Breathing and Meditation

Breathing and meditation are the easiest, cheapest,  most impactful methods to improve your health. There are many benefits of breathing you can read about.

But in summary, consciously changing the way you breathe send a signal to the brain to adjust the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which can slow the heart rate and digestion and promote feelings of calm as well as balance the sympathetic system, which controls the release of stress hormones like cortisol.

The Parasympathetic branch is responsible for running the “rest and digest” or the “feed and breed” activities while the body is at rest. especially after eating, including sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation (tears), urination, digestion, and defecation. Its action is described as being complementary to that of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for stimulating activities associated with the “fight-or-flight” response.

Breathing is considered an intermediary between the mind and body. The breath is sacred in many cultures. In Hindu, it is given the Sanskrit work prana meaning life force. Various forms of breathing exercises include:

• Buyteko Technique
• Dragon Breath –short deep breath…
• Thumb over nose breath…

Meditation has also helped immensely, apps like Headspace are great for beginners.

Centerpoint research produced binaural beats that along with coming sounds that aid in a quicker and deeper meditative states.