Breathing. A surprisingly uncommon lesson.

Oxygen comes in to fill your lungs, it then transfers to your bloodstream and supplies the most critical component to all the cells of your body including your brain.

When you breathe out, gases that accumulate in your body are expelled. Clean air in, waste air out. Simple enough.

While it sounds simple enough, there are a number of other things that happen within our body when we breathe in different ways.

Try this simple exercise:

1. Take in the deepest breathe you can through your mouth and into your chest and then let it out through your mouth too. (notice how it feels) Repeat that twice more. Then...
2. Take the deepest breath you can through your nose and into your stomach and then let it out through your nose too. (notice how it feels) Repeat that twice more. Then...
3. Using your nose only, take a breathe in (to your stomach) for four seconds, hold for four seconds, then out for four seconds, hold for four seconds, then repeat 5 more times. Increase to five seconds and repeat 5 times. (box pattern)

Generally people will feel more relaxed breathing through your nose and into your stomach and more anxious breathing through your mouth and into your chest.

For the next 24 hours - do the box pattern exercise through your nose - 4 seconds in, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds out, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds in etc etc.

Use a sticky note or a screen saver image that says "breathe". Every time you pick up your phone, remember to breath properly.

If you're not breathing through your nose and into your belly regularly then this simple exercise will make a big difference.

Want more tips on breathing?

There are some great breathwork instructors out there now running some amazing classes. Wellteam members were fortunate to have Kym Burls join us this year for a members only FREE online session. It was amazing what 60 minutes with Kym could do. Check out www.kymburls.com for more details on Kym. Kym will be checking in with us again each quarter.

Go well.