Just breathe.

As a kid when feeling a little despair, how often was the first bit of advice from your parents or maybe grandparents, to ‘just breathe’.  

Two words, when used together, create a powerful bit of advice, JUST and BREATHE.

The message sounds quite basic. Do nothing else, except to take your full attention to the breath, breathe deeply and try to relax. In moments of panic, it is a lot easier said than done.

There is a correct way and a wrong way to breathe and usually, you need to be guided to do it properly.

Not breathing correctly, which probably 90% of people do not, can further increase the feeling of despair. The short, shallow, fast breath may have its place when physically tired and trying to catch your 2nd breath, but at a time of panic, it may actually increase the negative feeling.

When done correctly, slow, deep breath, from the lower abdomen, can be the start of reaching a state of equilibrium.    

As far as I’m concerned, it’s got to be one of the most undervalued pieces of advice that has been given to me, and funny enough, it usually comes without much thought from the next person. It’s one of those little gems that we all know is good for us, but we never actually do it.    

A full conscious breath aids the calming of the nervous system, gives a little clarity to the mind, help in releasing of tension and stress from the physical body, resulting, usually, on bringing you into the present moment, the now.  

Emotion is energy in motion, add a thought to the energy and it creates a feeling, a positive thought vs a negative thought have very different repercussions.

If your energy isn’t balanced and it’s depleted or excessive, the 2 negatives will not be making a positive outcome.

With a positive outlook to life and positive thoughts, you control the experience and your reality.  

The best place to start the practice is by breathing consciously. 

Whatever the emotion, fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, it’s the same principal.

Everything starts with the breath. Once you have control of the breath, you can then turn your focus to observing the feeling, as awareness and some understanding of the experience can give you a valuable lesson about your triggers and reactions.

Not easy, but a good life lesson.

So, just breath, feel, be aware and start to observe and understand the cause. 

A final step that can be taken, is to step out of the environment which caused the trigger. Step outdoors, into open space, inhale some fresh air, for a positive charge of prana, to aid the calming process.

The power of the breath…….