Taking the Time to just Breathe

[puppetmaker]

There are times that I find myself holding my breath for what seems no reason at the time. I tend to hold my breath when I am bowling. I tend to hold my breath when the phone rings before I answer it. I hold my breath a lot when I drive. When I find myself holding my breath, I take a moment to remind myself to breathe and for a short time I am very conscious of my breathing. I take the time to slow it down a bit and breathe properly. I learned this trick from my voice teacher back in college and it has served me well. She also taught me how to be really loud without any strain on my vocal cords to which I will always be grateful to her since that lesson had gotten a lot of use over time.

I have learned from various places since then that breathing is very important. There is the obvious that we need to breathe to continue to live. But there is the less obvious of how our breathing affects our mental state and our mental state affects our breathing. Sometimes when I am feeling down and out, I will take the time to just breathe. Just listen to my inhaling through my nose and exhaling out my mouth. I can find my center and my inner calm if I do it right. Sometimes when I am about to panic, I remind myself to breathe and it will be OK. There are other times that these exercises aren't very helpful but I at least try them to see if I can get myself back on track.

Not much done yesterday so I am going to try to do better today. I have been having a lot of days recently that have not been my best so I am going to take a moment to regroup and breath before trying to figure out which iron in the fire needs to come out first and be beating into shape. I have some household chores that need to be done to keep the household running and then I will be onto some more creative work I want to do.

I am grateful for the ability to slow down and just breathe.

Comments

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

I do the breath holding thing too.

Dunno why.

*HUGS* you for no particular reason.

:)

[minikin.livejournal.com]

There was a time, when the only exercise I could do, and breathe properly, was swimming. Comes from that early breathing training that went before learning to swim on top of the water (as opposed to fish-style, as all toddlers prefer). Big breath in, smooth breath seeping out during all the time my face is in the water. Like I say the only time I remember how to breathe properly during exercise.

Sigh.

Sorry, I have to say it . . .

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

breath = noun

breathe = verb

Anyway. That's definitely a trick I keep in my bag when stress creeps up on me is just to breathe deeply for a bit. I also found out that meditation is the equivalent of light sleep, so when I can't sleep I find that focusing on the breath will be a sufficient substitute . . . and it usually mellows me out enough that I can fall into deeper sleep.