One of the things that yoga and meditation has helped me to do is to breathe properly and focus my attention on my breath. In doing so, I've also found that I am more in tune with my body in many different ways. Focusing on my breath has allowed me to appreciate the moment, calm my emotions, and help to heal my body physically.

I've always been interested in nutrition, physical well-being and health, but I never realized how much learning to breathe correctly can change your life. It's helped me be more in tune with my nutritional needs, and breathing properly in a focused manner has helped relieve my GERD symptoms. More importantly, learning to UN-BREATHE the ways that I've developed over a lifetime has brought to light how unconscious most of us live moment to moment. Societal standards and stress cause us to breathe in ways that are not nourishing to our body.

For example, I always remember being told to stand up straight (that's good!), and suck in that gut (not good!). Why is walking around sucking in your gut not good for you? Because it forces you to chest breathe instead of using your diaphragm. The proper way to breathe is to breathe in and out through your nostrils, using your diaphragm. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which keeps you calm and allows you to respond, rather than to react, in a situation. Diaphragmatic breathing also massages your internal organs and exercises your LES muscle. The LES muscle is the "flap" that opens and closes at the bottom of your esophagus to allow food in, and then to keep stomach acids from coming up after the food has gone into the stomach.

Chest breathing is not all bad. Chest breathing allows us to take in more oxygen when needed. Think exercising, a true state in which you may need to "run" from something, or some breathing exercises. Once the need for chest breathing is over, our bodies should return to a state of homeostasis, and that is achieved by diaphragmatic breathing.

Breathing properly has also helped my meditation and yoga practice. There are many days when my mind just does NOT want to shut up. Focusing on my breathing helps immensely, and while my thoughts may continue to carrying on, my emotions come down a notch or two and I can get a better inward connection with myself and Source. I've noticed that I am now able to really be IN my body when practicing yoga and feel the areas of tension and release. It's taken several years to get to this point.

All of these things have been instrumental in helping me to achieve better mental, physical, and spiritual health. I find myself eating better and eating less, yet feeling healthier and more satisfied. My focus is to continue to research and practice healthy eating and living, as well as to live yoga not only ON the mat, but OFF the mat as well. Staying centered and reminding myself of the guidelines for life in Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga helps me to do this.

Disclaimer:

I am not a medical doctor, nutritionist, or other medical professional. No content on my website, blog, or other social media site is meant or implied to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any illness or condition. Be sure to seek medical advice from a medical professional before engaging in any activity discussed here. These are my personal thoughts and takeaways from my research and my understanding of such investigation.