Breath: The True Barometer of Your Health

: By Guy Joseph Ale

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The life force coursing through your body
manifests itself through your breath.

Breath is the foundation of everything, and everything begins with breath. Breath is the true barometer by which to measure your mental, physical, and emotional states: levels of anxiety, fitness, tightness, ease, or stress. The quality of your breath indicates how balanced and aligned the different systems of your body are at any given time.

We don’t pay much attention to this activity and do it automatically about 22,000 times a day, but as the satirical publication The Onion correctly pointed out in October 2017, “A report released by the National Institutes of Health found that breathing can extend a person’s lifespan by several decades... Steady inhaling, when combined with equal parts exhaling, promotes healthy brain function. Conversely, missing even one day of breathing can drastically reduce an otherwise healthy person’s life expectancy.”

Learning To Master Your Breath

When we learn how to master our breath we can be in control in every situation in life. Our daily routines are filled with small and big annoyances, and potential causes of anxiety. When we find ourselves in a “tight situation,” the natural tendency of the body is to stiffen, and the breath to become shallow or restricted. These are the hereditary responses of our survival mechanism: the fight, flight, or freeze instinct.

The solution for situations like these is to learn to do the opposite: breathe deeply and evenly. What you want to carry with you throughout life is the clear understanding that your breath is your personal domain, and no one can enter this private space uninvited. It is your castle, and the firm ground on which you can stand no matter how dangerous a certain situation might seem. Whatever negative circumstances we encounter, we can always draw inside, center ourselves, and regulate our breath—deep, steady, and free.

Here are some helpful mantras to carry in your mental toolkit and repeat silently to yourself when you face a tight situation:

* My strength is in my breath.

* When I control my breath, I control my life.

* The oxygen of the whole world is available to me.

This last idea is especially useful. Realize that you’re never at a lack for oxygen. There’s always plenty of air around you to fill your lungs to full capacity, so you never feel deprived of breath or anxious for space or safety.

Following is a simple exercise which will help you develop mastery of your breath.

Note of caution: If you are pregnant, make sure that your condition allows you to do these deep breathing exercises.

Exercise: Mindful Breathing

The advantage of the following set is that it can be done anywhere and anytime, standing, sitting, walking, or lying on the floor. As you will see, you can also break it down to small segments, and do portions of it as you go about your daily activities.

Get comfortable and concentrate on your breath. Make sure it’s steady, even, and free.

Now inhale on the count of 5.

Exhale without count.

Inhale again on the count of 5.

Exhale without count.