The Importance of Belly Breathing

Do you know that in moments of stress we breathe high up in our chests?

If you are living your life always on the go, always thinking, always figuring things out, you most likely are breathing shallow breaths high up in your chest. Your body may be in fight-or-flight mode because of this stressful lifestyle. Your anxiety may be high. Your adrenals may be fatigued. Your doctor may have told you that your thyroid is off balance. Have you considered belly breathing? 

Scientifically, when we breathe using our belly and diaphragm rather than high up in our chests, we are engaging our parasympathetic nervous system. This breathing tells our bodies that it is okay to relax. That there is no imminent threat. Our body can then begin to release the stress and return to self-healing.

Additionally, when we bring our focus to our belly, we bring our attention inward to what our inner wisdom is trying to reveal to us. We feel inspired, we feel calm, and we feel a sense of peace. We come back to the knowing that everything will be okay. Everything is working out for us. Everything is working in our favor.

Learn how to do Central Channel Breathing

We all have an inner wisdom and a lot of the time we find ourselves stuck in our heads. The way out of our heads is through embodiment, bringing ourselves back into our bodies through breath. 

I’d like to teach you the practice of embodiment through Dr. Sue Morter’s Central Channel Breathing. 

There is a channel that runs through your body. It starts at the top of your head, runs through the center of your brain, down through the center of your neck, through the center of your chest, through your belly, and down through your pelvic floor straight into the earth. The idea of Central Channel Breathing is to move energy up and down the channel using your breath.

Let’s get started.

Start by sitting vertically. Place your hand on your belly. Notice how breathing through your belly is a different experience than breathing in your upper chest. Upper chest breathing is what we tend to do when we are stressed and it engages our fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system. Instead we want to remember to use our bellies for breathing in order to engage our restful parasympathetic nervous system. 

Next, as you inhale, imagine energy starting from two inches above your head moving down through the center of your brain, down your neck, through the center of your chest, and into your belly. As you exhale, send that energy down through your pelvic floor straight down to the earth. Then inhale as you bring the energy back up through your pelvic floor to your belly. As you exhale, continue to send the energy back up the channel past your heart, through your neck to the center of your brain, and then out the top of your head. You have now done one round of Central Channel Breathing.  

I invite you to remember to do Central Channel Breathing throughout your day, whether you are waiting in line at the grocery store, at a red light in your car, or spending some time on your yoga mat. You will progress quickly if you do this practice several times a day, especially at night when you go to bed and in the morning when you wake up. Remember, so that you can begin to change your life experience.

Source: Dr. Sue Morter of the Morter Institute for BioEnergetics, http://www.drsuemorter.com

Start your day with lemon water

Benefits of Lemon Water:

• Lemon juice aids digestion by flushing out unwanted materials and toxins from the body.

• The citric acid in lemons helps maximize enzyme function, which stimulates the liver and aids in detoxification.

• Lemons are high in vitamin C, which boosts your immune system, is anti-inflammatory and promotes wound healing.

• Lemons are one of the most alkalizing foods for the body and they balance pH levels. Drinking lemon water regularly can help to decrease acidity in the body.

• The negative charged ions in lemons provide your body with more energy when it enters the digestive tract.

• The scent of lemon can improve your mood with its energizing properties.

Sources:

1. chopra.com/articles/benefits-of-lemon-water

2. gonaturaljamaica.com