Free midweek snacks!
We’ve been talking about breathing as one of the most basic forms of self care. Good breathing and lots of fresh oxygen sends a signal to the autonomic nervous system to stop producing stress hormones and start pumping out lots of chill.
Good solid breathing cleans your lungs out, send heaps of fresh oxygen into your blood and your brain.
I hear you wondering But I’ve been breathing my whole life, how can it be wrong. It’s not wrong, per se, sometimes you just need a quick breath alignment. You may not be engaging your diaphragm and breathing deeply enough. You may be relying on the muscles around the diaphragm to do the work. They’ll perform the task begrudgingly, knowing it needs doing, but only doing a half-decent job.
Breath is broken down into four different steps:
Inhale
Hold
Exhale
Hold
There are several different styles of breathing, based on the length of each step.
Box or square breathing: enables you to breathe very deeply. It’s excellent for destressing and calming anxiety. Each step is held for an equal amount of time (starting at 4 seconds).
Pranayama: is an ancient yogic practice of controlling the breath. Prana means “life force,” while yama means “retain or gain control of”. There are many Pranayama breathing practices.
Ujjayi: is the most popular form of pranayama. Also known as Ocean Breath or Cobra Breath, it is invigorating and powerful.
I’ve found a few free apps that will guide you through various different breathing techniques.
The Breathing App: super simple approach. You can choose the length of your inhale and exhale, as well as between two different screens. You can practice along with visual or audio cues.
Breathly: Choose between different pre-set breathing techniques or create your own pattern. Also, you can choose between verbal cues, bells, or vibrations.
Breathe2Relax: this one is pretty comprehensive, and connects to the fitness tracker in your Apple watch. It was designed by people who know alot about breathing exercises and not very much about aesthetically pleasing design. Lots of choices for breathing techniques and visuals, and a lot of educational information.
iBreathe: not unlike the first two, with pre-set techniques and room for you to create your own. There are haptics and this one offers a reminder setting, so you can send a breathing exercise to your future self.
Pranyama Lite: this is the free version of their more sophisticated app. This is the most technical of the lot, available in several different languages, but also the weirdest of the bunch. So many different breath options and sounds to choose from.
If you have a different app that you like, please, send me a link.
See you this weekend!