This post leads you through a way to use the breath the relieve chronic tension.

As you breathe in and out, your entire body shifts and rocks with the motion of the breath. This expansion and release allows your diaphragm to flow freely and your lungs to fill and empty.

It’s common, though, for habits of posture, stress, or stuck emotions to restrict the breathing process. This can end up causing trouble, not only for breathing itself, but for digestion, toxicity, circulation, and chronic tension.

Below, I’ll show you a simple and effective way to work with the breath to relieve chronic tension through releasing these stuck patterns.

Guide to using breath to relieve chronic tension.

Step 1.  Watch this video on the 6 major areas of breath and do the breathing exercise.  Make sure you follow along! (Or else you’ll just be watching a video of someone breathing…: ) Pay close attention to which movements feel strange or uncomfortable.

Step 2: Choose the one major area that was most uncomfortable or awkward feeling.

• If more than one area stands out, choose the most difficult one, and come back to the other later.

• If no one area stands out, choose the lumbar spine. This alone will help reset the entire breath cycle.

Step 3. Choose a tool from the list below and take 6 deep, slow, deliberate breaths into and out of your area.

Toolkit:

• Kinesthetic: place hands on area, and really feel them fill with air and release (as shown in video)

• Visual: Pick a visualization that will help you fill and empty your area.  You could imagine a balloon or a bubble.  Feel free to be creative here.

• Auditory: Think of a few words that help describe the free movement you’re going for: “My ribs move freely out and in” “my back fills and empties fluidly.”

• Combo: mix and match any of the above tools

And that’s it!

The best way to make this effective is to stick with it. I recommend taking time each day for the next 3 days to breathe deeply into your area of choice. Soon, you’ll notice you’re breathing easier and that spots that were once tight are moving freely.

There’s no limit to the amount of work you can do on yourself just using the breath this way. Revisit this guide as often as you like to choose new spots to work on.

And, if you feel you need some back-up in releasing any tension or old emotion that you discover, BodyTalk sessions are a great way to help this work go faster.

Have a beautiful day!