Today’s focus is on the healing powers of breath. We don’t hear much about breathing techniques in traditional Western medicine because no one can financially benefit from teaching you how to breathe deeply. The only cost involved is time and if you are experiencing stress in your life, this is a simple yet powerful and effective tool that you can use to help combat it.
Scientific research-based evidence has been demonstrating that many disorders including heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer are largely preventable, and that although a disorder may run in a family and have a genetic component to it, our lifestyle (epigenetics) is truly the determining factor in the outcome of whether or not one will develop a disease.
Good health is a choice, not a chance. This means that the person who is seeking to maintain or enhance health must take responsibility and daily actions towards this goal. Taking responsibility for generating and maintaining optimal health is the necessary element we all must implement immediately in order to meet the urgent need for solutions to the crisis in medical costs and the crisis in quality of care in the USA. The traditional Western medical system is tragically lacking in strategies that patients can and should implement themselves to support their own healing process.
How Can Breathing Techniques Help Heal Me?
The body has the innate ability to heal, for as long as we provide it with the right and necessary tools it needs to do so and create an internal healing mechanism that is the immune system. Positive thoughts, breath, water, sleep, real food, exercise/movement, sunlight, relationships, stress management and the environment we create around us are powerful tools for rebuilding and maintaining health.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
Using your thumb on your right nostril and your pinky and third finger (the finger right next to your pinky finger), hold your right nostril closed and inhale up your left nostril. Pause, and while your lungs are full of air, switch your fingers so that your left nostril is closed. Then exhale out your right nostril. Then, inhale up your right nostril, pause, and again while your lungs are full of air, switch your fingers so that your right nostril is closed. Exhale. Repeat this process about 12 times. These breathing techniques are often done in preparation for deep relaxation or meditation.
For additional calming properties, add 2 drops of doTERRA essential oil blend called “Balance” in the palm of your hand, and feel your stress melt away. I also carry specific calming botanicals at the clinic, call 727-239-9443 for more information.