There are many benefits associated with taking five minutes at the office place to breathe deeply. Let’s explore the topic of breathing a bit further in the office environment. When we take our breath for granted, most of us as adults tend to breath shallow.
There are many negative side effects to short, shallow upper chest breathing. Our body interprets this kind of breathing for one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes. When we do not breathe correctly, we tend to have more dominant, intrusive, fearful thoughts. Simply put, we think too much and become anxious, irritable or depressed. No wonder modern life is still trying to catch up with nature. Computers and globalization still leave us all feeling as if we are wanting something more…
Did you know? We are breathed correctly as babies!
The importance of utilizing proper breathing not only provides us with oxygen, one of our primary nutrients for all metabolic function. It also allows us to activate the cleansing process in the alveolar sacs which exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide. Each day alone, we get 22,000 breaths and if we placed all the alveolar sacs together: they would take up the size of over half a tennis court. Just by comparison, our skin or largest sensory organ is only 3 square feet by 3 square feet. What a difference!
We had this perfect yogic breath when we were babies! Our whole body expanded as we breathed on an inhale and softened as we exhaled. According to yoga, we are not quite sure why we began breathing incorrectly. Maybe it is our tendency to look outside too much. We do know that we during the course of reaching adulthood, most of us lost have lost the art of deep breathing.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Using our primary muscles of breathing, we inhale, expanding the abdomen, allowing the diaphragm to release, the lung tissue to expand and the deep, rich oxygenated breaths to flow. The diaphragm muscle has been associated with courage. In yoga, we understand that as a living healthy organism, we must undergo change in order to remain healthy. When we stay connected to our breath, we let life unfold without attaching to results. We circulate the body with life force energy and wire our brain to stay calm, confident and centered right in the center of change.
From the first breath, we feel lighter, more at ease, more connected to our natural vitality and joy. As we exhale, we allow the belly to soften; the diaphragm will lift up back under the heart and push air out of the lungs. Placing our focus on the breath, we practice meditation, we let things fall apart and we stay centered.
The way you know your yoga is progressing is your ability to take on more stress with less effort. True mastery is really living your everyday life sweetly.
For more information on how to train your employees on how to breathe or to bring corporate onsite yoga to your workplace, please contact, Michelle, at 314-630-1677. Let us help you design a special program for your organization’s unique needs today.
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This is interesting because I no longer work a typical office job or have an occupation that resembles a normal work week, but these words are helpful nonetheless. I so often have to remember to breathe to combat stress or just to achieve optimal health in general. I enjoyed what you included about the science of the nervous system. Always love hearing the biological facts!