How to optimise your breathing!
Start with nasal breathing. Here’s why..
2 things have changed my life..
First adopting a 100% plant based diet (I’ve hit my 10th year this year)
Second… breathing.
Up to 20 puffs of my inhaler + 4 puffs of my preventer..to zilch nada.
I sleep more soundly, recover faster and am able to better manage stress and.. I’m finally free from an over reliance on pharmaceuticals.
About 60% of the population identifies as mouth breathers. Are you? How comfortable are you with breathing through your nose right now? If its easy and natural..great..if not work towards it!
What you can expect by adopting these 2 things.
Improved digestion
Reduction of autoimmune conditions
Better mental and emotional stress management
Increased recovery
Stronger immune system
And even long term fat loss.
How to do it.?
At your desk, walking, cooking, while you are doing the dishes just shut your mouth and relearn how to breathe from your nose. Eventually you’ll be able to do this while training ..you’ll then experience an incredible boost in recovery.
For a challenge, try taping your mouth with surgical tape to force yourself to nasal breathe.
If you nose is perpetually blocked, figure out a way to get it cleaned. Maybe using a neti pot, steam with essential oils like eucalyptus…and maybe taking out dairy. No one needs this stuff.
Breathe better, live more!
Controlling my heart rate through conscious breathing
As a former asthmatic relying on pharmaceuticals for more than 3 decades. It’s liberating when I have been able to cure myself by retraining how to breathe.
So can you.
Breath is key, breath is king.
Deep and slow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
So by doing so, you’ll get out of a fear state, channel focus, improve digestion, detoxify better.
How to do it?
If you are caught in a pattern of emotional eating.
Pause for a moment and be aware of your signals rather than immediately react to it.
Use the 3 breath rule, take 3 deep and slow breaths with a 5 sec inhale and 5 sec exhale
Then ask, do I really need or want this? Decide after.
If you are anxious or in a fear state:
Pause for a moment.
Close your eyes and use a 1 : 2 breath ratio (4 secs inhale / 8 sec exhale) and breath deeply for 2-5 minutes
Then focus on someone you love, something you are grateful for.. all that you have in your life.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl
And that space.. is your breath.