You do it without thinking (about half a billion times in your lifetime), you stop abruptly when you’re stressed, it has the power to calm you down and it’s one of my favourite wellness tools.

It’s breathing!

In my mind, there are 7 essential tools for natural optimal health. Over 7 emails, I’m going to give you what you need to know about each one to make improvements to your health. Starting today, with breathing.

The mind, body, and breath are intimately connected. Your breathing is influenced by your thoughts, and your thoughts and physiology are influenced by your breath.

What can you do with this information? You can immediately make yourself better with a good breathing technique. And, you can manage your health with a regular breathing practice. Daily deep breathing is one of the best tools for improving your health and well-being.

Here are 3 tidbits to get you appreciating the power of your breath.

1️⃣ Deep breathing regulates the main nerve in the parasympathetic nervous system—the vagus nerve—slowing down your heart rate, lowering your blood pressure, and calming your body and mind. Doesn’t that sound good?

2️⃣ Inhaling oxygen (all of your systems depend on this) and exhaling waste is a completely unconscious process – fortunately, otherwise we simply wouldn’t have a break! We’d have to be incessantly dealing with our breathing. But we don’t, because it is involuntary. (Involuntary, like with heart beat or digestion, means it operates without our influence.)

Voluntary breathing is what we want to focus on. It’s the easiest natural health tool.

3️⃣ A lot of the imbalances in our body are linked to a deregulated autonomic nervous system. Often this is the result of strong emotional shocks or prolonged stress. The autonomic nervous system regulates a whole spectrum of involuntary processes in our body, like your breathing, your heart beat, your digestion.

The easiest and most instrumental part of the autonomic nervous system to control and navigate is breathing. And, voluntary controlled breathing can influence and repair the autonomic nervous system.

Wellness Tip

Did you ever notice how many times throughout the day you block your breathing unconsciously? If you pay close attention, for example, when you are very concentrated on a specific action or thought, you stop breathing for a few seconds.

Try to pinpoint these specific times. Make a mental note of when you are most likely to do this. And, when you catch yourself at it, take several deep breaths and make a conscious decision to keep breathing.

The Main Benefits of Controlled Breathing (other than it regulates the autonomic nervous system): It

• reduces inflammation in the body
• reduces anxiety, depression, overwhelm and stress
• lower/stabilised blood pressure
• increased energy levels
• improved immunity
• decreased feelings of stress and overwhelm
• relieves our mind of the chatter (unnecessary and negative thoughts) and is a great first step to successful meditation
• helps us control our emotions
• is a great way to neutralise acidity and get rid of toxins
• provides us with a greater sense of mental clarity
• helps us sleep better
• helps us digest food more efficiently
• is great for the heart

Breathing Tips

There are many ways to do voluntary controlled breathing. One of my favourites is this one. In a pinch – say right before a stressful meeting – inhale through your nose as deeply as you can, then inhale again (yes, you can), hold for 3 seconds, then exhale through your mouth.

All you need is a few minutes a day, and you’ll have this essential wellness tool doing wonders for you!

Love, light and lots of deep breaths✨ 

Dejana 

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