EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE…WILL BE RESETTING YOU!
Oct 30, 2016
And now, a guest post by OS Coach, Lisa Konoplisky.
Breath is life. It defines us. It announces our entry into this world and marks our exit from the same . Our language and the common phrases we use betray the central importance of breathing— Sting sings about “every breath you take”, a stunning sunset “takes my breath away”, a new loved one is “a breath of spring”, and we wait, in anticipation, “with bated breath”.
Breathing defines our most essential human rhythms—it is the metronome of our physical, emotional and spiritual lives . Both voluntary and involuntary in nature, breathing blurs the boundary between our individual selves and something larger, more enduring and timeless. In fact, the words respiration and spirit share a common root—the latin spirare, meaning to blow or breathe. The Hebrew word ruach means both soul and breath. Conscious control of breathing, like prayer, chanting, rhythmic movement, is central to many faiths. Breath is a portal to something both beyond us and yet firmly (and literally!) anchored at our core. No matter where you look it seems that breath is at the center of our lives.
We’re built to be excellent breathers. Babies are expert at breathing. Anyone who has ever watched a young child breathing in their crib cannot help but notice the effortless, peaceful quality of their respiration. They breath deeply, rhythmically, with their entire bodies. This alone should tell us how important breathing is. (Babies are really good at focusing only on the important stuff). How long can most of us last without a breath? On average, about three to four minutes. How many breaths do we take in a day? Most people take between 17,000 and 23,000 breaths a day.
You’d think that with that much practice we’d be pretty darn good at breathing.
But something happens when we stop being kids, especially as we enter a world defined by office cubicles, long commutes, smartphones, and more screens than we know what to do with. We stop playing and moving and stimulating our bodies with all kinds of high-quality vestibular and proprioceptive input. Our movement suffers. And our breathing suffers. Instead of saying, “Wow, my life depends on this. LITERALLY! I better get good at breathing again, like when I was a little kid” we rationalize the change, arguing with the powerful wisdom of original design. I’m getting old! I’m too busy! Why should be pay attention to breathing? Everyone does it. It’s natural. Right?
Yes, it is. But sometimes things get in the way and make our natural design a little harder to access. Poor movement and poor breathing can be a vicious cycle. We move less, our muscles of respiration develop a kind of amnesia. They forget how to move. They forget why they’re even there in the first place So we use them less and they suffer from that neglect. We breath even more poorly. The lack of nourishment and breathe has a negative impact on our health. We’re tired, fatigued, unwell. This becomes one more reason to not move. Sometimes we turn to addictive substances to smooth out the rough edges. And on and on it goes.
If only there was a way to stop and reset the whole system!
There is. And you’ve had access to it your whole life. It’s your original strength. And a central part of original strength is breathing. Breathing well is hard wired into us. We just need to reboot the system.
Breathing is the first of the Big Five OS resets. It is also the first of the three simple principles upon which OS is based. Breathing is part of every reset. That’s how important it is to pressing reset. It is the only reset we are doing ALL THE TIME. And, like head control, it’s the one that can be done within any of the other three resets, no matter what regression or progression we are working on.
As long as we’re living we’re breathing. So if we’re gonna do it anyway, why not do it in the best and most nourishing way possible? It’s free, it’s always available to you, anyplace, anytime. For 3 minutes a day, take the time to consciously breath down into your feet, activating your diaphragm (this just means breath low into your belly). See what other parts of your body can get involved. Your diaphragm is pulling dow to pull air into your lungs, but is your back widening? Are your ribs moving laterally to create a full and nourishing breath within your inner cylinder?
The other resets are not only affected by the quality of our breath and work in conjunction with breathing, but the resets themselves act to create better breathing. Try it now. Without thinking about your breathing at all, get down on the floor. Do some rocking. Practice some conscious head control. Roll segmentally. Then take a moment to notice your breathing. Is it smoother, fuller, coming from deep in your diaphragm rather than just from the accessory muscles of your upper chest and neck? The resets are movements. Breathing is a movement. One does not exist separate from the other. The rhythmic back and forth of rocking naturally stimulates our inner cylinder, pushing air out as we sit back on our heels in flexion and bringing it in as we extend forward over our wrists. Segmental rolling causes a rotation in our core that compress one side of our body, causing us to expel air and forcing us to breathe more unilaterally for a moment. It’s like we are wringing the breath out of every tissue with each rotation. Head control stimulates the throat, the cervical spine and the vagal nerve. Breathing also affects the vagal nerve directly, helping to lower our blood pressure, our heart rate and our levels of anxiety.
Breathing is also the most convenient and “normal looking” reset. Sure, I have no problem knocking out some free-wheeling frog rolls or cross-crawls when I’m waiting to board an airplane, but sometimes space and social convention don’t allow for such vigorous fun and games. What do you do instead? BREATHE. It’s a reset you can do anywhere, anytime, whether you are seated, standing, lying down or (hopefully not) trapped under something heavy? BREATHE. It will alter your blood chemistry, provide profound health benefits and deep relaxation, and nourish all your organs, muscles, and your brain? BREATHE.
Try it now. Wherever you are. Whatever you’re doing. Right now! Stop reading this article and take 1 minute and breathe deeply into your diaphragm. Exhale slowly, also through your nose. Check that your mouth is closed and that your tongue is on the roof of your mouth. Feel how it grounds you, how it calms you, how it makes you think more clearly, how it seems to carry with it a feeling of hope. Because every breath IS new hope. It’s a new opportunity, to change the way you move, to press reset and to move like you were meant to move. With breath. With life. With your Original Strength.
Lisa Konoplisky believes that the joy of movement is everyone’s birthright and she is grateful to OS for giving her the opportunity to heal herself and others through movement. Lisa is Strong First (SFG) Level 1 kettlebell instructor and a certified Original Strength and Z-Health coach. Lisa is also a playwright and a documentary film editor. She loves spending time with her family, picking up heavy things, Korean food and Bruce Springsteen. She’s currently training for her Level 2 SFG certification and napping whenever she gets the chance. She can be reached at lkonoplisky@mac.com.
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