Breath and stress

Breath and stress go hand in hand, rising and falling like emotional tides, as we grapple with and try to make sense of the problems of life. Stress distorts the natural rhythms of the body and in particular, the natural flow of the breath. A stressful episode can result in an extra surge of adrenaline, or fixate attention, not unlike a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. The side effects of stress are rapid shallow breathing or the other extreme of breath retention, when we can become fixated and experience a form of emotional seizure.

Not all stress can be linked to an obvious source as it is more deep seated and ancestral. These forms of stress often haunt us in our dreams and have been passed down through the generations. It is during deep sleep that these hidden ancestral tensions surface, replay and give form to hidden protoplasmic fears. Not all dreaming has negative implications and most provide a healthy way of releasing, breaking down and re-forming day today stress.

Indicators of long term and established stress patterns are disturbed sleep, grinding of teeth, holding of the breath, restless sleep disorders and a combination of bodily tension and shallow breathing. The breath and the emotions are closely related and most are familiar with the yoga maxim “calm the breathing to calm the emotions”. It can help to release long term and repetitive stress by shedding and releasing accumulative tension to mother earth, by taking a deep breath and with explosive out-breath, releasing and relaxing body and mind to enjoy a few moments of peace and tranquillity. This simple technique of grounding and centring helps with the return to a position where we can re-take control and break the inertia of debilitating tension.