Breathwork & Your Mind

Breathing isn’t always as simple as it seems and how we breathe can affect the way we cope with life. There are so many benefits to taking time each day to focus on your breathing including improving your immune system, dealing with chronic pain, improving posture, and helping with muscle recovery after exercise.

With better blood flow around your body and increased oxygen levels in your cells, you’ll see the physical benefits of mindful breathwork almost immediately. Mastering the breathwork techniques in this article will also help to calm your mind and centre yourself.

Bringing Your Mind Home to Your Body with Breathwork

Breathing is something that comes completely naturally to us. It’s one of our most basic instincts—something we don’t have to be taught how to do.

Or do we?

Through mindful breathing, we can centre ourselves and improve our overall well being. Too often, it takes a health scare or being in a situation where it’s hard to breathe to make us pay attention to our breath. Instead of waiting for a crisis, take some time now to familiarise yourself with why breathwork is important and how you can focus on breathing every day.

Why Breathwork Is Important For Your Mind

Good breathwork is one of the most important things you can do to improve your overall mental and emotional wellbeing. Countless studies have shown that mindful breathing helps you to deal with these kinds of issues far better, for example:

● Improved Self Awareness – The first thing you’ll see from regular breathwork is a better sense of yourself. You’ll be able to see signs of stress, anxiety or anger building up inside. You’ll also be able to start recognising triggers and being able to find a way back to your happy place with ease.

● Decrease Anxiety And Stress – It’s more than just being able to recognise these feelings within you. Breathwork can help you cope with stressful moments or things that cause you anxiety. Taking a moment to practice your techniques will actively reduce the impact that these feelings have on your body and your ability to engage with the day.

● Help You Process Grief And Anger – Grief and anger can be overwhelming and all-consuming emotions. It’s important to accept that they’re part of you and that you have every right to feel them. However, you don’t need to let them rule your life. Breathwork can help you overcome the emotions when you feel like they’re going to engulf your mind and prevent you from functioning.

● Release Negativity And Self-Esteem Issues – Poor self-esteem can have a massive impact on your mental wellbeing. Through breathwork, you can focus your thoughts and start to process any negativity that comes from within and without. It takes time and focus, but you really can let go of the negative thoughts you have and start to build up your self-esteem.

● Boost Joy And Creativity – As a knock-on effect from the point above, you’ll find that you are happier with yourself and your general levels of joy will start to increase. A wonderful side effect of this is that your levels of creativity will also start to go up, allowing you to find more ways to do things that bring you joy.

Through regular breathwork, you are taking a timeout each day to focus on your body. It’s a form of meditation that gives you a quiet moment to recentre yourself and stop worrying about external elements. In addition to the timeout, you’re flooding your body with oxygen and boosting all of your bodily functions.

What Proper Breathwork Can Do For Your Body

There are so many other benefits to taking time each day to focus on your breathing. These include:

● Improving your immune system through increased oxygen

● Dealing with chronic pain

● Bettering your posture as you open your lungs up

● Aiding with muscle recovery after exercise

With better blood flow around your body and increased oxygen levels in your cells, you’ll see the physical benefits of mindful breathwork almost immediately.

Breathwork Techniques You Can Do Any Time

The types and methods of breathwork are extremely wide and varied. The good news is, once you’ve mastered the techniques, you can use them anywhere and at any time you need to. Some techniques are great for doing every day as a type of meditation before you start the morning or go to bed. Others are perfect for getting you through specific situations as they arise in your day.

● Mindful Breathing – This is the simplest form of breathwork and all you have to do is pause and focus on your breathing. The idea is not to change how you’re breathing, but to simply become aware of the air flowing in and out of your body. The act of becoming aware of your breathing will usually slow it down and make it deeper, which has a great calming effect on your body.

● Pranayama Breathing – If you do yoga or know anything about it, you’ll likely have heard of pranayama breathing. It’s an active form of breathing where you inhale and exhale through the nose. You need to breathe in until your lungs are completely full and then hold your breath for a beat. Your exhale through the nose should be slow and steady, but with controlled force.

● The 4, 7, 8 Method For Sleeping – Breathwork can be great for calming the mind and body, helping you to fall asleep easily. This method is ideal for clearing your thoughts so that your body can relax and drift off to sleep. You start by inhaling for four counts and holding your breath for seven counts. Then, you exhale in a controlled manner for eight counts. Keep repeating this process until your body is totally relaxed, your mind clear and you can fall asleep.

● Single Nostril Breathing – This is a great technique for distracting your mind if you’re suffering from anxiety or feeling agitated. You start by closing off one nostril by pressing it flat, then breathe in steadily. Switch to the other nostril and breathe out steadily. Repeat the process until you feel calm and able to continue with your day.

● Using A Mantra – To help you with focusing, a mantra combined with breathwork can really work. Create a word or phrase that will help you as you say it over and over again in a breathwork session. Then, combine a steady breath in and then out as you say your mantra to yourself.

In summary, breathing isn’t always as simple as it seems. Mastering different breathwork techniques is the key to calming your mind and centring yourself. Everything else will follow.

Thanks to Sophia Bennet from YOGABODY for this article.