The most critical step for living in awareness, with integration, is the practice of conscious breathing. In my personal experience, becoming conscious of and changing the way I used to breathe, alone, brought about much more focus and calm into my highly stressed life even before meditation and energy work were known to me. Is there a proper way? Yes: Inhaling through the nose rather than the mouth, belly rise at inhale, allow your lungs to expand, belly drop at exhale.
In workshops, it is not uncommon to come across people who predominantly breathe through their mouth (which i was guilty of for years!). This has been shown to activate the ‘fight or flight’ axis of our endocrine system, i.e. a stress response; picture a wild animal panting after it has been through a chase. On the other hand, breathing through the nose, especially deep breathing which consciously involves movement of the diaphragm, stimulates the rest and digest axis, which in turn relaxes us. As our breath slows and deepens, our relaxation deepens.
Observe your breath in stressful situations, it responds by becoming faster and shallower. Just as breath responds to emotional shifts, we can also consciously create shifts in our emotions by controlling our breath. This means that if you become aware of stress or anger arising in you, make the conscious effort to take a few deep breaths and observe the changes in your body and feelings. As you practice more stillness and awareness in life, you will be able to identify the uprising of emotions before it overwhelms and flows out of you – in that moment, you can bring in conscious breath – the clarity and positive shift that it can offer you will strengthen as your practice strengthens.
