Just Breathe😮‍💨

Hey {{first_name}}!

Most of us have heard the song or seen the slogan "Just Breathe".

Seems simple enough considering we do it everyday without even thinking about it. So what is the point of practicing breathing? Because many of us are doing it wrong! Mouthbreathers, I'm talking to you! **

The practice of breathing or pranayama has many benefits, not just in your yoga practice, but in daily life as well. Pranayama is the fourth limb of yoga and a combination of the words prana, meaning vital life force and yama meaning control. In other words - Breath Control.

"I'd like you to do something.", James Nestor, author of Breath says. "Please take a breath. As in breathe in, consider that the air now passing down your throat into your lungs and bloodstream contains more molecules of air than all the grains of sand on all the world's beaches. We each inhale and exhale some thirty pounds of these molecules every day - far more than we eat or drink. And the ways in which we take in that air and exhale it is as important as what we eat, how much we exercise, or whatever genes we've inherited." 

The difference between how we naturally breathe and pranayama is that how we naturally breathe tends to reflect how we're feeling in the moment. When we're stressed or rushed we often breath into our chests as opposed to breathing into our belly and lungs. Pranayama serves as a way to train your lungs to breathe to the fullest capacity so that it will become second nature in your yoga practice and in life. 

That means inhaling from the belly and fully exhaling - making sure your exhale is slightly longer than your inhale.

Some of the benefits of pranayama include: increased lung capacity, increased blood flow, better circulation, decreased stress, anxiety and tension.

Controlling your breath can help you control the aspects of your life that can unnerve the best of us; stuck in traffic? Breathe. Deadlines looming? Breathe. Relatives visiting for the holidays? Breathe!

If you want to learn how to practice your very own breathing techniques then check out the this feature that's NEW to The MSing Link! Breathing Techniques with Patricia Hawley RYT-200, with additional yoga and MS training through the National MS society. 

If you're an active MSing Link member, you can access the video by going to The MSing Link > Yoga > Breathing techniques. If you're not a member of The MSing Link, click here to learn about it and see if it would be a good fit for you!

All my best, 

Dr. Gretchen, PT

** And for mouthbreathers, listen up! More from James Nestor:

"Mouthbreathing, it turns out, changes the physical body and transforms airways, all for the worse. Inhaling air through the mouth decreases pressure, which causes the soft tissues in the back of the mouth to become loose and flex inward, creating less overall space and making breathing more difficult. Mouthbreathing begets more mouthbreathing. Inhaling from the nose has the opposite effect. It forces air against all those flabby tissues at the back of the throat, making the airways wider and breathing easier. After a while, these tissues and muscles get "toned" to stay in this opened and wide position. Nasal breathing begets more nasal breathing. Sleeping with an open mouth exacerbates these problems. Whenever we put our heads on a pillow, gravity pulls the soft tissues in the throat and tongue down, closing off the airway even more. After a while, our airways get conditioned to this position; snoring and sleep apnea become the new normal."