“Find yourself and express yourself in your own particular way. Express your love openly. Life is nothing but a dream, and if you create your life with love, your dream becomes a masterpiece of art.” 

- Don Miguel Ruiz

Your breath is the one MAJOR system in your body that is both autonomic (meaning you breathe whether you are paying attention to breathing or not) and voluntary (meaning you can choose to hold your breath or hyperventilate on your own if you want to.)

This is a big deal.

Switching to deliberate, slow breathing flips our vagal response, and our parasympathetic system kicks in, allowing us to relax and recover, releasing powerful feel-good endorphins (Howgego, 2020; Nestor, 2020).

The world needs each of us to take care of ourselves, become more resilient, and develop the discipline of self-care so that we can make better decisions individually and collectively!

Through the practice I outline below you can lower your resting heart rate by 15-20 beats per minute and lower your respiratory rate by 20-30 percent simply by taking 6-10 deep belly breaths.

AND

If you do it for 20 min. the effects are greater and longer-lasting!

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Breath Practice for Lowering Stress

Ideally, perform this exercise lying down to allow the diaphragm to move more comfortably.

1. Begin by taking a few normal, regular-sized breaths.

2. When ready, take a deeper in-breath, then exhale fully and slowly until the lungs are comfortably emptied. Breathing out through pursed lips can help you achieve the ideal ratio of 60% of your breath for exhalation and 40% for inhalation.

3. Use your abdomen to breathe in and out rather than your chest. Imagine it as a balloon filling and emptying.

4. Repeat steps two and three for about five minutes, focusing on the sensation of the breath coming in and out of the body.

5. If you find it difficult to relax, let go of relaxation as an intention and focus only on the process of breathing.

Practice this technique for 5 minutes a day, working up to 10 – 20 minutes over the following weeks.