Your breath is always with you.

You literally can’t live without it, so it’s good your body does it automatically!

In a yoga class, we talk about the breath a lot. It is a way to bring your attention into your body. Focusing on your breath is a way to calm your mind by giving your brain something to do. You can use your breath to regulate your emotions (see breathing exercise below).

Over the next week, explore how it feels to breathe in different shapes!

If you want to geek out a little, this is how breathing works biologically.

Inhale: diaphragm contracts and moves downward creating a pressure decrease inside your lungs for air to rush in. 
Exhale: diaphragm relaxes and lifts. 

Notice how this FEELS opposite because we say relax your belly on your inhale to make room for your lungs, and actively engage your pelvic floor muscles to press air out. It is not opposite, it’s just different muscles doing different jobs. 

Thankfully, breathing is mostly automatic. However, you can use breath control for self-regulation.

Some breathing exercises for self-regulation include:

• Box breathing: Inhale 4 counts, hold full 4 counts, exhale 4 counts, hold empty 4 counts

• Parasympathetic breathing (to activate your “rest and digest” system): Inhale 4 counts, exhale 6 counts (2 counts longer than inhale)