Deep Breathing – How It Can Simultaneously Improve Health And Bring You Closer To Your Goals Written by Tim Webb
I hope by reading this article you will see value in being aware of your breath and also how it can have potential to not only improve your internal health but also give you an instantly accessible tool to help you focus on those goals and ambitions you have been putting off. Be sure to try simple exercise below also to get you started on developing your awareness of how (and where) you breathe. Not so long ago (well, about six or seven years actually!) I did not give way I breathed a second thought. In fact, everything I based my physical training upon was external in nature. I lifted weights and focused on bigger muscles, latest shakes to add a few calories, and in all honesty was quite a shallow person. I lived day to day with no clear vision of where I was headed. I knew I enjoyed competing in martial arts and was interested in fitness but that was about it. To cut a long story a little shorter I started feeling ill. Tiredness pervaded my body, I had glandular fever and was diagnosed with a liver disorder that slowed down way in which my liver processed that which I ingested. I could not train for a number of months and felt very dejected. It was then I began looking for more internal methods to train while I recovered. While researching breathing methods it was as if a light clicked on in my mind. I began thinking of working from inside out. You may be wondering what sort of exercises I started using so below is one of first I learnt, and applied, for you to try and benefit from. Perform it ten times with focus and feel it’s beneficial effects on your mind and body. 1. Stand (preferably in fresh air) with feet shoulder width apart.
| | FACING THE PASTWritten by Kay L. Schalgel
How many times in life have you been faced by circumstances beyond your control? To come face to face with very things in your past, that you’ve spent most of your life running away from? Well, not actually running, per say, but definitely eager to put it behind you. How many times have you been admonished, "don't talk about it. It’s past. Let it go.” That's very good advice, if we can do it. Keeping past in past is a very tricky business. It has worst way of popping up when we least expect. When you unexpectedly run into an old friend; an off hand comments of “remember when", or worse, an old boyfriend or lover popping up at worst time. Needless to say, you're not going to get rid of pastThe past is a part of us. It is foundation of what our present as been built on. Our personalities have been shaped by it. Are we permanently imprisoned by our past? NO. I can't even say that loud enough. Yes, we have built on past but we can definitely remodel or even tear down house and build again. For those of us who were victims of childhood abuse or neglect, it seems impossible. The past is a constant reminder of shame, guilt, of never knowing what will come next. We never knew what it was like to take ownership of our bodies, own emotions. and sometimes even our own thoughts. That was then. This is now. It's time we learned how we take back our bodies and minds. They belong to us and only us. No one should ever have that control again. I'll say it again you're not going to get rid of past, its going to keep popping up now and then, but you're going to have learn to handle it differently. Instead of it being an enemy, and persisting to keep obsessing on bad memories. With knowledge and practice, slowly but surely good memories will begin to take their place. "What good memories you say?” Was there a neighbor that would talk, listen, feed, or just give you a safe place to hide at times? The kids you played with who may or may not have been abused themselves? There were some good times and memories even if infrequent they are there buried somewhere under bad ones. I myself, remember trips to Kentucky that we frequently took to see my step dad’s parents. It was only time that he sobered up and stopped hurting or beating us. We didn't know why at time, but who cared? It was safe and we loved it. We had vacations in summer with just my mother and neighbor. We loved this neighbor so much and knew she loved us. There were special pets who loved us unconditionally. Yes, there were long periods of violence and humiliation but there were also memories stuck in here and there that didn't hurt and were good memories. For most of us, those good memories were so overshadowed by bad, that we couldn’t appreciate good ones. Some may have only happened once, and for a very short time perhaps, but they were good. That is foundation you have to build on. Now that we are working on good, what do you do with bad? That is what takes some work. We can’t demolish all bad and throw it all in one big disaster dumpster. We have to sift though it just one more time. Not all of it, of course, but we need to find lessons we learned, courage we had, and strength we earned. Last, but definitely not least, wisdom and compassion, we acquired along this journey. Most, if not all of us, need help with this part of process of recovery. A professional health worker such as psychiatrist, therapist, counselor, or pastor can be a really big help. For those of us with less serious problems to be worked through a good friend, journaling and reading self help books can even do trick. Theremany organization such as al-anon, AA, violence shelters. I could go on and on but you get point. They offer support and help. Even with a competent professional we can all use some outside support. For me a journal was almost a must. It helped me know where I’d been, and how far I’d come. It has become record of my journey—one that I will always cherish.
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