Forgetting to Breathe
Isn’t that like forgetting to live?
Hello friends and followers of The LifeWalk!
This post is an exciting one for me, not for the topic (though it is a good one), but for the fact that it’s my 100th post on this Substack! And, it is my 39th week in a row of posting (as the Substack gods have reminded me via email each week… it’s the little wins that keep me going). Also, it’s been about 9 months since I moved to this platform with my little email list of 30 and I’m now at 90 subscribers (who are not just friends and family). While that’s not a lot, it means a lot to me, as do the comments and likes I’ve received from all of you along the way.
So cheers 🥂 to 100 posts, 39 weeks, and 90 subscribers… with anticipation of many more to come! Thanks for joining me on this ride and thanks for inviting your friends to join as well!
It may seem silly, but how often have you caught yourself so engaged in your current task that you’ve forgotten to take a break and eat? Similarly, how often have you forgotten to breathe? Isn’t that like forgetting to live?
In a way, yes.
I’m not talking about holding your breath, or even stopping breathing entirely (you’d obviously pass out at some point).
Most of us, myself included, go through most of our day barely breathing. Our bodies function on autopilot to get enough oxygen to our brains to survive, but that’s it. Unless you’re exercising or in some high stress situation, your breathing is shallow and barely noticeable. Barely living with lower energy and lower cognitive function.
We forget that big, deep controlled breaths brings more oxygen to the body and that keep us more alive!
5 benefits of controlled breathing:
More oxygen to the blood gives you more energy.
More oxygen to the brain promotes better sleep.
Increased oxygen levels help cell regeneration and boost your immune system.
Memory and cognitive function increases.
Increased oxygen can even put mood swings on a more even keel.
There are different breathing techniques for different results:
For calming, try the 4-7-8 method: breathe in for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of seven, the exhale for a count of 8.
For energy, try belly breathing. Inhale slowly expanding your belly and you take a full, deep breath, hold for a count of five, exhale slowly for a count of five. Repeat as needed.
For sleep, try a three part breath. Take a deep inhale, hold and focus on how your body feels, then exhale slowly. Eventually make your exhale twice as long as your inhale.
Whatever your focus is with your breathing, just remember to do it! If we’re not breathing, we’re literally not living. With increased breaths and controlled breathing, you will increase the quality of your life and truly begin living fully.
An excerpt from book #3 (coming in 2024):
It’s the spaces between that emphasize the filled moments.
Musicians have always known this. There is beauty in the space between the notes. The timing, long or short, between each note changes how that next note resonates. It’s not just the volume or pitch or timing of the notes themselves, but the nature of the spaces between them that can change the mood or intensity.
Appreciate the empty spaces in your schedule. Enjoy the down time. Not every moment needs to be filled.
Coming soon! Book 3 in the Life Management 101 series. Stay tuned for details and check out the first two books on Amazon while you’re waiting.
reminds me the last surgery i had 12 years ago the nurse wrote on the board in my room..Dont Forget to Breathe