SOPHRO BALANCE for Wellbeing

Benefits of Breathing

The importance of the breath is obvious to all of us, but there are many variations of ‘breathing‘ that we should explore in more detail…

A less well known fact about breathing, is that you can gain control of your breath which can help with several life situations, one of which I explain later. Whilst training as a Sophrologist I learnt a variety of breathing techniques and there are plenty of resources online that show you these methods, when to use them and how they impact you, here are my favourite top 5 techniques:

• Qigong Breathing – Pronounced ‘chi gong’, it was developed in China thousands of years ago as part of Chinese medicine. It uses exercises to optimise energies within the body, mind, and spirit with the goal of improving and maintaining health and wellbeing. Qigong has both psychological and physical components and regulates the mind, the breath, and body’s movement and posture. It can have several health benefits including Parkinson’s, high blood pressure and chronic heart conditions.
• Hugging Breath – My favourite, this is great to use before falling asleep or during the night if you wake up. The Hugging Breath made famous by the Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, great for reassuring you at times of high stress or anxiety. The other is the 3 Hug Breath which involves hugging someone (really hugging them) and taking three deep breaths together will ground you both.
• Fire Breath – A rejuvenating breathing exercise also known as the Breath of Fire involves passive, normal inhalations and powerful rapid exhalations. This style of forced exhalation may help reduce stress, boost brain function, and improve your respiratory health. It is also said to strengthen the abdominal muscles and aid digestion. Shown to enhance brain functions such as memory, reaction time, attention, it may help concentration improving how quickly you respond to visual stimuli.
• Square Breathing – A calming exercise this takes your focus away from your thoughts and helps you relax. Also called Box Breathing it is great for reducing rising fear or panic, especially if overwhelmed at night or wake up and unable to drop off to sleep. This practice is simple yet effective…breath in, hold the breath, breath out and hold the breath again, all for the count of four. Visualising a square whilst doing this helps refocus the breath, very powerful in highly stressful situations.
• Alternate Nostril Breathing – Traditionally, an autonomic breathing exercise in yoga, in Alternate Nostril Breathing you breathe in slowly and gently through one nostril whilst keeping the other one closed with their fingers, then swap nostrils. It helps by concentrate on breathing and it calms or relaxes you, making you feel grounded and centred in the process. It is good for the heart, lungs and the brain.

An interesting fact used by the US Army, the ‘military sleep’ technique, was used to enable soldiers to fall asleep at any given time. After six weeks of practice, the technique worked for 96% of them. It worked by focusing on each part of the body in turn from head to toe and relaxing, releasing and letting go. If you practice for six weeks you should fall asleep within 2 minutes of closing your eyes!

Similarly, in Sophro Balance, I use a relaxing body scan before entering into the guided techniques which refocuses the breath so the practice is felt deep within your awareness. This takes full advantage of the practice and prolongs the feelings once the session is over. We journal the experience at the end which integrates the exercise more fully.

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