We all want to lead a happy and healthy life, but one key to cultivating health and happiness may reside in your brain, and more specifically with the power of your breath. You may be surprised to learn that recent advances in neuroscience and mind-body medicine offer a deeper understanding of how something as simple and abundant as the breath could be the possible answer for your health and happiness! A phrase I’ve always said: “How we choose to breathe, determines how we choose to live. How we choose to live, determines how we choose to heal. How we choose to heal, determines how we choose to be.”
Let’s face it, most of us do shallow, anxious, quick breathing, i.e. not connecting our breath deep into the belly. Deep-belly breathing has now been shown in numerous studies to have a significant benefit on your neurophysiology, calming and soothing both your mind and body. When you connect and focus on your breath by taking deep and slow inhalations and exhalations, your nervous system and brain waves begin to come into balance and coherence. When your brain and body are in alignment you tend to cultivate the “four C’s” of calmness, contentment, caring and creativity.
Many ancient healing traditions, such as Yoga, meditation, and Tai Chi, have all recognized that one of the simplest and most effective tools we have to alleviate stress and create more happiness in our life is to do deep-belly breathing. (Read more about the neurophysiology of deep-belly breathing in “Breath Retraining, the Vagus Nerve, and Depression” by Dr. Fred Muench.) Recent medical studies also suggest that deep, conscious, deep-belly breathing might have the same effects anti-depressant medication!
According to a 2009 report by the Harvard Medical School, “a study compared 30 minutes of deep breathing, done six days a week, to bilateral electroconvulsive therapy and the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine in 45 people hospitalized for depression. After four weeks of treatment, 93% of those receiving electroconvulsive therapy, 73% of those taking imipramine, and 67% of those using the breathing technique had achieved remission.”
So when someone says to you “take a breather,” there might actually be some medical merit to it. I find that one of the easiest ways to achieve greater calm in your day is to focus on your breath for as little as five minutes. As Dr. James S. Gordon, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University Medical School, states, “Slow, deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have.” Doing mindful, calm breathing exercises for just five minutes a day can begin to shift your emotional and mental health. So it just might be that focusing on your breathing, specifically on the quality and state of your breath, could be the key to unlock your potential for health and happiness!
WARNING: Slow, deep breathing may cause long-lasting side effects such as increased happiness, optimism, health, calm, and alertness. Consult your Self before beginning slow, deep breathing.)
Feel free to watch this Self-Guided Breathing Video to learn how to practice deep-belly breathing, alleviate stress, and experience greater happiness in your life. Remember, happiness is not something that happens to you, but rather happiness is something you choose.
Keep on Living Your Light
Dr. Jay Kumar
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