Breathing is vital force of life. It is considered to be mind-body bridge. Breathing is something that is done everyday, unconsciously; yet majority of people do it improperly. When babies breathe, it is instinctive. Watching a healthy baby while sleeping, one may notice deep breaths that are taken which fill up diaphragm and move up into lungs. As a person ages, bad habits are picked up, health often declines, nutrition worsens, and stress overwhelms proper function of breathing. The word pranayama means “that which extends infinitely everywhere”. It is practice of prana or breath. The breath begins at an energy center inside and extends throughout body to keep one alive. We exercise our bodies, but what about our breathing?

The balanced and peaceful individual is said to have more prana dispersed within body rather than outside of body. An image of a breath center with arrows pointing outward but staying within boundaries of physical being is one way to imagine an individual with healthy prana. It is thought that, when prana remains in body, individual is free of physical symptoms. If one feels ill, anxious, restless, or discontented, prana is at a greater force externally than within. This can show up in a variety of warning signs, from overt physical manifestations, to mental feelings of depression, lack of motivation, etc…

The state of mind is directly connected to breathing. The quality of our breath influences state of our mind and vice-versa. They are one and same. The most obvious example here would be quality of breath in a stressful situation. The mind is overloaded with worries and breath, in turn, becomes rapid, shallow, and sometimes even forgotten altogether. If breath is used deeply and in a proper manner, mind’s focus is taken away from situation at hand and placed back into a state of peacefulness which shows an immediate reciprocation in calming of breath and mind.

As I wandered a parking lot looking for my car I realized quality of my decision making skills shrunk drastically in midst of chaos. We make hundreds of decisions daily. They’re heartbeats of our lives. They make or break us. Are we making good ones? The ones that make a huge positive impact in how we feel about who we are, how we spend time, growth of our businesses, and difference we make in world. The schedule is packed, pressure is on, and we maintain our responsibilities at whatever cost. Here are 5 tips to upgrade your decisions in midst of chaos for life transforming results.

Stay present~ When busy mind tends to move ahead of your body, as in example above. This is where things get misplaced and forgotten, accidents and misunderstandings occur, confusion sets in, and time gets wasted. Bring your mind to present moment. Stay focused on what you want to complete one step at a time.