A breath practice
What does it even mean to set up a breath practice? Although breathwork has become more mainstream over the last few years, I still get puzzled looks from people when I mention that they can book breath sessions with me. Why would I need to learn to breathe as I breathe to live? You would be surprised how badly most of us breathe and how it impacts the way we live.
What is a breath practice?
It is a habit of breathing consciously for a period of time.
What does breathing consciously mean?
Being present and aware of your breath patterns in your daily lives.
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you hold on to your breath?
When do you hold on to your breath?
Why do you hold on to your breath? Is it to ‘lessen’ the pain? Is it to concentrate harder?
Benefits of a daily breath practice
I am advocating a daily breath practice since I think it is the most profound, simple, powerful and effective tool we all have. It could be meditation, yoga or journaling for you. You may not see the benefits overnight, but what we are trying to achieve is resilience. By breathing consciously and being present with ourselves, we are accumulating present moment awareness or what I would like to call ‘golden nuggets’: the places you store your internal reserves on your good days. You will realise that over time, the impact of daily stressors and life crises soften and do not impact you as much and you can dig into your golden nuggets reserve. Your reserve of mental resilience, self-confidence and self-love.
This is when you know you have built resilience, tapping into your magical reserves. You will be less impacted by what used to bother you, what used to cause you anxiety. The peaks and troughs are less pronounced. It may feel strange in the beginning when life becomes ‘less interesting’ without the drama and it is this strangeness that we love. You are no longer interested in the drama or chase after it. Life doesn’t need to be a roller coaster all the time, neutral is good.
How to form a daily breath practice?
I learnt it the hard way. I thought I would build a fully fledged practice overnight and struggled because it was not realistic. I started breaking it down so I would see the benefits of daily practice without getting overly frustrated that I could not keep up. I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear and he articulated my experience much more fluently. Some tips below:
Be specific and commit to a time. Decide whether it's the morning, afternoon or evening.
Trial and error. How does the breath practice make you feel? If it energises you, doing it in the morning may be a better option for you. If it relaxes you, doing it at night would help you sleep better.
Stick to a reasonable amount of time you can commit to every day. Start with 2 minutes and build it up to 10 minutes over time.
Stack it with another activity that you do daily. I do it in the morning before I make my coffee and log into work. Some of my clients do it before going to bed.
Repeat until it becomes part of you and part of your daily routine.
Fill this in I AM [breathing] at [time] on/at the [location-sofa/bed].
What do I do when I sit down to breathe?
Breathe through your nose.
Belly breath. Place your hands on your belly. Bring your breath down to your belly and feel the rise and fall of your hands.
Staying present. Breathe in and out without any pauses in between.
It may feel uncomfortable to sit with yourself in this way. It may stir up some feelings. Be patient with yourself, breathe through the discomfort. Observe what lies underneath, what is percolating inside you. Observe what surfaces. Allow the emotions to release with your breath. Always go back to your breath, don’t hold on to it. Know that your subconscious mind will only bring up what you can handle. You want to integrate these emotions by breathing through them. The only way is through.
Give your breathing practice some space in your life.
Create space within and tap into your magical spaciousness.
Honour you and your space.
Breathe well x
Pei