Your breath.  

It’s not likely something you think about very often unless you happen to be a breath nerd (which is cool in my opinion).

Your breath simply happens.  Like many of your physiological systems, it’s automatic.  Unlike any of the others, it can also be completely under your control if you so choose.  This is what allows for the myriad ways in which breath can purposefully shape your experience of life, once you know how.

Did you know that it’s thought (by researchers, not just random thoughts 🙂 that about 95% of us have a breath pattern that is less than optimal?  Isn’t that astonishing?!   95% of us aren’t breathing very well, meaning some aspect of breath is restricted, incomplete or ineffective.  When you consider that alongside the reported benefits of breathing well and the awareness that breath is key to performance (no matter what it is you’re playing or working at) it appears we have some breath ‘work’ to do!

Curious why many of us default to a less than ideal breath pattern?  The BLUF (bottom line, up front)?  It’s due to inherent link between breath and the nervous system.. and therefor to past experiences.  

You’re already, perhaps unconsciously familiar with this link. For example, perhaps a child jumped out of a closet and playfully gave you a fright.  If you were indeed startled, your breath would have caught, you might have gasped in a quick, shallow breath (and likely felt your heart rate increase slightly).  The impact to your breath was instantaneous, the result of a message from your nervous system that prompted a startle response or a bit of fear.  That’s what its designed to do.  

By extension, all of the situations and experiences in your life that were frightening, particularly impactful and/or repeated that brought up a fear response can remain partially “active” in the system even if you feel as though you’re over it.  That activation can sometimes become stuck in the nervous system response of fear and therefor the individual may be stuck in a breath pattern reflective of the fear state.

Considering that by the time we reach adulthood, most of us have had some pretty challenging experiences, it becomes no surprise that such a high percentage of us aren’t breathing well. 

Having said all that, there is good news.  Just as your current breath pattern developed over time, you can change it to something more life-enhancing with a few simple, consistent practices.  It’s important to take it slow and pay attention to what you’re noticing as you experiment with your breath.  

Sounds intriguing, huh. 🙂