When I first experienced anxiety, or severe anxious feelings, whatever resonates with you, I couldn't pinpoint where it had come from, or what was causing me to feel this way.
I questioned all aspects of my life, trying to figure out what was making me unhappy. I doubted my job, my relationship, my home, my friendships, my family, everything. Little did I know (and I'm so grateful I now know) that it was due to how I felt about myself, and the disconnection I was feeling.
I felt very lost, confused, and overwhelmed and I didn't know how I was going to stop these feelings. I tried to push them down, and block them out. And sometimes that was successful, but they quickly resurfaced with a vengeance.
I started turning my attention onto myself, and began to move my body, meditate, challenge negative thinking, and journal. I stayed consistent and these things improved my life dramatically.
The only problem was, I started avoiding situations and people that triggered me, which is not realistic. We cannot control other people or situations that are inevitably going to happen, we can only control how we respond. And I wasn't aware of how to manage these unwanted feelings.
I soon stumbled across yoga, and my life changed for good.
Yoga is so much more than what most people think: a stretch. First of all, it can be a physically strong practice depending on the style and teacher. Secondly, its a mentally challenging practice that can really push you out of your comfort zone.
But as much as I love this practice... it's not my go to tool for stress and anxiety. Breathwork is.
I started researching breathwork because my Dad said to have a look at what's popular in the states right now, as they're ahead with wellness, to figure out what will be coming over to the UK. And I found breathwork. Low and behold... it's now becoming more and more well known!
So I went to a transformational breath workshop and it wasn't what I was expecting at all. It was amazing. But very intense. And it brought up alot that I wasn't expecting.
There are different types of breathwork. And all practices have a place, but it's important to know what you're looking for to suit your needs.
These more emotional healing practices, like transformation breathwork, and circular breathing, can feel very intense, as they tend to be breathing in and out the mouth at a fast pace, which is like a controlled hyperventilation.
And when you're doing this, your mind and body go back to a time when you may have felt that level of panic, distress, discomfort and brings up different memories, thoughts and feelings. It can be a great experience if you feel ready for that, and if you have the ability to process that for yourself or with a professional after. I have been to some workshops where a lot comes up and theres no support after so you kind of feel like you're sat with all those feelings, and don't know what to do with it.
Like I said, it has a place.
But the breathwork I'm talking about here, and what I teach and focus on, is functional breathwork. Breathwork that calms the nervous system and tells your mind and body that you're safe.
Let me give you a brief breakdown of why breathwork works...
Our autonomic nervous system is made up of two branches: fight or flight/ sympathetic nervous system and rest, restore and digest/ parasympathetic nervous system.
Imagine when we were cave people cooking, laughing, building fires, feeling restful and calm, and in our rest, restore and digest state. You breathe slowly, into your belly, in and out through the nose. Your food is being digested. Your able to reproduce. You have a sex drive. You can sleep. You feel safe.
A sabre tooth tiger comes along and you go into that fight or flight state to respond effectively: fight the animal or run away. You breathe fast, in and out through the mouth, and more into the chest and shoulders. Your body shuts down systems and functions it doesn't need: like digestion. Its focus is to survive.
Once the animal has been dealt with you go back into that rest, restore and digest state. Your mind and body feel safe.
We still have that exact same process, but now rather than a sabre tooth tiger, the body responds to emails, traffic, confrontation, money, everyday stresses, as if it was that life or death situation.
That's fine, if we move back into that rest state. The problem occurs when we are constantly in a state of stress or anxiety.
This can lead to long term illnesses and issues with our physical and mental health.
If you think back to how I said the mind and body responds, the only thing we can control is the breath. Therefore, we can change our breath to change the way we feel, and tell our mind and body that we are safe.
That's why its so important to practice breathwork.
Look for calming and grounding breath practices that calm the nervous system. Practice every or most days if you can, even if its just 5 minutes. It will make such a difference to your health!
You can check out some of my breath practices on the free app insight timer here.
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