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Woman with eyes closed, smiling and taking a deep breath by the ocean
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The Power of Breath

The breath is a powerful force. Not only does it keep you alive, it also helps you manage your mood and state of being

When was the last time you considered your breath? You take breathing for granted. As long as it is working so that you can work, rest and play you do not give it a second thought. From the moment you are born this essential process happens subconsciously, fuelling the body, feeding the cells the oxygen they need to perform their essential tasks to keep you alive and in good health and getting rid of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise build up to toxic levels in your system. On average, you take about 960 breaths an hour (that’s over twenty three thousand breaths a day). Until that moment when this process stops and your thoughts, emotions, feelings and awareness are no more.

The Power of Breath

The power of my breath was brought home to me most strongly when I as a teenager learning to SCUBA dive. Part of the training process is to learn drills should something happen underwater and you have to safely get back to the surface. One such drill is buddy- breathing. You always dive in pairs and if one of you runs out of air or your equipment malfunctions the other one can share their air while you both make a safe ascent. On one such practice dive, I was sharing my air with my buddy. As my buddy passed the mouth- piece to me so that I could take my 2 breaths, the instructor, unknown to me, turned off my air.

The feeling of trying to draw air and getting nothing in return sent me into panic. In fear I broke for the surface, which can be fatal for a diver, as the air is pressurised and expands as you rise. The instructor grabbed me before I got too far and got me to think about what I had to do to be safe. As I shared his air gratefully I felt the panic subside and clarity of thought return.

Needless to say, it was a dramatic lesson in how we are wired to take that next life- sustaining breath. I was also intrigued about how to control my thoughts, feelings and emotions in such a situation. Knowledge, practice, awareness and experience are all essential ingredients to success during an otherwise potentially stressful event. There are practical steps you can take to ensure you respond with confidence, calm, effectiveness and creativity.

The Relaxation Response

There are two strands to the way you respond to situations. There is either the relaxation response or the stress response. We are most familiar with the stress response: fight, flight or freeze. The relaxation response is less well known and is coined “rest and digest”. These two strands activate completely different parts of the nervous system.

When you are stressed and in the fight, flight or freeze response your sympathetic nervous system is engaged, driving your heart rate up, quickening your breath and dilating your blood vessels and muscles for action. This stress response is really important and useful in small doses. When your system is exposed to this long term, it can harmful affects on your mind and body, suppressing your immune system, making you irritable and aggressive, reducing effectiveness and creativity and much more.

Conversely, when you are relaxed, your parasympathetic nervous system is active, your heart slows, your breath slows and deepens and your blood vessels and muscles relax. You are meant to be relaxed for the majority of the time, promoting a strong immune system, a calm and relaxed demeanor, giving you resilience during stressful situations because generally your body and mind are not worn out by the excessive effects of long term stress.

The Power of Awareness

When you find yourself in stressful situations for much of the time, you can learn to engage the parasympathetic nervous system.  This promotes relaxation. You can learn to relax your muscles and calm and deepen your breathing so that you remain calm, attentive and aware throughout the day. The first stage to this is awareness. You have to realise that your body is reacting in a stressful way. Awareness exercises practiced regularly allow you to become more mindful of your state of mind and body so that you can recognise your state of being and consciously act to alter your state. They have the additional advantage of regularly relaxing your body system, keeping it calm for more of the time so that you enjoy better health and well- being. You will also interact with people better as a result and give off a feeling of calm and confidence.

Deep breathing in meditation and pranayama (yoga) practice is used to access spiritual connection, calming the body and allowing the mind’s brain waves to change to a beta state and even lower giving deeper rest, relaxation, awareness and realisation.

Controlling the breath

The breath is a powerful force. Not only does it keep you alive, it also helps you manage your mood and state of being. People tend to breath one of two ways, either by moving the chest or stomach. Chest breathing tends to be more shallow and is reminiscent of the stress response. Breathing from the stomach is much deeper and calmer. You are not literally breathing with your stomach. You are moving your stomach out, leaving room for your diaphragm to contract down, drawing more air into your lungs. This is much more healthy, calming and relaxing for the whole body. This is how you control your mood and response. Practice breathing deeply using the stomach and you can use this to activate the relaxation response during more stressful situations.

Moving Meditation Course

This is one of many methods I use with clients to help with confidence, awareness and relaxation. I cover this and many more during my Moving Meditation Courses. Please e- mail david@potentialitycoaching.co.uk to learn about future events.  We can also discuss  how we can work together to build your confidence from the inside out.  Click here to find out about future Moving Meditation Courses.

Over to You

What do you notice about your breathing when you are relaxed and stressed? Do you find you experience shortness of breath? How do you control your mind and body when you’re in a stressful situation? I’d love to hear from you and learn about how you use your breath.

Pass it on

Is this article or the Moving Meditation Course useful for someone that you know?  If so, please send them a link to the blog or forward the details of the course. I’d really appreciate you spreading the word.

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Answering questions from a different perspective- 4 steps to Body Wisdom

Finding a different perspective can open up a whole new view

Finding a different perspective can open up a whole new view

There is an Einstein quote that I love: “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it”. I find it incredibly instructional, because it reminds me of the limitation of one mind set that can be given new light, insight and understanding by viewing it differently. It also reminds me that whenever there is a block in my life, I know that there is at least one way past it somehow if only I take the time to look, explore and discover.

Body Wisdom

Sometimes the process of getting to that new vision can be really challenging as it may ask us to question previously tightly held beliefs that may be long engrained and even foundational to our current life style and way of being.

As a martial arts instructor as well as a life coach I am constantly reminded of the intuitive knowledge of the body. I call this ‘Body Wisdom’.  In martial arts as well as dance, particularly contemporary dance, manifests in movement.  Particularly the spontaneous movement within unstructured forms and personal expression.

To people outside these worlds this may appear strange, yet to those of us sharing this wonderful experience, it is as if the body is speaking to us, through us in freedom, joy and celebration.

We experience this wisdom all the time, in our health, spatial awareness, balance and homeostasis- the body’s dynamic equilibrium of minerals, electrolytes and hydration.

Body Wisdom as a new Perspective

As a life coach people often come to me feeling stuck, challenged and unsure as to which direction to turn and get locked into the story of their journey. This is the conscious mind recounting facts explaining how it got into this situation in the first place. Very quickly what I do is ask clients to access the intuitive, creative and freer part of their minds.  Almost instantly the blocks begin to dissolve away. New action ensues from this new mind set.  Then the conscious mind is given new insight and knowledge which leads to new solutions.

I have a friend who pitches business solutions to companies, in particular industries in which he has no industry track record. To begin with these companies are a little bemused as to why he would bother. Very quickly he poses solutions to their problems that they have never thought of simply because he is not restricted to that particular industry’s mindset and can offer thinking out of the box so to speak.

One source of alternative thinking in life coaching is Body Wisdom. The awareness of the body, it’s feelings, emotions, tensions and pains. I use this a lot with myself as well.  I understand that my body is speaking to me all the time.  Recently, my awareness of tension in the core of my body led me to understand that I have fear around trust.  I am now able to address this in many areas of my life.  Therefore I’m improving my relationships with others both privately and in business as well as with my self.

I use this with clients too, accessing insights that are hidden to the logical, conscious mind normally. It brings freedom, the choice to make a decision consciously rather than be motivated by unconscious drivers. Slowly over time we return fully to our self.  Becoming progressively more present, more available and more powerful in the moment.

Four steps to Body Wisdom

1. Take some time and space to sit quietly and bring your awareness to your body. Deep breathing and progressively relaxing the body helps with this>  It has the additional benefit of calming the mind as body and mind are connected.

2. Become aware of tension in the body. This can really only happen when you are still and aware of the body. It could be shoulders, neck, stomach, back, your jaw, even the breath itself. Wherever there is tension, there is energy held, locked in and not free to flow.

3. Pick a spot. Breathe into this tension. Penetrate deep with your awareness and your breath. When the energy starts to shift this is when the insights come- in words, feelings and often in pictures. Perhaps it is an object or place, what temperature, what textures, sounds and movements are there? This is the body speaking its language. This is Body Wisdom.  Work with the imagery, let the process unfold and discover the wisdom that lies within.

4. If you feel inclined to do so keep notes of your revelations and insights. Most importantly you are setting your self free from the tension that holds you back from being most fully your self. This is an on- going process, constantly unfolding, releasing you from old ways and paving the way for the new.

Body Wisdom is just one way in which you can gain a different perspective on engrained ideas. The key to opening the door to any situation in which you feel stuck or limited is to look at it from new perspectives. Suddenly new information is available to you and new avenues present themselves. If you want to remain stuck in the old view look no further.  If you want freedom, sometimes the body can reveal perspectives to you that not only give new insight.  They can also heal. Such is the power of the body when you give it a chance!

Over to you

As ever, I would love to hear from you.  How do you find the process of accessing Body Wisdom?  What revelations have you had?  How have you overcome the parts you have found challenging?  Please share your thoughts and insights.  You never know you may provide a perspective for  someone else that may help set them free.

Why not………..

If you found this article useful and interesting please pass it on to other people you think would be interested and spread the word.  I would really appreciate it.  And if you are new to Potentiality Coaching, why not sign up to the e- mailing list at https://www.potentialitycoaching.co.uk/ and get an e- mail straight to your in box when I post my monthly blog and be first to hear about news, information and insights at Potentiality Coaching.  I’d love to have you be part of the community.

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