Improper breathing can actually cause poor health and magnify anxiety. This week, Lisa and Brad explore what a healthy breath feels like and how learning to breath correctly can be your first step on the path to health, happiness, and more mindful living.
Discover the unexpected key to serenity that's been with you all along—your breath. Within this heartfelt discussion, we delve into how something as intrinsic as the way we breathe can have a profound impact on our stress levels and mental well-being. I offer a glimpse into my own transformation, from the clutches of chronic shallow breathing to the liberation of mindful belly breaths, despite my lungs' limited capacity. Join us as we unravel the physiological secrets behind breath's influence on our bodies and minds, and share practical techniques to help you transition to a more relaxed and beneficial breathing pattern.
We also take a reflective journey into the past, examining how our childhood experiences shape our breathing habits and set the stage for our future selves. It's a chapter of introspection and awareness, where the focus is on self-observation and the recognition of our breath as a powerful tool for personal growth. No guest needed when we're exploring the intimate narratives of our own lives and the subtle yet substantial shifts that can arise from simply being more present with each inhale and exhale. Tune in for an episode that promises not just to inform, but to transform the way you breathe and, consequently, how you face the world.
Improper breathing can actually cause poor health and magnify anxiety. This week, Lisa and Brad explore what a healthy breath feels like and how learning to breath correctly can be your first step on the path to health, happiness, and more mindful living.
Discover the unexpected key to serenity that's been with you all along—your breath. Within this heartfelt discussion, we delve into how something as intrinsic as the way we breathe can have a profound impact on our stress levels and mental well-being. I offer a glimpse into my own transformation, from the clutches of chronic shallow breathing to the liberation of mindful belly breaths, despite my lungs' limited capacity. Join us as we unravel the physiological secrets behind breath's influence on our bodies and minds, and share practical techniques to help you transition to a more relaxed and beneficial breathing pattern.
We also take a reflective journey into the past, examining how our childhood experiences shape our breathing habits and set the stage for our future selves. It's a chapter of introspection and awareness, where the focus is on self-observation and the recognition of our breath as a powerful tool for personal growth. No guest needed when we're exploring the intimate narratives of our own lives and the subtle yet substantial shifts that can arise from simply being more present with each inhale and exhale. Tune in for an episode that promises not just to inform, but to transform the way you breathe and, consequently, how you face the world.
Hello and welcome to Just One Thing. I'm Brad Stearns, here with Lisa Stearns, and we're your hosts on this weekly exploration of simple ways to enhance your relationships, improve your health, manage your stress and just be happier. Now settle in while we discuss Just One Thing. Good morning, good afternoon, good day, whenever you happen to be listening.
Speaker 2:
Tuning in, that's right.
Speaker 1:
This is the next episode of. Just One Thing. Just One Thing. I was going to say Mindful Living Today, Last week. Excuse me, you're doing this exactly the same Every time.
Speaker 2:
Today it completely different.
Speaker 1:
Today I'm all messed up. Just One Thing is the podcast of Mindful Living Dot. Today we are on Facebook as the Mindful Couple. We have a great Facebook group. We'd love you to join us at Mindful Living Today with Lisa and Brad. We're also on Instagram. Today we are going to focus on one of the I'll just call it the core tools of mindfulness, and that is your breath.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
And I'm going to title this the Power of your Breath, because it really is amazing what you can do just by focusing on and changing and using your breath to make you a more mindful person.
Speaker 2:
And understanding how breath works.
Speaker 1:
So you know, I think we were going to talk about something a little different this morning, but you said let's talk about breath. I said okay, we can talk about breath. So what was going through your mind when you said let's talk about breath?
Speaker 2:
For me understanding. I studied yoga and became a yoga instructor and then we took the mindfulness based stress reduction and in both of those there is a just a huge emphasis on breathing and understanding your breath. And I think, being a person that was diagnosed with PTSD and a person that had just challenges with anxiety, a lot of anxiety, it was really, I want to say, mind blowing, but it was life altering for me to understand that just the way I was breathing was actually feeding into that anxiety and that PTSD.
Speaker 1:
I think that's a good point because we'll emphasize as we go on that there are certain ways you can breathe to make you more mindful, to actually take you out of anxiety state, et cetera. But what many people don't know is there are sort of ways that you habituate yourself to breathe that are actually bad for you.
Speaker 2:
Right, so let's talk about that to start off at that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's exactly what I was saying when you did that, Okay all right.
Speaker 2:
So let's talk about that. So to me and I was thinking this as we were setting up for this talk so to me, habits of, I'm going to say I think it's a very important thing to do. What's the word I want, Because I don't want to label it bad breathing. What's a word that I can use besides bad breathing? The can negatively impact let's put in the can negatively impact your overall well-being and stress levels. I think those patterns are learned very early on. They're learned as children. I like to equate it to the animal kingdom. If you think about an animal, when they feel like they're in danger, when something is happening, they become very still and very quiet. We learn that habit as a child. In trauma, whether I want to clarify, trauma is not like getting hit by a car or having a loved one die. Trauma can be something where you're a very sensitive person and maybe you have a parent. That's just loud.
Speaker 1:
Just too many people, just that loudness. Loud is too much All just use the term scary. It's scary. Right, you go through a physiological, basically hiding Quiet.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it's quite small Freeze it's a little bit of the freeze reflection you don't want to be seen by the big angry predator Right.
Speaker 1:
So when you freeze, not only do you become motionless, but your breathing becomes a little more shallow, a little more rapid, so that it's not going to arouse the attention of somebody, because you don't want to be breathing like, oh, you're just very quiet, very shallow breaths Because you don't want to draw the attention of the predator, that's out there Right and describe the physiology behind the small breathing, because it allows your Well, in a good breath, typically you breathe through your belly, right.
Speaker 1:
You inhale deeply, the belly comes out, it fills your whole lungs, both lungs from bottom to top, and it also says to your brain, oh, you are safe. And so it then allows your blood, your heart rate, to go down a little bit, right. All of the stress hormones that might be released if you're frightened, sort of like, dissipate and go away. You fully oxygenate your body with those deep breaths, right, and overall you just become calm, right, and not frightened at all.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so I was referring to when you in a frightened state.
Speaker 1:
Well, the opposite.
Speaker 2:
You are actually. You're allowing the blood to go to the extremities so that you can run away if you need to. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
So you're taking a shallow breath, it's a chest breath, it's a quiet breath, but it's also pumping all and it's also telling your brain oh. Pump out all of those stress hormones so that your muscles can be very, very effective. Take blood away from your digestive system, all those internal organs that aren't needed right now. Now, so that I can run away if need be.
Speaker 2:
Right, so the whole shallow breath idea is in preparation to run away, exactly, okay. And so we have that. We have both of those parallels. We have the shallow breath and why we created it in a very early age, and then the deep breath, which allows us to regulate the body's anxiety and stress levels. So here's the thing. Okay, here's the thing about it. Here's the thing of that. I didn't realize until I was probably in my mid 50s that I was a chronic shallow breath.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, All the time.
Speaker 2:
Like like I never took a belly breath. Everything was very, very. All my breaths were very high in my chest.
Speaker 1:
And so you're your body's thing. Oh, I'm in a constant state of alert. Right and preparing to flee.
Speaker 2:
Right, right, and I have no idea I was doing that.
Speaker 1:
And so there's a whole cascade of those hormones and those things we talked about. Right. Long term it's very debilitating on your body. It can actually lead to autoimmune diseases and all kinds of things like that Heart disease, things like that, Because you're constantly it's chronic stress, you're frightened and all those things in the short term are very good for you. They help you to survive and get away, but long term it kind of breaks down your body.
Speaker 2:
Right For want of a better way to describe that Right and you could say well, I go to the beach and I relax there. Well, I went to the beach, but I was still doing the shallow breath, shallow breathing. So, no matter where I was, even if I felt like I was in a very calm, very happy place, if I'm still doing the shallow breathing, that still indicates to my body that I'm in danger.
Speaker 1:
So tell me about when you first learned that, and then what did you do, and then what did you experience with?
Speaker 2:
a not shallow breath, All right. So I'd learned this first in yoga. I did not learn it in MBSR until mindfulness based stress reduction until later. But in yoga there are all different kinds of breaths that you can do Breath work is a big part of yoga.
Speaker 1:
It's not just postures, right.
Speaker 2:
Right Breath work and understanding all the different kinds of breath work, and there's breathing you can do for sleep and there's breathing you can do for all different kinds of things To clear your head and to energize you and all kinds of things, but to actually direct my breath down into my belly. The first thing that happens when you do that is much like anything else that we talk about in mindfulness. It allows your mind to disengage from the fear.
Speaker 1:
Because your body's, the physiology of that breath, is telling your body, oh, it's safe, right, and I will just so, before you go on in place, you know, if you are chronic shallow breather, like you were, taking a belly breath is not natural and it's not easy to know it's not just something like oh I can do a belly breath and I'll just accomplish this.
Speaker 2:
All the things you talk about require attention as you, as you work at it right, yeah, and so as just the act of focusing you you're on redirecting your breath and Understanding where you want your breath to go, in and of itself is a common practice.
Speaker 1:
And it was the attention in the now trying to make your body do something which takes you out of thinking about other things and you're focused on only that breath, only that. Right now Am I doing it? Correct this?
Speaker 2:
moment exactly, and even now, after Six years or whatever, that I've been practicing breathing, even I'm still a shallow breather because I don't have a lung capacity. You know, because it's a lifelong right shallow breath, I do not have a lung capacity to really expand my lungs fully. But I'm now Predominantly doing belly breathing because that's what I have practiced doing to help change my right habituated breath.
Speaker 1:
I for most of my life and still do have some um Maladaptive breathing practices, whereas I have a huge lung capacity, right because I have chronically hold my breath right whenever I do anything, I take deep breaths and I don't breathe regularly. I tend to hold the breath because I'm constantly From whether it was again a fear-based thing, from running from the bullies in the neighborhood I or it was my practice as a of lifting weights and things like that I'm constantly bracing, taking a deep breath and basically doing a Fourth breath hold right and then I then, when I'm done, I was like and then I take another breath and then you hold it, then I hold it.
Speaker 1:
I know I'm not, it's not a regular deep, relaxed belly, right. And so I have to constantly remind myself, because if I go to lift my hand up, grab something, hold my breath, it's got to stay relaxed. Keep the smooth belly breathing. Just keep my body from thinking it's frightened or in a heightened state Exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:
So I think what I'd like to do and we don't normally do this, but what I would like to do is just take, let's say, 30 seconds to practice a belly breath, so that people can understand how you walk through it. So you're going to take one hand and put it on your belly, below your belly button.
Speaker 1:
And I would say for me, I can feel my belly breath better if I'm actually lying down. Yes, then one seated.
Speaker 2:
Yes, if you can lie down, great. If you can't lie down, that's fine.
Speaker 1:
If you're driving, don't.
Speaker 2:
Don't lie down. So, whether you're sitting down or lying down, you can put your hand flat on your belly, below your belly button, and I have to close my eyes, otherwise I can't do it.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's a full body focus and, especially as you're practicing it and you're new to it, you do have to think about the mechanics of how it works.
Speaker 2:
Right and I like to ask my body to direct my breath to my belly. So it's not something that's external. I'm actually requesting that my body do it and hoping that my body will help me to do that practice. And you're just going to inhale a normal inhale, but just imagine it going down into your belly, versus your chest, and if you have a belly breath, you will feel your belly expand, you will feel your hand move with the breath and then you'll feel it go back in and I know for me my cue is to basically not like bending to push your belly out, but like I push my belly out purposefully.
Speaker 2:
I was just going to say don't do that, okay.
Speaker 1:
That's how I initiated it, just to like okay, that's what I supposed to feel like.
Speaker 2:
You can relax the belly. Okay, relax it first, yes, and then, as you inhale, just allow the breath to expand. So it's not a forcing of the, you're not forcing the belly muscles out, you're just allowing the air to go in there and fill the belly.
Speaker 1:
Because typically, when you're going to take a deep breath, you use the muscles that are from your neck, that attach to your ribs, and you pull the chest up with that breath. But this you want to try to, not, you're not engaging anything from the neck to the waist.
Speaker 2:
And that doesn't mean that you're still not going to have something going on in the lungs, because the lungs is where air right they're still going to fill, but you want to make sure that air goes all the way down into your belly. One other point if you have trouble doing that, putting your hand there, if you put something heavy and it could be something as much as your cell phone if you're laying on your back put something on your belly that has some weight to it.
Speaker 2:
That way you may feel your belly expand and contract.
Speaker 1:
And one thing that I also do, particularly when lying down, is, which I think is a better place to do, that is, before or during that first breath. Try to consciously relax your limbs, your neck, your face, because that relaxation helps the belly then to go up as well. And when your tense, that again tightens those muscles.
Speaker 2:
And that will keep the belly in your chest of the ribs.
Speaker 1:
It'll make it a chest breath, which is not what you're after.
Speaker 2:
So what else would you like to talk about? About breath?
Speaker 1:
Well, I think one of the most forms of meditation all over the world, no matter what practice, spirituality, religion they evolve from, breath work and focus on the breath is usually one of the most powerful and most common ways that people actually do become mindful, whether it's breathing during a prayer, during a meditation, just focusing on the breath is actually one of the easiest and most powerful things you can do to sort of start a mindfulness practice.
Speaker 1:
Correct, because it does bring them, it relaxes the body, it allows you to be in the now in the moment, because you're focused on the breath in and out, Even if you're not purposely making the breath, if you're focused on your natural breathing, just being in the now, feeling the breath going in through your nostrils, down your trachea, expanding the lungs, rising the belly, just focusing on that in and out does bring you into the moment and that's a very powerful way to start a mindfulness practice is just to focus on the breath, not necessarily controlling the breath in terms of a particular countering, but just watching the breath.
Speaker 2:
Well, I was going to say just you know, if this is totally new to you, just spend a moment with your eyes closed observing your breath, just observing.
Speaker 1:
Don't control it, just watch it. Watch it, listen to it. Where are you feeling?
Speaker 2:
that's exactly it. Where are you feeling the breath going? Is it coming in your nose? Is it coming in your mouth? Can you feel it expanding your chest?
Speaker 1:
Can you feel it coming through your mouth and down your throat, or through your nostrils and down your throat? Where do you? Can you feel the chest rise, the belly rise, anything? Where is it happening? And then, just again, don't try to control it, just watch it, feel it, listen to it.
Speaker 1:
That's one of the the perfect ways to start a mindfulness practice and, just you know, just doing that purposefully for a moment, you know, once or twice a day, for less than a minute Right, is going to be a very, very powerful start into sort of this Breathwork which is at the core of a mindfulness practice Absolutely Getting close to time.
Speaker 2:
What's, what's your one thing? You have one thing.
Speaker 1:
I just think, recognize that you know breath, work at the power of your breath is one of the most important things that you can recognize and you know, in future episodes will talk a little bit more about specific things. You can do, ways you can meditate, ways you can, you know, immediately alleviate Anxiety through breath work, you can look back from our past episodes and just so, and to go back what you said originally, recognize that Um shallow chest breathing can have a detrimental effect on you.
Speaker 1:
So that's you know. I would say don't ignore breath Just think I don't work on that but recognize that maladaptive breathing can actually be harmful to right right and and accept that most of us are Breathing incorrectly, absolutely, and and and and.
Speaker 2:
It is due to Childhood experiences. Whether you have the best childhood in the world or or a nightmare of a childhood, it really doesn't make any difference that that now, adaptive breathing is learned very, very early on. And just just my one thing is Start with the idea, let me. Let me just observe how I'm breathing and and whether any breath is going to my belly or not.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Sounds good. I love it until next time. This has been just one thing,
