Stop Breathing Mindlessly, Start Breathing Mindfully

Posted byPaola Nadeau on Oct 2020 in Healthcare | 0 comments

Most of us do not pay attention to our breathing unless we are having difficulty. Then, we pay attention. But for the most part, since breathing is automatic, we tend to ignore the way we breathe and believe that it takes care of itself. There is a big difference between mindless and mindful breathing.

The way that you breathe when you are unaware, may be influenced by other facets of your overall health and the lack of awareness of our habitual breathing can cause damage to our health. For instance, when we chronically over-breathe, our breathing can become a struggle as we gasp for air. When we are nervous and tend to be anxious, we may find ourselves breathing heavily through our mouths and hyperventilating at times. If our nostrils are often “stuffed-up” as though we have a perpetual cold, our breathing may be characterized by an open mouth as we more or less ignore the function of our nostrils.

Whatever the case may be, most people breathe poorly, out of habit and lack of awareness, according to some experts. Mindful breathing, as contrasted with mindless breathing, is marked by inhalations and exhalations that involve taking in just the right amount of air to best benefit your body’s needs, according to our activity level. Too much air, and our body’s cells, tissues, and organs will also suffer from oxygen deprivation. That may sound strange, but it is true. Mindless, heavy breathing means not enough carbon dioxide, which is necessary to deliver oxygen through the blood to the tissues that need it.

Normalizing your breathing means learning to breathe in mindful way rather than mindless over-breathing or hyperventilating – which is so prevalent in our society. One can mindfully reduce the breaths in order to improve health, but once you stop being mindful, you may tend to breathe heavily again. Training the way we breathe and creating healthy breathing habits is what Buteyko Breathing Normalization Specialists help people to do. Specialists teach breathing awareness, exercises and use tools such as awareness belts to help us to be more mindful of our breathing. This increases our mindfulness and helps us create vibrant health.

When you improve your breathing, you improve your total health. The Breathing Center offers a free breathing test online and a free Buteyko Health Evaluation report with our recommendations. The test will help you determine whether you hyperventilate or not, and if so, to what degree, and how that may be affecting the quality of your sleep, as well as recommendations for improvement. We offer breathing techniques for people who may benefit from reduced breathing, and have seen many people experience dramatic improvements in their symptoms. Visit http://www.breathingcenter.com or call 800-520-3450 for a free consultation.