Human TuneUp Column by Cath
Pause and slow-breathe
My theory of breathing: We can breathe our way to a less-zoomy, less-stressed life.
We can slow-breathe ourselves calm.
Do you know this? Normal breathing is 15 to 16 cycles of inhale/exhale per minute from the chest area, whereas less-zoomy breathing is seven to eight cycles per minute and from the lower lungs.
I like this life advice from James Gordon, MD at the Georgetown University School of Medicine: “Slow, deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have. When you bring air down into the lower portion of the lungs, where oxygen exchange is most efficient, everything changes. Heart rate slows, blood pressure decreases, muscles relax, anxiety eases and the mind calms.”
What is the easiest way to master deep, slow breathing? Exhale every drop of oxygen and you will naturally inhale a deep breath.
Note: Watch babies breathe. Babies naturally breathe from the lower lungs/belly area of their bodies. Very good.
Note: Uptight people breathe from the upper chest area usually in short, shallow breaths. Not so good.
The trick? Practice, practice, practice until slow breathing is the first response you use when in a zoom.
• Will this light ever turn green?!
Pause, slow-breathe.
• You want this done by when?!
Pause, slow-breathe.
For our efforts to slow-breathe, our bodies will thank us. And so will all those people we may have been a little snippy with lately.
Breathe as if your life depended on it. It does.
Rushed?
Asked how he deals with all the public attention that’s part of his job: “I watch my breathing. I make sure it’s flowing the right way.”
– Phil Jackson
Basketball coach
Cath DeStefano, Author, Speaker, Facilitator
Life TuneUps
Vital Signs! for Stress Relief FlipBook:
http://www.humantuneup.com/flipovers.htm
Breathe slowly now.
Category: Business, Life Style
