The Calming Breath

Breathing for Relaxation

Breath, breathing, thoughts and imagination have a great impact on how you are feeling. How do you feel right now at this moment, happy, sad, afraid, maybe you feel angry? Whatever you are feeling is a result of the brain’s neurological process that causes you to feel what you feel.

You may think the situation, the environment or the person has caused you to feel the way you feel. Although true to a certain extent, it’s your brain that releases the chemicals into the body in response to your reaction to the situation.

A Pharmacy in Your Brain

Hence, if you’ve just won the jackpot, you will feel very excited, happy and jubilant about your winnings. The brain has been releasing loads of happy chemicals into your bloodstream, so you ‘feel’ happy.

The opposite is true; if you are anxious or fearful, the brain will release unhappy chemicals into your body to feel sad and insecure.

Your emotions trigger the exchange of chemicals within your body. You can control these chemical exchanges once you understand that your mind and body, although part of the same psycho-cybernetic system, affect each other. Your brain is a natural pharmacy, releasing chemicals every second of every day into your bloodstream.

These chemicals, good or bad, will affect heart rate, breathing pattern, digestive system, blood flow and many other systems within your body as well as your mood.

Gentle Breath & Feelings

So, how do you release ‘good’ chemicals into your body so that you can feel happy and joyful? As human beings, we are not normally aware of our breathing, so we breathe erratically and without awareness.

So first, take a moment to become aware of your breathing. Now, take a gentle breath in and hold it for a second or two- great, now breathe out, do you ‘feel’ the shift within?

Now imagine how relaxed you will feel when you stop for a moment, breathe gently, and think of something that will make you smile.

Take a deep breath in and hold it for a few seconds…, that’s it, now, on the out-breath say “aahhhhh”

Do you see how easy it is to create a more positive and upbeat mood? Next time you feel a little uptight or anxious, remember to do some gentle breathing and take control over the feeling. You may want to smile as you do this exercise. It puts a demand on the brains hypothalamus to dispense some cool and inexpensive uplifting medication.

Scroll to Top
Skip to content