{"id":2320,"date":"2012-09-12T09:38:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T13:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2012-09-13T16:39:35","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T20:39:35","slug":"breathing-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2320","title":{"rendered":"Breathing for your health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking a closer look at simple way to help improve your health and well-being<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Dr. Matthew Lapp<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Take control of your well-being one breath at a time.<\/p>\n

When was the last time that you thought about your breath?\u00a0 I presume that if you\u2019re reading this article you\u2019re also breathing, but it\u2019s a process that we often take for granted.\u00a0 Now that I\u2019ve directed your attention towards your breathing, you may notice frequency or depth. It may be fast or slow.\u00a0 Shallow or deep.\u00a0 Either way, chances are that in the last ten seconds it\u2019s been altered simply because you directed your attention there.<\/p>\n

For over 5,000 years, yogis have been teaching their students how to breathe in order to achieve greater levels of inner awareness, peace, and well-being.\u00a0 Several recent studies have shown that breathing for health and wellness can even lead to benefits for people who suffer from panic attacks, asthma, high blood pressure, as well as a multitude of immunological ailments.\u00a0 In addition, independent studies have shown that various types of breathing exercises decrease cortisol (a hormone that\u2019s released when your body is under stress), enhance brain function, ease symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and decrease anxiety and depression. I bet you never knew that you had all that healing power inside!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the most interesting research so far has come out of the field of biofeedback. Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of internal processes, like heart rate, brain wave activity, muscular activity and breathing rate, in order to learn how to alter them in order to achieve greater health and performance.\u00a0 Often, people undergoing biofeedback training use advanced equipment in order to monitor these physiological parameters, but you can use a simple watch with a second hand.\u00a0 To try it for yourself, simply count the number of breaths you take in a minute and write it down. Now try it again, but take a breath or two less. Write that number down.\u00a0 Do it once more and again take a breath or two less.\u00a0 That\u2019s it. You\u2019ve just completed your first round of biofeedback.<\/p>\n

Any time you consciously pay attention to a physiological process and then alter it, you are essentially performing biofeedback.\u00a0 The trick is to be aware of what\u2019s going on internally, more of the time. If you can be aware of it, you can change it!\u00a0 And in doing so, you might be able to decrease your overall stress level and increase your level of health and well-being.<\/p>\n

Now for one more, slightly more complex breathing activity to further enhance your ability to pay attention to your breathing.\u00a0 This simple exercise comes from a discipline called SomatoRespiratory Integration (SRI). Somato- means \u201cbody.\u201d\u00a0 Respiratory refers to the breath, and integration is where we put it all together.\u00a0 Simply put, SRI is a discipline that combines breathing and body awareness exercises in order to enhance internal strategies for living a life of well-being.\u00a0 Overall, SRI consists of 12 stages that correlate with a book written by Dr. Donald Epstein called, The Twelve Stages of Healing<\/em>.\u00a0 The first stage is all about connection.<\/p>\n

To perform this exercise, simply put one hand on top of the other and place it at the center of your chest.\u00a0 Take a few easy breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth.\u00a0 Next move your hands a little lower, to the spot where your rib cage comes together.\u00a0 Again take a few easy breaths.\u00a0 Lastly, move your hands directly over your belly button and take a few breaths.\u00a0 Did one spot seem easier than the others?\u00a0 Did one spot seem more challenging?<\/p>\n

Try to identify both the easiest and the most challenging spot to breath into.\u00a0 When you\u2019ve identified each location, place your hands over the spot that felt the easiest and most \u201cconnected\u201d to your breath.\u00a0 Take a few breaths at that location.\u00a0 Next, move your hands to the spot that felt more difficult and breath here a few times.\u00a0 While you breath into this spot, say to yourself, \u201csometimes I feel disconnected.\u201d\u00a0 As you do, imagine trying to push your hands up and out with each breath.\u00a0 Continue to move back and forth between the spot of \u201cease\u201d and the spot of \u201cchallenge.\u201d\u00a0 Take 1-3 breaths in each location until both spots feel about the same.<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019ve completed the exercise, check back in with yourself and see if you notice any changes.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe you feel more relaxed or more aware of your body or breath?\u00a0 Do you notice anything new that you hadn\u2019t noticed before?\u00a0 Continue to practice this exercise regularly.\u00a0 As you do, you\u2019ll begin to notice more and more about your breathing, your body, and your internal state.\u00a0 And, the next time that you feel yourself getting overly stressed or on the verge of an over-reaction, take a few deep breaths and revel in the knowledge that you have the ability to rest, recover, and relax, all while simply breathing.<\/p>\n

Matthew Lapp, MS, DC is the owner of Salus Chiropractic Studio in Thorndale.\u00a0 For more information, visit him on the web at http:\/\/www.thorndalechiropractor.com\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking a closer look at simple way to help improve your health and well-being By Dr. Matthew Lapp, Columnist, The Times Take control of your well-being one breath at a time. When was the last time that you thought about your breath?\u00a0 I presume that if you\u2019re reading this article you\u2019re also breathing, but it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,622],"tags":[780,777,623,778,779],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health","tag-biofeedback","tag-breathing","tag-health-2","tag-inner-awareness","tag-peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}