Respiration, (second to excretion), is one of the primary methods by which we eliminate waste and toxins.  Constrained breath limits our capacity to cleanse ourselves, and also limits the amount of energy in the body.  In the long term, impaired or incorrect breathing can lead to disease in other organs and systems, especially in the circulatory system and the digestive system.

Humans average about 15 breaths per minute, or approximately 21,600 breaths per day, the vast majority of which typically go unnoticed, unacknowledged, and uncontrolled.

Because it is always with us — either as an unconscious yet constant activity, or one that we control — the breath is said to lie at the crossroads of consciousness. Accordingly, by consciously manipulating our breath and slowing it down, we can also control and slow down our mental processes.  This is an endeavor vital to many mind-body practices such as the tai chi, meditation and yoga.  In fact, there is a branch or “limb” of yoga dedicated controlling the vital energy of the body (prana) which, just as in other traditions, is for all (human) intents and purposes synonymous with the breath.

Some traditions believe that a person takes a fixed number of breaths in their life; operating from this mindset, slowing down your breath could mean that you are quite literally lengthening your lifespan!

Truth be told that we spend the majority of our workdays and weeks (and sadly, sometimes even our weekends) managing our time, projects and in-boxes.

You may have read our post a while back about how Star Wars fans have a great reference for how to breathe. In this post, we thought we’d revisit the breath and outline  four easy steps that you can take to manage your breath and, by extension, your stress level:

1. Notice – Without doing anything at all, observe the current state of your breath.  Are your workmates giving you surreptitious, dirty looks because you’re consistently letting out heavy sighs? Are you taking more or less than the average of 15 breaths per minute?
2. Acknowledge – Regardless of whether or not your breath is out of control at the moment, take a moment to really understand and grasp your current state. If your breathing is slow, deep, and uninterrupted, congratulate yourself and award yourself some wellness points!  By the same token, no one’s mindfulness practice ever benefitted from self-berating, so if your breathing is shallow and erratic, tell yourself that it’s okay, you’re certainly not in the minority, and, most importantly – that it’s well within your control. Which, incidentally is the next step…
3. Breathe – Begin controlling your breath by slowing it down.  If you narrow your throat opening to make a whispering sound, this will automatically slow down your breathing pattern, especially on your exhales.  The inhales will naturally and eventually follow suit.  If you find that your mind is so overactive that you can’t even complete ONE smooth breath cycle (1 breath cycle = 1 inhale + 1 exhale), try “tricking” your mind by giving it something to focus on, or, in yoga parlance, a mantra.  This can be something as simple as counting your breaths, or repeating “inhale, inhale, inhale” on your breath in and “exhale, exhale, exhale” on the way out.

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