Not getting the results you want? Remember to breathe. December 6, 2006
The results you achieve are directly related to your physiology. What this means is that if you are tired, sore and depressed, your results will be very different to when you are energised, focused and relaxed. To put it another way, if you show me someone performing in the world, I can show you how their physiology continues to reinforce the results this person is getting.
One of the simplest things you can do to alter your physiology is to change your state. The easiest way to do this is alter your breathing. Throughout your life your breathing changes in response to your environment. If you are stressed or anxious, your breath is fast and shallow. After a run you breathe heavily. As a child, to cry you breathed in a different way. When you sleep, your breath slows and deepens. When you are surprised you give a sudden intake of breath. When you relax there is often a sigh. All these and more are common, universal changes in breath. They are automatic and unconscious, and are a response to what your body is doing. What most people don’t realise, however, is that your body responds in turn to how you are breathing.
An example you can play with yourself: your heart naturally slows as you breathe out, and speeds as you breathe in. When you think about it, this makes sense as there is less oxygen in your lungs on your breath out than on your in breath. So if you ever want to slow your heart rate, you can take a very fast in breath, and then an extended slow out breath. Or, if you want to speed it up, do the opposite.
If at any time you find your results are not meeting your expectations, change your breathing. And the easiest method I teach is one your body already knows. If you are like most people I teach stress reduction and peak performance techniques to, you don’t know you already know. Take a deep breath in, and then sigh heavily. Notice how you feel when you do this. Usually your shoulders will drop a little, and other muscles will relax. If you then consciously relax as much as you can when you sigh, you increase the effectiveness of this single breath.
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- Posted in : Psychology, Stress
- Author : Michael
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