HOW TO BREATHE // Taking a Conscious Breath
One conscious breath, in and out, that is meditation. ~Eckhart Tolle
Before we begin
Seeing as this is a blog post about breathing, I feel like NOW is an appropriate time for us to take a breath together.
…in case you forget, HERE’S WHAT TO DO
Place your hand on your chest, right over your heart centre.
Close your eyes.
Take an inhale through your nose.
Let it out through your mouth nice and slow.
Repeat as many times as needed.
What did you notice? If nothing, it’s a great opportunity to repeat the steps above. This is a conscious breath, well the breathing part is, the hand on heart instruction was to help you come into your body and to feel your breath.
WHAT IS CONSCIOUS BREATHING?
We breathe, on average, 20,000+ times a day but how many of those breaths are you actually aware of? How many do you focus on?
I’m guessing, unless you are a big sigh-er like me, probably none.
When we breathe consciously, we embody the breath we are taking. We draw our awareness to the entire breath: the inhale, the exhale and everything in between. We see the shape it takes in our body. It provides an opportunity to do a check in with your body, to notice the subtle shifts that happen, the expansion, the tightness, the contraction, and the ease.
I hesitate in saying you ‘just’ notice, even though I use that terminology in my meditations often. Because it’s the noticing, in and of itself, that makes up the entire practice…and yes it’s a practice. Conscious breathing is probably new for most of us and, depending on how far and for how long we’ve distanced ourselves from being in our own bodies, something that can be difficult at first.
Before you read on, I encourage you to go back and do the opening exercise again. See what may be the same, or different.
Notice where, in your body and mind, you may be resisting, avoiding, denying, or allowing. Your responsibility in this moment isn’t to do anything with the feedback, it’s to simply collect it. And, get used to collecting it.
WHY WE NEED TO REMEMBER HOW TO BREATHE?
We live in a time of distraction. With our phone attached to our body almost 24/7, we are constantly accessible to the demand of others and the demands on our attention.
On top of that, many of us spend a lifetime (or lifetimes) trying to disconnect from our bodies. Doing our best not to feel, not to move through the hard stuff. I get it, feeling can be tough, it can be messy and numbing ourselves seems to be the easier route, though I would argue that our ‘shit’ never goes away until we properly deal with it. Every time we deny feeling and processing our emotions or tune out to the cues of our body, we disengage just a little bit further.
We carry stress most of the time and we don’t even realize the impact it’s having on our body. It’s our new normal. Our shoulders roll forward, and my guess is we breath to about 25% of our full capacity.
One of the biggest revelation that I had as I went through my meditation teacher training was the powerful effect a deep breath can have on our body, our brain, our emotions, and our capacity to deal with life. Just from a breath…mind blown. So THAT is why we need to be reminded how to breathe.
WHEN WE NEED TO BREATHE?
Well, my snarky answer to this question is all the time…your breath keeps you alive but realistically, unless you live in a monastery, and can devote your days to breathing, conscious breathing all the time isn’t feasible. So the better question would be when is conscious breathing necessary and recommended.
The more you practice conscious breathing, the more you will know exactly when and for how long you need it. Until then, here are some of my suggestions on how to add a few CONSCIOUS breaths into your day. And before you tell me you don’t have time…shhhh. 1 conscious breath out 20,000 a day is about 0.005% of your day. I don’t know ANYONE who can’t spare that much time.
10 Ways to incorporate a conscious breath into your day:
As soon as you wake up in the morning and before you reach for your phone. BREATHE
When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed and anxious throughout the day. BREATHE
Before you go in to a stressful meeting or conversation. BREATHE
Before you react to something unexpected that happened in your day. BREATHE
Before you pick up and look at your phone. BREATHE
When you sit in your car or on the train, before you begin your commute. BREATHE
When you notice your thoughts spiralling to something negative. BREATHE
Before you start eating your food at one of your meals. BREATHE
When you lay down in bed at night. BREATHE
While you stand in the shower. BREATHE
HOW TO BREATHE?
I’m fairly certain you are an expert at this already, it just takes noticing. While I’m sure you have breathing for survival down pat, there are a few things you techniques you can play with to turn that survival (often a mask for fight/flight style breathing) to conscious breathing.
Shift your breathing to you nose. On the inhale see what it might be like to invite your lungs to kiss the insides of your ribs, expanding the breath. Put your loving attention on the exhale and notice the contrast it invites into your body. On the next breath, see if you can lengthen it ever-so-slightly. Repeat!
The exercise above is a good example of how to breathe consciously. This may look different every time you do it, my only ask is that you get curious about what is going on in your body.
A few things you can explore as you breathe consciously:
The position of your body
The shape the breath takes (how deep/shallow, wide/narrow)
Where your breath stops
Where you might be holding on tight in your body
The position of your shoulders
Where you might be feeling the current emotion you have
The physical changes that happen to your body as you breath (i.e. chest rising and falling, stomach filling and relaxing)
The position of your body and where it is being supported
How your body feels
The length of your inhale/exhale
WHO NEEDS THIS?
You do. I do. We all do.
I wouldn’t be writing a blog post on how to (consciously) breathe if it is something most of us did. We could all benefit from a deep breathe throughout our day.
If you prefer to move through a guided meditation, check out the ones I have available below. I’m also posting new meditations weekly on the Insight Timer App (available in iTunes and Google Play stores).
