Great work!!! Easy right!!!

This is the start of a very basic step for you to shift your focus, as well as the beginning of understanding the impact our body’s systems and how they affect each other. Breathing is one of the first signals that something is happening in our body. When we enter fight or flight our breathing naturally shortens and the rate of breath increases. When we are under stress it will often become shallow. Even when our body is ready for sleep our breathing will change and if we are not breathing enough or deeply enough, we will produce a yawn to increase oxygen intake for our body. These are all great examples of how our breathing can change when our body is running on automatic, but the control works in the opposite way as well. We can induce a calmer state if we slow our breathing and bring our focus to our breathing and away from an event, we can rapidly lower stress and even manage pain in some cases. As you go through this course, we will be adding to this little exercise one little nugget at a time. As you are waiting for the next part, I want you to practice the exercise often, just taking a few seconds to let your mind follow your breath. Then when I add the new piece, keep adding to your practice.

There are many meditation styles out there that use breath control to achieve altered states within yourself and some that use your breath like a mantra. The possibilities are vast once you learn how to use some of these controls that are built into your body to regulate not only how your body reacts in a situation but also how you’re able to think and process. Yup that’s right, your breathing can also control how you think and your ability to access you higher thinking requires oxygen and a non-stressed state. Unless you can calm down in a tense situation or when you are working under stress, it will be very difficult to not react out of an emotional state or even with the primal part of your brain. Understanding your breath and how much power is in understanding the connections to breath will catapult you forward at a very fast rate.

So remember. Practice. Practice. Practice.