A journal of health and spiritually related articles, quotes, books, thoughts and ideas provided as an extension of my work as a Whole Health Educator in Chester, California.
We all know we need to reduce stress. We just don't have the time to do what most traditional approaches to stress reduction tell us: RELAX. We need quick stress relief, something we can do 24/7 while we multitask and answer all those emails. We need something we can do that doesn't require a trip to the spa, the beach or a quiet room.
HeartMath's Quick Coherence® Technique is stress reduction for the 21st century: Fast, instant and on demand.
Heart focus. Focus your attention to the area around your heart.
Heart breathing. Imagine your breath flowing into and out of your heart.
Heart feeling. Recall a positive or fun time in your life and attempt to re experience it.
Now, doesn't that feel better?
Inner Quality Tip from HeartMath. Copyright 2007 HeartMath LLC. All rights reserved. HeartMath LLC. 14700 West Park Avenue Boulder Creek, CA 95006
Poor breathing habits are easy to spot. Here are a number of self-administered tests to help determine if you can benefit from breath-retraining exercises.
Upper-Chest Breathing Lie on your back, placing one hand on your upper chest and the other on your abdomen. If the hand on your chest moves as you breathe but the one on the abdomen does not, you're definitely a chest-breather. Anything more than slight movement in the chest is a sign of inefficient breathing.
Shallow Breathing Lie on your back and place your hands around your lower ribs. You should feel an effortless expansion of the lower ribs on the breath in and a slow recoil on the breath out. If your ribs remain motionless, your breathing is too shallow, even if your belly moves.
Overbreathing Lie down and take a few minutes to let your body establish its relaxed breathing rate. Then count the length of your next exhalation and compare it to the length of the following inhalation. The exhalation should be slightly longer. If not, you are an overbreather. As a second test, try to shorten your inhalation. If that causes distress you are probably an overbreather. Because it is easy to manipulate the outcome of these two tests, you may want someone else to count for you at a time when you are not paying attention to your breath.
Breath Holding Holding one's breath after inhaling may be the most common poor breathing habit. To determine if you do this, pay attention to the transition from inhalation to exhalation. A breath-holder usually feels a "catch" and may actually struggle to initiate the exhalation. This tendency is particularly noticeable during exercise. You can reduce the holding by consciously relaxing your abdomen just as an inhalation ends.
Reverse Breathing Reverse breathing happens when the diaphragm is pulled into the chest upon inhalation and drops into the abdomen on exhalation. Lie on your back and place your hands on your abdomen. The abdomen should slowly flatten as you exhale and rise gently as you inhale. If the opposite occurs you are a reverse breather. Since reverse breathing may only occur during exertion, this test is not completely reliable.
Mouth Breathing It's fairly easy to notice if you're a mouth-breather; if you're not sure, ask your friends or try to catch yourself at unguarded moments.
