"My first thought was 'Oh dear Lord! Now I need to pay to learn how to breath?!
About 13 years ago a psychiatrist told me that my nervous system was broken and could not be repaired. I was put on medications for anxiety and depression. My body did not exactly receive these medications well, but over time I became reliant on them. Naturally, the dosage of these medications kept increasing, while simultaneously losing their effectiveness.
Fast forward 11 years.
I reluctantly went to a PTSD workshop, even though I did not believe that I had PTSD. After all, I had never been in the military or a war zone or suffered a personal traumatic event. Or so I thought.
But the truth is, I had been suffering from trauma related stress. I had found my older brother almost dead at his house only two months after I had a heart attack. My mother was handed a death sentence with a sudden pulmonary disease. And my younger brother was pronounced dead on the scene of a car accident but revived and air flighted to the hospital with a severe brain injury. I tried to take care of them with the many emergency room visits and doctors’ appointments and the day-to-day chores of cleaning and cooking - all while I had my own children and husband at home to care for too! I was stretched too thin but didn’t know what to do. My health took a deep dive.
So, I decided to give this PTSD workshop a chance. What did I have to lose?
When I walked into the room, there were about 30 women already there! After the workshop, I felt amazing and energized, yet calm and at peace. The mantra offered in the workshop still sticks with me: “Healthy Am I, Happy Am I, Holy Am I” (which I still repeat to myself to this day). I didn’t really believe any of the mantra at first, but after repeating it for several days I began to feel a shift in my happiness and my health. What I didn’t realize, is that PTSD workshop was actually a yoga workshop. I was intrigued. After that, I began taking yoga classes from the studio. After a week, I was hooked. Yoga makes me feel amazing!
Shortly after beginning yoga classes, the instructor said that the effects of anxiety and depression could be lessened with yoga classes regularly along with a few lifestyle modifications. I was also told that I might want to consider taking their upcoming breath workshop. My first thought was “Oh dear Lord! Now I need to pay to learn how to breath?!” However, it ended up weighing on my mind so heavily that I eventually enrolled in the workshop.
I would have NEVER thought that the workshop would be a life changing event for me. It was the best money I had ever spent! That day, I learned that I did not actually breathe properly. The way that I breathed caused my body to release more adrenaline and cortisol – and I had been told by my doctors that my body was already producing too much cortisol! Those hormones may be useful in a fight or flight situation, but not healthy for you if your body is constantly releasing them all the time. They cause the body to have more anxiety, which I certainly did not need!
The way you breathe makes an enormous difference in our mental and physical health. For me, regular yoga classes and intentional breathing helped me to come off my medication for depression and drastically reduce the dosage on my anxiety medication. My nervous system is ACTUALLY repairing itself! Now, this has taken me a lot of time and dedication, and is still a process I continue working on. There is no quick fix to achieve such a huge lifestyle change. BUT IT IS POSSIBLE!
While taking my 200-hour yoga teacher training I began researching more about intentional breathing. Several ivy league universities have done experiments on how the inflammation in one’s saliva was reduced after a short time of specific breathwork exercises. I asked my internist if he thought these studies were true. His reply was “ABSOLUTELY!” “You can reduce the inflammation in your body by long deep breathing for 10 minutes, 3 times a day.” Naturally, I asked why I had not been told this before, and he replied: “Would you have believed me?” Now I do long deep breathing (LBD) every day.
Believe it or not there is a specific way to breath and by doing specific breathing exercises, we can achieve specific results. For example, a calming breath can help to calm you, an energizing breath can help to energize you, etc. There are also breath exercises we can do to help lower inflammation and blood pressure.
Stop and just observe right now… where is your breath entering your body? Are you breathing through your high chest or from the abdomen? Place one hand on your low belly and the other hand on your chest. Which hand moves? Check this often throughout your day to get a good gauge on HOW you are breathing. For optimum breathing, you should be drawing breath solely from you abdomen.
Gather your family and friends and join in on my breathing workshops and classes. Simply, email me and let’s get this party started! Learning how to breathe properly can certainly be a challenge, but with a little practice it will be a game changer!
Let me guide you on this journey and we can reach a happier and calmer way of living together!
Lisa
all images sourced from Pexels.com
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