Yoga: Make friends with your breath by Sally Upton - Mind, Body, Inspired
With the world feeling a little crazy right now, I believe that yoga can be less about the epic, gymnastic moves that you might have seen and more about the breath.
From the moment we’re born, our lives are full of change. Friends, schools, houses, hobbies and at the moment pods and social distancing; we’re constantly having to get used to new situations.
Our emotions are often up and down too, but our breath is always there. The more we can connect with our breath, the easier we can deal with the challenges facing us.
Sitting still and breathing can be very challenging in itself, and just as we need to exercise our muscles, so we must also exercise our breathing in order to control the ‘mind monkeys’ those crazy thoughts that jump up and down in our brains and just won’t keep still.
Here’s a great way to calm down and get some focus:
Find a quiet moment and sit down. Breathe in through your nose; a big, deep, full breath that puffs out your stomach. Purse your lips, as if you were going to kiss someone, then slowly blow all the air out of your mouth until you have completely run out of breath. Repeat. Just five rounds of this will make you feel calm and less anxious.
For the next five breaths, close your eyes and place your palms together in front of your heart. As you breathe in, move your hands apart until they are level with your outer ribs. Keep your eyes closed and, as you breathe out, allow the hands to float back towards each other, seeing if you can lightly touch your fingertips together. Repeat.
How do you feel? If it was hard to concentrate, or you felt fidgety, then you need to practice every day. Soon though, these ten simple breaths will feel great and really help if you’ve just had a stressful moment. Breathe well!
Sally
