Breathwork

4/30/2008

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

There’s nothing especially tricky about breathing, but learning to pay attention to your breath can pay big dividends for your family. According to integrative-medicine pioneer Dr. Andrew Weil, breathing properly is the master key to good physical and mental health.

Breathwork is the most basic of all mind-body therapies. As an act that can be done either purposely or involuntarily, breathing bridges the two arms of the nervous system, communicating to both body and brain. Breathing certain ways appears to promote the production and release of natural brain chemicals that relieve pain and encourage relaxation.

Breathwork can not only relieve anxiety and improve disorders caused by stress, but also help control asthma, high blood pressure, insomnia, and pain. Having a child blow on a pinwheel or a bubble ring, for instance, is a good way to reduce the pain from an injection.

A quick check of the pace and depth of your breathing is the simplest form of stress control. Watch your children (and yourself) as they breathe. Are they breathing too high in their chests or too shallowly to get all the oxygen they need for optimal health? Are they breathing too quickly, or forgetting to breathe when their attention is fixed?

Just the act of changing the pace or depth of the breath can change your physical and emotional state. Slow deep breaths relax; quick forceful breaths foster alertness. Attention to breath can improve the tone of the muscles that draw air in and let it out.

There are breathing exercises for relaxing, for improving respiration, and for stimulation. There are specific breathwork techniques for various conditions as well. Here are 3 simple breathing exercises any child (or adult) can do:

Observing the breath. Anywhere you are, just stop and pay attention to how you are breathing for a few minutes. Make your breath as slow and deep and regular as you can. This little “time-out” relieves stress.

Belly breath. To get the most oxygen, you want to breathe from your abdomen. Lie or sit comfortably. Put one hand lightly on your belly. As you breathe, make sure your belly expands with every inward breath.

Backwards breath. Many of us don’t exhale completely, and so don’t exchange enough air. Instead of starting with an in-breath, start with an exhalation, squeezing out as much air as you can. This strengthens the muscles between the ribs that are so important to proper breathing.

Resources:

Breathing: the Master Key to Self Healing, CD by Andrew Weil M.D. (Sounds True)
Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery, by Gay Hendricks, Ph.D. (Bantam 1995)