Every breath you take

Every breath you take!

Welcome friends, family, clients and fans to my very first blog!

At time of writing I have done this 274,684,830 times since birth. I do it without thinking and it keeps me alive. It affects my whole body, from my metabolism, mood, appetite, stress levels and posture to name just a few.

So what can I tell you about breathing that could change your life?

Well let me start with the most important things. Using the correct muscles when you breathe will help stabilise your spine from the inside. Breathing correctly will also help calm the nervous system alleviating stress and tension and as well as back, neck and shoulder pain.

How many breaths have you taken since you were born? Click on the link below to find out:

http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/beatsbreaths/beatsbreaths.html

Many factors affect are our ability to breathe naturally. Ever looked at a baby sleeping and noticed how their belly gently rises and falls as they breathe? Try it right now! Sit up tall and put one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Now just breathe! What happens to the hands? Does the chest or belly rise? Perhaps both do.

Stress, lifestyle, injury, abdominal problems can all affect our diaphragm function meaning that we breath more shallow. This uses predominantly our chest and neck muscles which explains why the hand on your chest rises more than the hand on your belly. It's because of this that we don’t get enough oxygen because our lungs don't get full. Certain muscles become overactive causing dysfunction, stress and our spines and hips are not properly stabilised during movement.

So how do we learn to breathe again?

In a quiet space lying, sitting or standing place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. As you take a breath in, keep your shoulders and chest still as you push your belly button out. As you exhale gently draw the belly button to the spine. Slow the breaths down and notice how much calmer you instantly feel!

Practise as much as you can and it will soon become natural once again!