How breath can change your life?

What is Breathwork?

It is the conscious control of breath. 

Breathing as part of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) happens automatically. It is also the single action within our ANS which can consciously be adjusted to suit our needs.

What is the Autonomic Nervous system (ANS)?

It is part of your overall nervous system, responsible for the unconscious functioning of organs within the body, such as the heart, lungs, intestines, liver, reproduction, and circulatory systems.

As part of the ANS, we have the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous systems. Both are equally important to our survival. As you will see in the diagram below;

Our body naturally shifts between the PNS and SNS regularly throughout the day. In fact, you can determine which state you are in right now by checking which nostril is more open to your natural breath. By gently closing off one nostril at a time using your finger, and feeling which one feels a bit easier to breathe through. If your right nostril is more freely available to your natural breath, your left brain is currently more activated, meaning that you are in a state of SNS, you are more alert, focused, and analytical. 

Events throughout the day force our ANS into a fight or fight mode (SNS). I am sure that you can remember a time when you were feeling that go-getter adrenalised energy or that anxious feeling before a big meeting, presentation or interview. Or running late and stuck in traffic, or getting angry or frustrated with a colleague or family member? It happens to all of us, but where we differ is how resilient we are toward that stress and how quickly we are able to revert back to a state of homeostasis.

STRESS (SNS) plays a massive role in our daily life, it’s what drives many of us to reach our goals!

Short intermittent bursts of stress are actually beneficial for our drive, motivation, and immune health. Research is proving that these short bursts of discomfort to the body and mind are helping to repair cellular damage and DNA, reduce inflammation, and remove toxins. A great article for more information; 

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/hormesis

Unfortunately, chronic or prolonged stress is proving to be a leading cause of illnesses and absenteeism, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341916/ showing us that there is an imbalance in our ANS, meaning that many of us are becoming stuck in the SNS. 

So how can we prevent this, and how can we put the brakes on this over-active SNS?

Through the practice of Breathwork, we begin to bring awareness to our ANS. Through this awareness, we are able to make the necessary adjustments to our breath, which in turn leads to a balanced ANS.

There are many different types of breathing techniques which we can use to alter our mental and physical states through the ANS. To relax, to energise, or to find a balance. 

Continuing Breathwork as a daily practice encourages the body and mind to reconnect. Meaning; that once we understand how the breath reacts to different mental or physical states, we can identify and then adjust our breathing pattern to shift these states to one that serves us better.

A great article for various uses of Breathwork can be found here; https://www.othership.us/resources/breathwork-benefits

Ideally, you should find a Breathwork practitioner to guide you and help you to identify your natural breathing pattern. Learning what your breath does during different situations and how your body and mind react to those situations is key to understanding how and when you can consciously control your breath to energise, relax or balance. Your practitioner will teach you tools and techniques that work for you, enabling you to include them in your daily life.

The process of Breathwork;

• Remind your body how to breathe optimally – which 80% of us are not doing.
• Practice breath awareness – befriending your breath so that you can identify when it needs to change to suit your requirements.
• Learn the tools and techniques to aid you in consciously controlling your breath.
• Continue practising this so that you begin to do this all automatically.

If you would like to connect with Mayura Life for a private Breathwork consultation in-person or online, please follow this link to our website; https://mayuralife.com/product/private-breathwork-session/

We also facilitate group sessions and provide workshops for the corporate world. 

We have a tried and tested variety of desktop packages for the corporate space, enabling people with that reminder to take a deep breath. For more information about these packages, follow this link to our website https://mayuralife.com/corporate-breathwork/

We are extremely passionate about sharing this invaluable and free resource, our BREATH, as a tool to help you become more stress resilient and calm.