A moment of gratitude,
The breath.
This is a special episode of A Moment of Gratitude as I'm joined today by Andrew Davis who is going to talk to us about the breath.
Breathing something's interested me for a long time because it's something we do every day.
It's essential to life.
But what if we could use the breath to improve our health?
One could benefit from breath work,
Whether you're an athlete,
Need help with anxiety or helping your immune system to name just a few things.
We're starting to see far more interest in the science of the breath,
How it can affect our autoimmune system,
Our mood and even our performance.
Yoga one of the oldest practices talks a lot about using the breath to unite our mind,
Body and spirit.
There are various pranayama exercises or breathwork techniques that can be done when using yoga as an exercise,
Using the breath to flow from one pose to another.
But these pranayama exercises can be done on their own and in fact it's a branch of yoga on its own.
More recently Wim Hof has been very vocal about the amazing benefits of his breathwork technique to prevent illness and many of the studies now are backing up his initial claims that this can be exceedingly beneficial to us.
There are now authors covering the breath with books such as Breath,
The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor and Breatheology by the Danish free diver Stig Sverrensen.
A simple exercise we can try today to learn about the benefits and power of the breath is alternate nostril breathing.
In the yogic tradition it is said that breathing through the right nostril is said to increase pranic energy or heat in the body and be good for the digestion amongst many other things.
The left nostril is said to be more calming and cooling.
In this exercise it will help to balance these energies providing relaxation,
Reduction in anxiety and promoting a general feeling of well-being.
This exercise is often a good preparation for going into a meditation or once you've got the hang of it you can do it whilst meditating.
To begin this practice sit upright with your spine erect.
You can either be in a cross-legged position or in a chair.
Make sure you can breathe freely and inhale and exhale of the same slow and steady length.
Now we use a special hand position which is called a mudra to close off each nostril.
So if you bring up your right hand to the nose,
Fold down your index and middle fingers to your palm,
You can now use your thumb and your ring finger.
Now the thumb will close the right nostril and the ring finger will close the left.
Remember not much pressure is needed here and the other crucial thing here is not to hunch over.
Keep your spine erect as if you're being pulled up by a thread on the top of your head.
So we want to start off by taking one full breath in and out using both nostrils.
Then close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale into the left nostril.
Pause briefly then cover the left nostril with your ring finger and exhale slowly and steadily out of the right nostril.
Again pausing briefly before inhaling to the right nostril,
Hold both nostrils closed before releasing the left nostril and exhaling.
Keep this pattern going as it will settle and rebalance you.
Keep your mind following the breath in and out.
Ten cycles of this will help to calm the mind and body.
So keep practicing.
Just five minutes a day will really help to feel less anxious and less stressed.
