Conscious Breathing
Conscious breathing
You breathe in and out roughly 25,000 times a day. If you’re like most people, you don’t even think about breathing. Conscious breathing is becoming aware of the connection between body and mind experienced through the breath.
So many of us live in our heads and are not aware of our bodies, let alone our breath, until we are injured. Through breath awareness and breath control practices, you experience the mind-body connection with each exercise. With practice, you can learn how to use breath control for immediate and lasting benefits like:
- Improved sleep
- Increased resilience to stress
- Improved focus
- Increased energy
Functional (efficient) vs Dysfunctional breathing
Functional breathing is considered effortless, silent and efficient during rest. Your body will appear at ease, without excessive use of accessory breathing muscles. You will have good heart rate variability (HRV), meaning that your nervous system is balanced and you handle and recover from internal and external stressors well. You handle increased cardiovascular demands with ease, you sleep well and you can hold your breath 30 seconds without difficulty.
Dysfunctional breathing can present itself in different ways. You may develop non-optimal traits through injury, chronic stress, poor posture, poor diet, illness, etc. Below are some traits of dysfunctional breathing:
- Snoring
- Frequent sighing or yawning
- Shortness of breath with exercise
- Audible breathing during rest
- Fast breathing
- Breathing through the mouth
Learning how to breathe efficiently, effectively and with ease requires understanding the traits of dysfunctional breathing, and learning or re-learning how to breathe in a way that minimizes poor patterns.
Since breathing is something you do all day, every day, it’s easy to see how poor habits and patterns could develop and perpetuate without realizing it. Breath control has been an art and science for hundreds of years. It is only now getting the recognition and attention it deserves as the gateway to optimal health.
Work with me
If you have read some of the best-selling books out there on the art of breathing, you may be aware of the importance of breathing well, but don’t know where to start.
I can help.
Often, the reasons you may struggle to control your breathing are due to limitations in one or all of the four main components of breathing. These are:
- Biomechanical
- Biochemical
- Cadence
- Psychological
I can help you determine what areas to focus you efforts, how efficiently you are breathing at rest, and offer suggestions to optimize your baseline breathing so more advanced breathing techniques are accessible.
my training
I have been learning and teaching breathing strategies for over a decade. As a physical therapist, I have a good understanding of biomechanics of a proper breath, and as a Schroth Therapist, I recognize how posture and positioning the body is necessary to fully utilize the diaphragm. My education and experience as a yoga therapist has helped me appreciate how our mental state is intimately connected to conscious breathing and how adjusting the breath can result in immediate changes in your state of mind.
In the last several years, I have become certified in the Buteyko method, but have also studied various other breathing techniques to gain knowledge and insight into how changing different variables with the way you breathe, results in different effects.
Science is catching up to what yogis have known for a long time. Our physiology and nervous systems are intricately tied to our breathing patterns. I am constantly reading research papers on these connections and our ability to control physiological and mental states by using the breath.
Breathing is an accessible tool for taking charge of your own health and wellness. I offer my knowledge as a guide to help you on this journey.
Questions
If you would like to pursue a breathing assessment, click the scheduling link below. If you have questions, feel free to reach out or schedule a free phone consultation below. I can’t wait to meet you!