Got Breath?

If you pass out and go unconscious your body will automatically continue to breathe in order to keep you alive. Trust!?..  Breathing is so vital to survival that your body keeps the actual function of breathing seeded deeply into the primal parts of the brain. Yet, amazingly, this vitally important function can be controlled, quite easily, with your conscious mind. Huh? As long as you remain mindful of your breath’s use, it stays conscious. But as soon as your mind wanders from the focus of your breath, it returns back to it’s unconscious auto-function. Your mind and body will do the same thing. For example: stop being conscious of your posture and movement, and you fall back into unconscious movement patterns; stop being conscious of your thoughts and emotions and they will flood through you like a stressful hurricane of uncontrollable energy. Solution?? We want to habitually practice good conscious control of the entirety of our being, setting ourselves into good patterns that will ultimately seed themselves into our unconscious so that when we do go on autopilot, our unconscious mind is well trained.

So… got breath?

Just like “being tall”, and using the core, you want to cultivate your awareness of the breath so that you can begin to use it well in everything you do. If you are continuously mindful of being tall, moving from your core, and breathing, you will be miles ahead of 99% of the people that come to the gym.

There are various ways to breathe that depend on what you’re doing and feeling. What I mean by that is, there are various muscle patterns you can use to inhale and exhale, and various timings you can use to cultivate what you want. Breathing can be used for relaxation, or to create tremendous power and strength. But almost all breathing methods will require that you breathe from your diaphragm.

Lay down flat on the floor, on your back, and place [one or] both hands on your belly directly over your belly button. Breathe in so that your belly and hand(s) rise. Breathe out by relaxing, not forcing, and feel the belly and hand(s) sink inward towards your spine. Rise and repeat for 3 minutes. Now sit or stand up tall, and create that same movement on the belly on each inhale and exhale. This is breathing from the diaphragm.

The diaphragm is the center action for the breathing system. Its use can create long slow relaxation breaths, short powerful yells or grunts, controlled exhales for proper singing and vocalization, or even held and clenched breath in order to create stability in your spine and core during high strength and power movements. It all begins with waking up the diaphragm. Hello breath.

Metaphysically, the breath is the connection between emotion and your body. The breath helps you “feel” your own emotional energy, and can then be used to express and communicate those emotions. A sigh, a yell, a grunt, a laugh, a four-letter word, a sentence, even holding your breath are all expressions of your emotional energy. The accuracy of your awareness of breath helps the accuracy of your emotional communication (which we all know can misfire sometimes!)

So if the breath helps you feel, express and communicate emotions, what do you think is going on when you are unconsciously breathing, as opposed to consciously? You may be kept alive (thank you deeper parts of the brain) but you may be largely unaware of your own emotion energy, and unaware of how that emotional energy is being expressed and communicated to the world around you. So ask yourself this very important question: how can you cultivate what you’re unaware of?!

We all came out screaming and expressing ourselves. It’s the very first thing we did after birth; we got slapped, inhaled deeply, then screamed! The breath is part of your DNA. It’s hardwired into the core of who you are. You are meant to express yourself with your breath. As you get older and wiser it behooves an individual to expand the tool set with which the breath can be used for. Just like the body needs a continual multitude of different training styles, modalities and movements in order to avoid stagnation, so does the breath. Singing, screaming, sighing, deep breathing, shallow breathing, the breath of fire, meditative breathing, zen breath, holding your breath under water, power breathing, tuva throat singing, grunting and learning different languages are just a few examples of how you can train your breath to express yourself. Neglecting the muscles of your breath is neglecting your own internal knowledge and expression.

Breathing during fitness should be a highly aware process. Strength training requires good attention to your breath in order to maximize the use of your body to lift as heavy as possible. When resting between reps in your CrossFit workout you shouldn’t just be absently gasping for breath while your mind runs wild with praise; particularly not if you’re after mindfulness to form to maximize efficiency. Pay attention to your breath. Consciously note the depth of your inhale and exhale, the rhythm, the timing during movements, the expressions and communications you make when you exhale, the feeling of your emotional energy that is tied to each awesome breath.

Strength training and high intensity workouts are GREAT scream therapy, provided you’re not ashamed to belt it out from the depth of your soul! Get in there and let it out! Express yourself!

Awareness of your breath also influences your thoughts during fitness. Instead of the mind running wild, frantically fooling you into thinking your high intensity workout is something you should tune out of, or that the weight you’re lifting is too heavy for another rep, proper breathing focuses your mind into your movement. This allows your mind to become a tool to help you rather than hinder you. This saves energy when you don’t have to fight your own thoughts. Even the smallest signal contrary to the movement you’re about to perform affects the outcome of that movement. Your breath can help your mind be channeled through your awareness, into the moment, into your emotions, into your thoughts, into your body, into your workout.

And you can walk away from your workout knowing you killed it!

With just a little bit of awareness to your posture, your core, and your breath.

Treat fitness like play.

Learn new skills.

There is no separation between mind and body. In the gym we are training our mind as well as our body, and the more aware we are of each piece of our being, the more we can assimilate those pieces into our training. Good training is about cultivating inclusion of our being, not exclusion. How we move inside the gym is how we move outside the gym. Use it as a tool for your life.

Your Homework:

Get Breath! Be aware of your breathing when working out.

Your breath helps maximize who you are.

Look at the breath as a way to turn your mind into a blade that cuts through your workout. Be aware of emotional states like determination, focus, awareness, desperation, doubt; and the thought processes that follow them like excessive random thoughts, positive self talk, mental imagery of success or failure, and/or self destructive thoughts. Use your breath to create any emotional state and thought process you want to express that day. Wake up! And breathe.

Continue to:

1. Play; both inside the gym and outside.

2. Learn new skills or continue to master known ones (or both!)

3. Grow tall at least once a day for 5 consecutive minutes.

4. Perform core workouts daily.

I'll keep working on My Body Kinection, you work on yours too!