning exercise for flabby mama bellies…relax and get a flatter stomach…who could ask for more?
Make a list of times during the day when it would be appropriate to take advantage of the deep breathing stress management technique such as:
Whenever you’re at a red light.
As you’re waiting for your computer to load a program or shut down.
Before answering the phone or making a phone call
As you listen to someone conversing with you.
Before eating or drinking.
Before entering a building or an office
Whenever you notice yourself feeling stressed
Whenever you can remember to take a deep breath
Before you answer the phone
Before you enter a room
Before answering a question
So I challege you to focus on your breath all this week and let me know what magic is unleashed in your mind and body.
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FROM www.Ezine.com
Deep breathing is important from the standpoint of both health and spiritual development. Deep breathing increases our vitality and promotes relaxation. Unfortunately, when we try to take a so-called deep breath, most of us do the exact opposite: we suck in our bellies and raise our shoulders. This is shallow breathing. We will now summarize the benefits of deep breathing. Deep breathing produces the following benefits:
1. Improvement in the quality of the blood due to its increased oxygenation in the lungs. This aids in the elimination of toxins from the system.
2. Increase in the digestion and assimilation of food. The digestive organs such as the stomach receive more oxygen, and hence operates more efficiently. The digestion is further enhanced by the fact that the food is oxygenated more.
3. Improvement in the health of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, nerve centres and nerves. This is due again to the increased oxygenation and hence nourishment of the nervous system. This improves the health of the whole body, since the nervous system communicates to all parts of the body.
5. Rejuvenation of the skin. The skin becomes smoother and a reduction of facial wrinkles occurs.
6. The movements of the diaphragm during the deep breathing exercise massage the abdominal organs the stomach, small intestine, liver and pancreas. The upper movement of the diaphragm also massages the heart. This stimulates the blood circulation in these organs.
7. The lungs become healthy and powerful, a good insurance against respiratory problems.
8. Deep slow, yoga breathing reduces the workload for the heart. The result is a more efficient, stronger heart that operates better and lasts longer. It also means reduced blood pressure and less heart disease. The yoga breathing exercises reduce the workload on the heart in two ways. Firstly, deep breathing leads to more efficient lungs, which means more oxygen, is brought into contact with blood sent to the lungs by the heart. So, the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to deliver oxygen to the tissues. Secondly, deep breathing leads to a greater pressure differential in the lungs, which leads to an increase in the circulation, thus resting the heart a little.
9. Deep, slow breathing assists in weight control. If you are overweight, the extra oxygen burns up the excess fat more efficiently. If you are underweight, the extra oxygen feeds the starving tissues and glands. In other words, yoga tends to produce the ideal weight for you.
10. Relaxation of the mind and body. Slow, deep, rhythmic breathing causes a reflex stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which results in a reduction in the heart rate and relaxation of the muscles. These two factors cause a reflex relaxation of the mind, since the mind and body are very interdependent. In addition, oxygenation of the brain tends to normalize brain function, reducing excessive anxiety levels.
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Author Diwakar vashist is a senior consultant of Institute of vedic science, New Delhi, India. he is working on the ancient vedic sciences i.e. vedic astrology, vedic vastu, hatha yoga, meditation etc. for more related informations visit http://www.shreevedic.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Diwakar_Vashist |
Bitchland??? I love it!
I will take your challenge. I am not much a breather…..
Goddess in the Groove
April 15, 2008
Banish the Bad Mood Mama back to Bitchland! I love it! I was taught breathing techniques from a good friend and I use it often, along with meditation to banish the bad mood. You are a riot, love your creativity…and didn’t know what to expect with that title, so I had to look. Good job!
Stephanie
April 15, 2008