In my practice of integrative psychiatry it has been obvious that conscious, relaxing breathing is one of the most powerful interventions a person can make to support one’s health. The breath literally inspires the body, mind, soul and spirit of human life.
Scientific discoveries have revealed aspects of these profound and mysterious qualities of breath. I am enlivened to feel how the power of breath touches so many aspects of existence on large and small levels. For example --
- Researchers have found that the earth’s upper atmosphere “takes a breath” approximately once every nine days, expanding and contracting the air in response to powerful solar winds.1
- Plants have been found to respond to the quality of human thought and breath, and this responsiveness can occur whether the plant is inches or miles away from the emitting human.2
- Human gene expression changes when one engages in practices such as deep breathing, aligning the cells of the body with healthier, more life-promoting cellular responses.3
In any kind of psychological crisis – be it stress, the death of a loved one, a major life change, depression, anxiety, anger, any sort of internal or external life intensity when a person may be desperate to know “what can I do about this?”, a primary answer is to breathe. Simplify into the moment one is in and simply breathe. If, in the next five minutes, one becomes overwhelmed by life again, once again, simplify and attend to the breath. In my own life, simple conscious breathing has been a powerful tool that has helped shift feelings of bodily and mental tension into greater relaxation and clarity. And happily, this tool is always available!
Just breathe, deeply and slowly. As you breathe, feel the earth’s atmosphere slowly breathing with you. Feel the plant life on earth emitting life-giving oxygen as they also breathe with you in their gentle, quiet way. Feel plants respond as your intention to relax more deeply with your breath emits a loving communication to them. Feel how other humans may observe you attending to your breath, slowing down, relaxing, and how this demonstrates to them a simple, conscious practice that they too can engage in to realign their own lives with health and relaxation.
Breath is a vital force that permeates all -- humans, other animals, plant life and earth herself. Feel your interdependency with this living, breathing earth and all the beings on it. Feel your own cells’ interdependency with your moment-to-moment choices towards health and deeper breathing, your gene expression being positively altered in any moment you choose to simply slow down and breathe. Simply remember, in any moment, to breathe....breathe this healthy breath.
1. Retrieved April 14, 2009 from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/12/18/earths-upper-atmosphere-takes-a-deep-breath-every-few-days. 2. Retrieved April 14, 2009 from http://www.vogelcrystals.net/legacy_of_marcel_vogel.htm. 3. Massachusetts General Hospital (2008, July 3). Relaxation Response Can Influence Expression of Stress-Related Genes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701221501.htm.
Healthy Body, Mind And Soul Blog by Marnie Burkman, MD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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