Your Breath Is a Powerful Healer

Breath is one of the most powerful healing tools you have, and it is right under your nose (pun intended!), yet most of us are not aware of how to use it to heal ourselves to our core. Your breath can calm your mind and soothe your emotions and it definitely nourishes every single cell in your body. But, if you are like most people, you are a shallow breather. Why? Because when you were young and you got scared, confused or hurt, you held onto your breath, closed your heart, and took up residence in your head.  

When you take shallow breaths, you are limiting your intake of oxygen, which decreases your life force. Holding onto your breath also turns on the fight or flight part of your nervous system which tightens you, so you hold on more and then you find yourself in a vicious circle of struggle. 

When you can learn to open your breath again, your nervous system calms down and your heart can open. As you experience long, slow, rhythmic breaths, your whole being begins to relax and let go. Try it for a few minutes right now. Take a moment and dip the finger of your attention into the river of your experience and simply notice what you are experiencing. Then imagine a lit candle floating in the air a few inches in front of your mouth. Breathe in through your nostrils and out through your mouth, gently blowing out the candle. (Of course, it is a trick candle that immediately lights again!) After a few minutes, let go of the candle breath and notice what you are experiencing right now. It is amazing how much a minute or so of longer out-breaths can calm you and bring energy and vitality to your whole being.  

To get a glimpse into how powerful a healer your breath is, in my CD, Breathe Fully ~ Live Fully: Discover the Life-Giving Power of Breath, I talk about a study that was conducted in Finland with 24 people who had experienced a heart attack. They were split into two groups of 12 and were followed by medical professionals for two years. One of the groups of 12 was taught breath work, and they practiced it every day. At the conclusion of the study, seven out of 12 people in the non-breath work group had experienced another heart attack, but not one person in the breath work group had another attack. Amazing! This is the phenomenal power of your breath! It is so important to know that the key to a more open breath is allowing your out-breath to be longer than your in-breath. When you lengthen your out-breath, your in-breath automatically becomes deeper without any force. Do that for a few minutes every day and notice how you feel.  

If you didn’t try it before, try it now. How do you feel after allowing several deep, long breaths, making your out-breaths longer than your in-breaths? The next time you are experiencing anxiety, stress or challenges in your life, I invite you to give yourself the gift of deep, long out-breaths you so desperately long for.