A Simple Practice to Come Back to Your Breath
You might know that your breath is super important for your day-to-day functions like walking, errands, carrying groceries, or trying to play with your kids. You also might know that your breath is important for your health, like your stress rate, or your heart rate, or your lung capacity. How quickly you get out of breath can be a big indicator of your health and overall wellness. That's why we're such big believers and showing up for your lungs and helping them be the strongest they can be.
But, do you realize how much your breath impacts your emotional well-being? Do you notice your breath while you're going about your day-to-day life? This is the question that mindfulness and meditation really ask you to pay attention to. A lot of mindfulness practices root themselves and pay attention to your breath, counting your breaths, or noticing where in the body you feel your breath.
It may seem simple, but just paying attention to your breath has a big impact on your cortisol levels, your anxiety, and even ability to respond well to intense situations. Plus, being aware of your body is an amazing way to be aware of how certain things are impacting you or when maybe you need to take a break or step away from a situation.
If you're looking for ways to invite more peace, ease, or self-care into your life, we are big believers in beginning to practice mindfulness or meditation. You can use apps like Headspace or meditations on Youtube, but a good place to start can be simply closing your eyes and counting your breaths. It may help to put your hand on your chest and the other hand on your stomach so you can notice where and how your breath feels.
You can begin by simply closing your eyes, and letting your ears adjust to the sounds around you. It helps if you're somewhere that you won't be interrupted. Begin counting your breaths, starting with one as you inhale and two as you exhale. You can count to 10, and then start again as you want. Even if it feels easier to keep your eyes open, all that matters is that you're counting your breath and noticing where and how it feels on your body. Thoughts can come and go, but keep most of your focus on counting your breath.
If you're used to a really busy and hectic life, this exercise may be difficult in and of itself. But we know how important it is that you find these moments of calm and awareness throughout your day. No matter what you believe the bigger benefits of meditation or mindfulness are, being aware of your breath and your body do so much for you.
This short breathing exercise can help lower your stress levels, give you a way to cope when things get intense, or just a way to check in and see how you're really feeling or how you're really doing. It can also be a great exercise when you need to have a hard conversation, or you're trying to transition between work and time with your family, or you feel like something's off but you're not quite sure what. Plus, since your breath is so crucial to your health, having occasional check-ins with yourself can be really beneficial and really important just to see how you’re feeling physically.
If you get in the habit of counting your breaths, we definitely recommend getting in the habit of strengthening and training your breath. In just a few minutes a day, the Original Breath Builder really can build your lungs to have a greater capacity, much greater strength, and a better ability to serve you in your everyday life. Breath work and mindfulness can do so much for your mental and emotional health, but pairing that with the Original Breath Builder? Now you're really working on your physical health as well.
