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Oh Rona, oh Rona, how we despise thee..... I could go on, it sounds like a song, but as much as I'd like, I probably couldn't go long, I'd rather say so loooong,.....Rona! OK, that's as poetic as I can be today. Let's just say, we are all in this together, all feeling the pressure, all concerned about our ongoing health and the health of our loved ones. That said, I hinted last time at ways that we can support ourselves and our overall well-being even more than we usually do without investing much more than 5-10 minutes and no $$ per day. What is that? you may ask. Well, let's talk about our central nervous system. Breathing is this crazy thing we do automatically, but we can also do under our own volition (ever held your breath? ever breathed faster or slower because you wanted to? We all do this, but what we forget about breathing is that it is our special way of getting a message backward from our diaphragm (that muscly dome that separates the bottom of our lungs from our gut) up to our brain. Alright, who's touched piano keys before?? We can all touch and even play the keys, but we don't all make beautiful music, right? Making music takes practice. That's how deep breathing works - we don't get a very solid relaxation message back to our brains unless we practice using those neural pathways. At first it can take 10 - 20 breaths to send any relaxation at all. Just like the piano, if you set aside 5-10 minutes daily, and truly focus on the breathing, you, too, can make beautiful music while your brain says,"Ahhhhhhh, I know what s/he's doing, we've been here before, this is relax time". This practice results in your blood pressure lowering, your stress level lowering, your coping skills and tolerance for stress increasing (and more!), and with practice, this can happen as quickly as with the first breath. Sounds worth the practice, yes? I'm going to recommend a couple of free apps (you can also do a little google research to find others) that can help you relax and enjoy this time while you let your nervous system practice. Try Simply Being - this is a free app that directs you to breathe while also helping you lay the groundwork for beginner meditation. You can control the volume of the music/sounds separately from the voice , and you can choose how long each should continue. The other I'll recommend is iBreathe. Did I mention these are both free? iBreathe teaches you to control inhalation and exhalation, to really hone your focus and breath skills. Feel free to explore, but remember the importance of ongoing training. The nervous system hardware is already there. We are hard-wired like a piano, but what we usually lack is the practice. So set aside 5 minutes after waking, or just before bed, and really just breathe. Contact me below if you need more support for your practice or in building this routine. Sending love!
Tracey~
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