Why breathing is our superpower?

What can give us energy, calm us down, manage our pain, help us lose weight, keep us young, give us confidence, make us stronger.....the list can go on. The answer of course is our ability to control and manipulate our breath. But also, the ability to not think about it at all, and allow it to tick along in the background, keeping us alive.

So why is something so amazing, that we carry within us, been forgotten by many of us? There is no one easy answer to this but lifestyle factors obviously are a big cause of this forgotten superpower.  As mentioned, the breath will just continue to work in the background, but if we decided to tap into it, it can be used day to day, for many simple fixes.

Imagine starting your day and not looking at your phone but spending 10 minutes breathing. Breathing out for longer than you breathe in. To put into simple terms this tells your body you are safe, there is no threat or danger, and this puts your mind into a calm state to begin the day. Now think about what might actually be happening. You wake up and check your phone. You have 5 what's app group messages with varying degrees of importance and several work emails. Your mind starts to race, your body starts to tense and without realising it, you hold your breath. Then you gasp for air. Your body thinks it's in fight or flight. And so, the tone of your day is set.

Which option sounds like it will lead to a great, productive and enjoyable day?

It's not just the beginning of the day that this scenario can be seen. Over and over, we forget how much control we exercise over our environment, just be using our breath. Place a post it note on your computer, just with the words stand and breath on them. Sitting at our computer screens means that we fold our body into a squashed position that doesn’t allow us to maximise our breathing patterns. This encourages chest breathing and you guessed it, this type of shallow breathing indicates to our body that we aren't safe and calm. But getting up often, standing and taking a few deep breaths in, changes that. It not only allows our bodies to move, but it also means we take a full breath. It means we stretch and mobilise our bodies and reenergise our minds.

Why not try it today. Stop yourself from reaching for another cup of coffee, instead stand up, breath in through your nose and out through your mouth a few times and take note of how you feel. Breathing is your superpower, so use it!