Completely Change The Way You Breathe. Find Out How
How can you change the way you breathe? I mean, it’s just inhaling and exhaling, right? Yes of course, but also about where you breathe. I always guide my clients in a breathing exercise during their facials and it is common for me to see that they are breathing into their chests and not down into their abdomen.
How do you do abdominal breathing? Indulge me. Let’s do an exercise together. Ok, ready? Let’s go.
Breathing Exercise:
- Breathing through your nose, take a deep inhale into your diaphragm. Fill up your belly like a balloon. Full of air.
- Now completely exhale the air out. Pushing your diaphragm towards your spine, letting all the air out of your belly.
- Go slow. This isn’t a race.
- Take deep, purposeful breaths. Take another inhale through your nose, filling your belly.
- Exhale the air out, pulling your belly in.
- Inhale, belly out.
- Exhale, belly in.
- Take another deep, full breath in. Filling your belly as much as you can with air. Now, hold your breath. Focus on any areas of pain, stress, unease. Holding your breath.
- Take a deep, long exhale out. Pushing all that air, pain, stress, unease out.
- Continue to breathe at your own pace.
During your day, remember to take deep breaths into your belly with every inhale, and with every exhale, letting go of everything that does not serve you. This is a great 5-minute breathing meditation you can do anytime.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, stressed, frazzled, remember to breathe! Don’t mess with shallow breathing into your chest. Go deeper. Fill up that belly every damn time. Learn to breathe!
Why is learning to breathe important for skin care?
Well, deep breathing is one the best ways to lower stress in the body. Stress is definitely a culprit for skin issues and breakouts. One way stress affects skin is that it causes hormonal fluctuations which cause you to produce more sebum (oily, waxy substance) that get’s trapped inside hair follicles, along with dirt and dead skin cells, and produces blemishes. Hormonal imbalances can cause let’s of disruption to your body and skin.
Chronic stress is an epidemic in our society and I witness it taking its toll on my client’s skin and bodies.
Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in your body. When you breathe deeply, you send a message to your brain to calm the eff down and to relax. The brain then sends this message to your body, and you start relaxing and feeling more serene.
Next time you are feeling overwhelmed, do the little breathing exercise above and let your body and mind relax.
