Author Archives: Mindchi

Harvard Medical School on the breath

Relaxation techniques:  
Breath control helps quell errant stress response

From the Harvard Medical School – Family Health Guide

Most of us are familiar with the term “fight or flight,” also known as the stress response. It’s what the body does as it prepares to confront or avoid danger. When appropriately invoked, the stress response helps us rise to many challenges. But trouble starts when this response is constantly provoked by less momentous, day-to-day events, such as money woes, traffic jams, job worries, or relationship problems.

Health problems are one result. A prime example is high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease. The stress response also suppresses the immune system, increasing susceptibility to colds and other illnesses. Moreover, the build-up of stress can contribute to anxiety and depression.

We can’t avoid all sources of stress in our lives, nor would we want to. But we can develop healthier ways of responding to them.

The relaxation response is a state of profound rest that can be elicited in many ways, including meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation.

Breath focus is a common feature of several techniques that evoke the relaxation response. The first step is learning to breathe deeply.

The benefits of deep breathing:

Deep breathing also goes by the names of diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, and paced respiration. When you breathe deeply, the air coming in through your nose fully fills your lungs, and the lower belly rises.

For many of us, deep breathing seems unnatural. There are several reasons for this. For one, body image has a negative impact on respiration in our culture. A flat stomach is considered attractive, so women (and men) tend to hold in their stomach muscles. This interferes with deep breathing and gradually makes shallow “chest breathing” seem normal, which increases tension and anxiety.

Shallow breathing limits the diaphragm’s range of motion. The lowest part of the lungs doesn’t get a full share of oxygenated air. That can make you feel short of breath and anxious.

Deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange — that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.

Practicing breath focus:

Deep breathing

Deep breathing

Breath focus helps you concentrate on slow, deep breathing and aids you in disengaging from distracting thoughts and sensations. It’s especially helpful if you tend to hold in your stomach.

First steps. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit or lie down. First, take a normal breath. Then try a deep breath: Breathe in slowly through your nose, allowing your chest and lower belly to rise as you fill your lungs. Let your abdomen expand fully. Now breathe out slowly through your mouth (or your nose, if that feels more natural).

Breath focus in practice. Once you’ve taken the steps above, you can move on to regular practice of breath focus. As you sit comfortably with your eyes closed, blend deep breathing with helpful imagery and perhaps a focus word or phrase that helps you relax.

Creating a routine:

You may want to try several different relaxation techniques to see which one works best for you. And if your favorite approach fails to engage you, or you want some variety, you’ll have alternatives. You may also find the following tips helpful:

  • Choose a special place where you can sit (or lie down) comfortably and quietly.
  • Don’t try too hard. That may just cause you to tense up.
  • On the other hand, don’t be too passive, either. The key to eliciting the relaxation response lies in shifting your focus from stressors to deeper, calmer rhythms — and having a focal point is essential.
  • Try to practice once or twice a day, always at the same time, in order to enhance the sense of ritual and establish a habit.
  • Begin with a practice of at least 10–20 minutes each day.

Try the Mind Chi 8-step / minute routine, starts with a breath.

Are you bewitched, bothered and bewildered?

Well it IS that time of year!
First all the ghouls and goblins come out and dance about and then we do that silly clock thing, where we lose an hour in the mornings, making it almost impossible to get up. Why DO we do that? Don’t farmers have electricity these days?

Looking ahead we see a long, cold, grey and for many, a deeply depressing time to come. The summer holidays are a distant memory and the outlook is only gloomy. It is very easy to see why you would be feeling perturbed and out of sorts.

There is yet another lethal factor, that of your mirror neurons. Sit next to someone, or even in the same room, who is sighing, has depressed body language, looks at the floor and has their arms folded or held against them and your sympathetic mirror neurons will start to share their experience, so before you know it, you are feeling the same way and you don’t even know why!

You may also have financial issues, you are still paying off your holiday and you know the festive financial ruin is also just round the corner; it seems there is no place of calm and joy in your life.

Yet those very same words, ‘Bewitched, bothered and bewildered’ are used when we have just fallen in love and are under the spell of joy, wonderment and anticipation. People look at us and say ‘You must be in love, you have that glow about you’. It is the best beauty treatment you can have. All those worry and care lines seem to melt away and are replaced with a sparkle in your eye, a flush to your cheek and a big smile on your face.

So apart from meeting a special someone and falling head over heels in love, is there a way to move from the negative 3Bs to the positive 3Bs? Yes, there is! And the best part is that it is free and very easy to do. It requires no special equipment and takes only 8 minutes a day – interested?

Follow this link to see the whole process, from a pre-questionnaire – so you can see where you are now, to learning the simple steps to a post-questionnaire to see the difference in your life.

There are a couple of the 8 steps that I would particularly like to mention that will address the shift of the 3Bs. Steps 3 & 4 – looking at the past 24 hours for the negative and positive events and Steps 7 & 8 planning the future 24 hours and a minute of gratitude.
Let me explain each more fully: Step 3 is to take one minute to rewind your 24 past hours looking for times when you might have said or done something that you were not well pleased about. Someone, and it usually someone close to you who pushes your button and before you know you have reacted in a way you wish you hadn’t. You don’t go over these situations to beat yourself up, but to look for how you wish you would have acted, said, felt or done – just look for the lesson. Count each event on your non-dominant hand.

Step 4 looks back over the past 24 hours as well and this time you are looking for the positive things and events, your little (and big) successes. These you count on your dominant hand.

At the end of the two minutes brush or blow away the negative events from your non-dominant hand as the past is past, all you do is take the lessons for the future and hold on to, squeeze the successes on your dominant hand. Hold on to these as this is what builds your self-confidence and gives you the rosy glow of success and strength.

Step 7 is to project forward 24 hours, what would be the best emotional state to be in for what you have to do? If you have a difficult meeting, then being anxious for several hours or days ahead will not be the best way to prepare, but to project being calm, attentive and flexible will mean that you are able to respond in the most positive way. It is important to remember that we are human BEings who do things (rather than human DOings!) and so to plan your Being state is very important and effective.

Finally Step 8, this is just to take one minute to concentrate on all the things for which you have to be grateful. Research has shown that looking for and acknowledging these positive things can make a significant difference in your immune system and overall wellbeing, as well as putting a big smile on your face (or at least a twinkle in your eyes).

So 8 minutes a day, and the end result can be experiencing a life that works for you, coping strategies for any stressful situations, resilience to bounce merrily through life and to have the positive ‘Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered’ look.