The importance of knowing how to breathe to alleviate muscle tension, stress and anxiety, and create a deeper understanding of HOW your body and mind work.
Breathing is such a key part of a yoga practice!
Breath is central because it creates a connection between your body and your mind. Your breath is largely unconscious but you are able to control HOW you breath which in turn influences how your body and mind function. It’s quite incredible how instantaneous the shift can occur too. Pause for a moment from reading this and just notice how you're breathing? Are you breathing?
Sometimes when we are very focused we actually hold our breath, or tense our belly and ribs and only take short breaths from the throat and chest area. It's easy to do as you sit at a desk because if your arms are raised onto the desk, typing, then you tend to breath by lifting the shoulders and neck (instead of your ribs and diaphragm like you are meant to). So what is it that you are doing at this moment?
Can you now relax your arms on your lap perhaps, sit tall and close your eyes. Relax your belly and take a long inhale for a count of 3, followed by a mindful exhale to the count of 3? Do that 3 times and notice how you feel.
I’m willing to bet that you feel slightly more calm and relaxed?
That right there is the power of the breath. Mostly unconscious, but can be voluntary in how it occurs.
This is due to the fact that your muscles you use to breathe are made up what is know as skeletal muscle - muscles that are voluntary in our bodies. Involuntary muscles include the heart, blood vessels and digestive tract (thank goodness!!).
Our skeletal muscles rely largely on oxygen being present in our blood for energy (ATP) to be produced, to allow efficiency of the actual reaction that causes movement to occur at the molecular level. The energy combines with Calcium to contact muscle tissue, and Magnesium to relax muscle tissue. This is why Magnesium salt baths help your muscles to relax. Relaxation, despite its name, is an active process that requires energy!! Summary: you need to breathe (Oxygen) to create energy to be able to relax your muscles.
How does this relate to stress and anxiety?
Well, when you are actively relaxing through conscious breathing, you are also starting to kick in your ‘rest and digest’ nervous system (parasympathetic), partly by moving your diaphragm which stimulates your vagus nerve. The vagus nerve controls the whole parasympathetic nervous system. In this state your body is able to digest food, absorb nutrients, repair tissue damage, bring you into balance (homeostasis) and relax and think clearly.
When breaths are short we move towards a state of ‘fight or flight’ (sympathetic nervous system control) which causes your blood to flow to your heart and muscular tissue as if you are ready to take off running in a state of heightened fear, stress and anxiety! Your heart beats faster and your muscles contract. This brings blood AWAY from your digestive system and relaxed state. So if we are breathing rapidly because we are used to breathing that way, and feeling a lot of stress and anxiety - it’s because we are actually designed to feel that way under the conditions of rapid short breathing. Now think about the implications of constantly breathing shallow rapid breaths….