Until recently when people looked at how to get healthy according to western medicine, the first thing everyone thought was to change your diet. Next thing people would say you don’t drink enough water. Rarely did anyone think about how they breathe.
How long can we survive without food? Up to two months.
How long can we survive without water? About 3 days.
How long can we survive without oxygen? Minutes.
Breathing is the most basic function of life. Why don’t we improve how we breath?
Many people are not very conscious of how they breathe. Poor breathing habits are common in modern times. When was the last time you took a deep and slow breath and thought closely about the intimate relationship between your mind, body, and breath?
Times are changing. People have found the connection between breathing and how to access their autonomous nervous system. The autonomous nervous system was named that way because it was thought that we have no control over it. But this was wrong. We can control our breathing and through our breathing our nervous system. Many people have developed different breathing techniques that can be referred to as breathwork. The benefits of this are now being supported with modern scientific studies.
Your nervous system affects every aspect of your health, including your:
- Thoughts, memory, learning, and feelings.
- Movements, such as balance and coordination.
- Senses, including how your brain interprets what you see, hear, taste, touch and feel.
- Sleep, healing and aging.
- Heartbeat and breathing patterns.
- Response to stressful situations.
- Digestion, as well as how hungry and thirsty you feel.
- Body processes, such as puberty.
Breathwork is the use of various breathing techniques that use the intentional use of breath to affect our nervous system and the connection between mind and body. And thereby improving your general health.
Breathwork is an all natural on demand way to enhance the quality of your life. It has long been practiced in many cultures and is now entering mainstream western civilization. There are many different ways to do breathwork from simply slowing your breath down to more advanced techniques.
Consciously controlling your breath i.e. breathwork has been practiced all around the world in different time periods to help physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual health.
The earliest examples of breathwork date back to 3000 BC in what is now China and India. These practices have continued to modern day, filtering into western society through the spread of yoga. One man has been responsable for much of this. His name is Wim Hof also known as the Ice man. Wim Hof has even influenced us here in Nicaragua. Mainly through the rediscovery of pranamaya a traditional aspect of yoga made up of two sanskrit words prana which means life force and ayama meaning control. Life force control pretty good stuff.
Breathwork courses and breathwork training are popping up all over the place. It has even filtered into this little corner of Nicaragua we call Costa Dulce and taken root. We are offering breathwork training with Samuel Coulon, renowned breathwork instructor who will visit us December 6th through 10th and will hold a 5 day seminar to bring out your true potential! Get reborn through breathing, consciousness, and knowledge! This is a breathwork facilitator training as well as a chance for personal breathwork training.
We will be developing a weekly breathwork training so if you can’t make it in December we will have more on offer.
The benefits of breathwork are innumerable, it will improve your quality of life in so many ways. Now breathe in slowly and deeply, let it go. Repeat 10 million times ( average number of breaths in a lifetime).
Resources:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/21202-nervous-system
Breathology The art of conscious breathing
By Stig Åvall Severinsen