Breathe right to feel and live right

Do you know that Intentional breathing has so many benefits? I’m currently doing a 70-Day Meditation Challenge with about 120 people on Clubhouse every morning at 5am and on WhatsApp during the day. 

As I meditated one morning, I felt a very strong urge to write about our breathing practice as humans, especially during meditation. Breathing is much more than taking oxygen in and exhaling Carbon dioxide.
“The soul of man is the breath of God 
The breath of man is the life of man 
The life of man is the soul of man 
The soul of man is is the breath of man 
The breath of man is the breath of God”

The Catalyst 

As you follow your breath, you follow God and tune into your soul.

According to Genesis 2:7
‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.’

According to research;
Toddlers take between 20-30 breaths per minute. Older children and adults, while resting, take between 12-20 breaths per minute. Over the course of a day, we take between 17,000-30,000 or more breaths per day! 

Our breathing patterns follow our thinking and feeling, meaning that you breathe as you think and feel 

Do you know that this relationship between your thoughts and feelings are directly proportional? This means that as your thoughts and feelings influence your breathing, so can your breathing also influence your thoughts and feelings 

Unfortunately, most of us are unconscious of our breathing all day and don’t engage the power of our breath. Imagine being more conscious and intentional about your breathing.

Breathing during meditation is one of the ways you can be more intentional, as you synchronize and harmonize your body, soul and spirit, attaining inner states of peace, tranquillity, prosperity, joy etc 

There are several physical benefits of breathing right, as follows;
Activating your Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS).
Slowing down your pulse/heart rate 
Lowering your blood pressure
Creating a calm and tranquil feeling.

Apart from the above benefits activating the PSNS also promotes digestion, and brings our body into a state of rest, relaxation and recovery. What we call the rest and digest mode. This forms one-third of our autonomic nervous system, alongside the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) also known as the fight or flight mode, and our enteric system (ENS), sometimes referred to as our second brain. 

Intentional breathing during meditation helps you decrease your reactivity to stress, manage stress triggers, reduce lactic acid in your muscles, strengthen your lungs, improve your immune system, and promote healing.

The right way to breathe is to breathe from your diaphragm instead of your chest, relaxing your neck and chest muscles and engaging your abs thereby allowing a larger amount of oxygen into your body’s cells and organs.

Under stress, you release hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that causes your breathing to speed up, increases your pulse and blood pressure, and puts you in a state of hypervigilance. 

Deep breathing helps reverse this and relaxes your body.

So the next time you breathe be aware of the following;
* The rise and fall of your chest and belly.
* The temperature and moisture of your breath.
* Tune into your muscles as they relax.
* Observe how your body feels as your breathing changes and gets deeper 

Breathing also helps calm and slow down the emotional turbulence in your mind. Several studies have shown that breathing during meditation can help resolve and reverse depression, anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD.

I created several mediation audios that  can help access buried emotions, pain, and traumas, with can ultimately help change your mental state.

So the next time you breathe be aware of the following;
* Your thoughts – Even as you let them come and go
* The feelings that come and go 
* Your inner voice as it becomes audible and then silent.
* Your visualized and desired outcome/intention during the meditation session.

Breathing during meditation helps you connect with and activate the power of your Core Spirit—Your Highest Self. 

You experience spiritual awakening and are more attuned to your inner/subconscious being.

Do you know that the ego gets in the way of true spirit function and breathing during meditation can help remove your ego and connect you: To Your True/ Highest Self, with the spirit of the Universe and ultimately to the Spirit of The Divine. 

So the next time you breathe be aware of the following;
* Sense it as the Universe and/or The Spirit of The Divine filling you with a new and/or pure Zoe/Energy/Life Force on your inhalation.
* Your experience as this new and/or pure Zoe/Energy/Life Force flows through you.
* Welcome this new and/or pure Zoe/Energy/Life Force, creating space for them within you.
* This new and/or pure Zoe/Energy/Life Force connects and synchronizes/harmonizes your soul and spirit.
* As you exhale, send this new and/or pure Zoe/Energy/Life Force to everyone and everything around you thereby changing their state and essence 
* The vibrational level you’re in 
* How you attract positive things into your life each time you practise intentional breathing during meditation 
Breathe right to feel and live right.

Practice intentional breathing, not just during meditation, but every hour all day, to activate your PSNS: 
Inhale for a count of 4. 
Hold your breath for a count of 4. 
Exhale for a count of 4. 
Repeat up to 10 breaths. 
Increase to a count of 6 if you want to deepen the practice.

If you do all these, then breathing will not just be an unconscious activity, but a medium that helps you attract, create and manifest the health and life that you deserve and desire.

HAPPY BREATHING !!!

Shalom

I am The Catalyst 

I Transform Lives by Transforming Minds