How are you breathing?

Did you know that we breathe 25,000 times each day? Every inhale is a contraction of muscles, followed by the relaxation for the exhale.  Imagine doing 25,000 pushups or squats every day. That’s a lot of repetitions! The main muscle we use to breathe is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a large muscle, when it contracts along with other smaller muscles in between our ribs they open up our entire abdominal and chest cavity so our lungs can fill up with air. It’s very similar to a chimney bellow. When this is working properly we get a full deep breath.

Benefits of Proper Breathing
Simply put, breathing provides us our primary nutrient; oxygen.  Yes that's right, oxygen is our most important nutrient; before fats, carbohydrates, proteins and even water.   Proper breathing effectively brings fresh oxygen to our blood and helps remove unwanted toxins out of our body. Breathing is also one of the best tools we have to manage stress. A few minutes of deep breathing can bring us out of a stressed state into relaxation.  Breathing is also used as tool in many meditation practices, yoga and  for effective exercise.

But when we're not breathing using our diaphragm, our breath tends to be shallow using smaller muscles in the neck and shoulders.  This makes every one of the 25,000 breaths we take each day less efficient, resulting in less oxygen, more toxins,  increased stress and less effective exercise.    

So how are you breathing?
 

Use this simple technique below to help train yourself to breathe using the diaphragm.  

1. The first 2/3rds of your breath should be into your belly
2. The second 1/3rd of your breath should be into your chest (without engaging the neck and shoulder muscles)
3. The exhale is a relaxation of all the muscles

Watch the video below to see what it looks like when breathing with your diaphragm.

Staying Centered

We often hear how we should “stay centered”. What does it mean exactly to be centered and how do I stay there? As we all know our lives can become pretty hectic. Whether you are a busy mom or dad, a busy professional, a busy teen, etc. we all have things in our lives that keep us occupied. Being centered as we go about our daily tasks can bring a great sense of relief and purpose to our day.

What does it mean?

The dictionary defines centered as a) a point of origin from which ideas, influences, etc. emanate. b) a place of concentrated activity, influence or importance c) headquarters, the hub.

I would define it as the hub of our self. Being centered is a state of being. Making sure we are taking care of ourselves in body, mind, and spirit. We are establishing a spot that we can start from or come back to that will create and receive our best experience.

Finding that state of being centered requires awareness:

• Awareness of our thoughts - are they positive?
• Awareness of our vision for the life we want - am I making decisions to support the life I desire?
• Awareness of our breath - Am I breathing deeply and slowly?
• Awareness of our selves - I am being present in the moment now?

We can use our awareness as a tool to come back to our center, our optimal state of being. If we treat being centered as a foundation to return to during the day as things get hectic or overwhelming we will start to feel more secure and balanced. When we gain conscious control of our thoughts and our breathing we are able to make decisions and take actions from a place of true choice and not simply from habit.

How do I stay centered?

• Be aware of the power of your thoughts whether they are negative or positive.
• Take time each day to focus on your breathing. Breath in deeply, hold your breath for seven counts and exhale slowly.
• Practice quieting your mind on a daily basis. Even just a few minutes of meditation each day can bring us a sense of calmness that we can then use to enter into our next task.

Getting centered and staying there is a practice. Practice it a bit each day and you will quickly feel the benefits of approaching your day from an optimal state of being.

Guiding Principles

Can it be easy to live a life filled with abundant energy, health and vitality? Yes!

Do we have to be Superman/woman in order to fit it all in and hold it all together? No!

I think it can be easy! How? By placing values around health. By making it important enough. Perhaps, even more important than some of the things that do end up occupying our mental real estate, physical space and precious time. For example…

Stinkin’ Thinkin’ – 27 million + Americans are on antidepressants

Stressed Out – Stress has been referred to as the “black plague of the 21^st century” as by organizational psychologist Cary Cooper

Fast, Processed Food – 8% of our population has diabetes and that number is growing rapidly

Screen Time, Drive Time, Desk Time – In order to maintain good health, we need to be walking 10,000 steps (or roughly 5 miles) per day. The average American racks up less than ½ of that, however we spend nearly 4 hours watching TV per day.

Staying Up Late – For all of my “night owls” out there… this one is simple… there has never been a tribe of human beings on the planet who have been nocturnal. Our biological rhythms are set to follow the sun.

Over Scheduled – Work, meetings, email, etc. No time for play time.

What I am suggesting is that, as a society, we are placing far more value on negative thoughts, multi-tasking, poor quality food and late night TV watching than we are on healthy, happy lifestyles. So, you see, the answer is simple… place more value on the things that you want…

VALUE Staying Centered – spend time each day sitting quietly

VALUE Deep Breathing – and its ability to calm your nervous system

VALUE Nourishing Your Body – with whole foods and good quality water

VALUE Moving Daily – walk to local errands and have a fitness routine

VALUE Resting Well – limit screen time at night and get to bed on time

VALUE Playing and Having Fun – make it an important part of your schedule

This is what we value at Plabase. It’s simple and empowering.

You are sure to feel great just by making it important enough to you!

The key is consistency.