Entries Tagged as 'Breathwork'

Why is Air Just Like Good Sex?

The only time we think about it is when we’re not getting enough!

It’s true. Most people hardly ever think about breathing, so when they hear that I’m a Breath Therapist, they’re expecting a sales pitch for Tic-Tacs or Altoids. Well, although what it does help with bad breath because it does help rid the body of toxins that can cause bad breath, it goes much deeper than that.

OxyGenesis Breathwork™ is about correcting restricted breathing patterns and expanding your capacity for living. Why would you want to do that? Because you can improve just about any aspect of your physical health, emotional well-being, and/or spirituality.

Now, most people think I’m out of my mind when I say that, but I don’t mind. In fact, being “in the mind” is highly overrated. I’d rather have control over my mind, so that I can use my mind rather than being used by it. That’s my favorite benefit of OxyGenesis Breathwork™. But I’m jumping ahead here. Back to the body…

Most of us are starving our cells of their “daily bread and butter,” which is oxygen. I find it ironic that while we all obsess about terrorism and worry about our pending deaths, almost 80% of the population are slowly committing suicide because they are only taking in about 30% of the oxygen they need to feed their cells! This also explains why so many people suffer from anxiety and panic attacks: Their cells are on the verge of starvation! Think about how you feel when you’re “starving”. Pretty anxious, right? Ready to eat a cow? (Now that’s panic!) Even if your belly is well-fed, if your cells are starved of what they need most - oxygen - your whole body is still on the verge of starvation! How can you possibly feel safe, secure and abundant? You can’t.

How can you tell if I you’re starving your cells? Here’s the quick check-in: Put your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your breastbone. Take a deep breath now, without thinking too much about it, and notice which hand rises first as you inhale. If your left hand moved first, you are breathing poorly. If your right hand moved first, you’re breathing better. But you still might need to expand your breathing capacity, and it is a very good idea to do so.

In fact, Dr. Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize, in 1931, for proving that cancer cells are anaerobic, which means they cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. Cancer is fast becoming the number one killer in this country. I’m not surprised, given that 80% of us are only breathing at 30% capacity! It’s no big mystery.

According to Harvard Graduate Andrew Weil, MD, author of the NY Times Bestseller, Spontaneous Healing “The simplest and most powerful technique for protecting your health is absolutely free – and literally right under your nose. If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly. There’s no single more important daily practice to further your health and well-being than breathwork.”

Regarding the mind, OxyGenesis Breathwork is a powerful method for clearing emotional baggage from the subconscious. It can take the place of psychotherapy and produce faster, more complete results because it works on the energy body as well as the thought-patterns that cause distress and self-sabotage.

Lois Grasso is the originator of OxyGenesis Breathwork™ and founder of the OxyGenesis Institute, a non-profit foundation. She also practices EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) as an adjunct to breathwork, or as a stand-alone therapy for immediate relief from most forms of physical and emotional pain, phobias, anxiety, cravings and more. She offers private sessions in West Hartford, CT. Group sessions, phone sessions and classes are available anywhere. For more information go to www.oxygenesis.org or call 860-796-1480.

 

Tags: Breathwork

Healthy Alternative to Crying

By Lois Grasso

Frustrated or embarrassed when your kid starts to cry? While it seems a fact of life that you must teach kids not to cry, that could be the worst thing to do. Crying is a healthy breathing exercise designed to express (ie., “move out”) the overwhelming feelings caused by physical or emotional stress or trauma.

Instead, teach your child to take a few big belly breaths when they feel the need to cry. This will eliminate or reduce the noise without damaging your child’s health and self-esteem. Consider the friendly advice commonly given to an upset adult to “take a deep breath”. We instinctually know that a deep breath can calm you down, yet we seldom offer this advice to our kids.

Here’s why we need to start. When we threaten, tease, plead with or in any way shame or stifle a crying child, there are numerous damaging consequences. The only way to prevent themselves from crying is to hold their breath and “choke down” the feelings. Soon they are well-trained to do this at the slightest sign of stress, fear or discomfort.

* Breathing is the body’s number one method for clearing out waste. Up to 70% of toxins can be eliminated with healthy breathing. Imagine forbidding your child from urinating? In the long run, forbidding crying is far worse. We are truly handicapping our children when we teach them not to cry, because it is a breathing exercise that eliminates toxins caused by emotional and physical stress.

In addition to suppressing toxic feelings, (which are then stored in the body as tension and biochemical toxins, and stored in the mind as self-loathing and anger), the child also suppresses oxygen intake, toxin release, the ability to focus, and self-awareness. These resources are necessary to respond to life’s many challenges.

We were all kids once. How has it affected you? Most adults take in only a third of the oxygen they need, due to restricted breathing patterns formed during childhood. This causes a build up of unexpressed feelings, known as ‘emotional baggage,’ just waiting to unload any minute. Given the high level of stressors present in modern culture, it is common for most people to be on “red alert” all day. You may be experiencing undue stress, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, lack of energy, lack of meaning, as well as physical illness. Without a healthy outlet for expression, things can, and do, go awry.

Keeping yourself “together” by stuffing down emotions makes it excruciating to listen to anyone else crying, because, like yawning and laughter (also breathing exercises), crying is contagious. Since we are so committed to not feeling and not crying, the vicious cycle continues as we desperately try to keep our kids from crying.

What can we do to avoid burdening our children while maintaining our own composure as parents?

Try this easy solution: When your child begins to cry,

* take your own deep breath,
* pause and relax,
* look him in the eyes (getting eye level with them helps) and in a sincere, supportive tone say, “Wow, you’re really upset/angry/sad. You know what? If you take some deep breaths into your belly, you’ll feel better soon.”
* Children under age six may need help focusing on their breathing. Just put your fingertips about an inch away from the child’s belly button and say, “Take a breath in through your mouth until your belly button pushes my hand up.” Saying this calmly and quietly in their ear will help comfort the child and will help them hear you over the sounds of crying.
* Then tell them to let the breath gush out, right away, through their wide open mouth, like a big silent sigh.
* Tell them they’re doing well and ask for another.
* Continue until the episode subsides. It shouldn’t take more than a few breaths.

For young children, you might even tell them their belly button is the “smiley button” that can make them feel better if they breathe into it. Tell them that they can do this for themselves if you are not around or are busy. This exercise allows your child to release her tension/fear/anger without feeling judged for it

For yourself, just put your hand on your own “smiley button” and push it outward with your inhale. This engages the diaphragm, and helps you catch your breath. Just let the exhale gush out in a relaxed sigh and let your body go limp. You might also want to add some noise to the exhale – a strong steady tone. Be sure to let go of the exhale as soon as the inhale feels full – no pausing between inhale and exhale. If this is difficult for you, or you find yourself getting dizzy, look into breathing therapy. It’ll be the best thing you can do for yourself and your family.

Lois Grasso is a professional Breath Therapist and founder of the OxyGenesis Institute in West Hartford, CT (www.oxygenesis.org). For more information on programs for adults, teens and children five years and up, call 860-796-1480.

 

Tags: Breathwork · Children's Health

Breathing can be your “powertool” for building abundant health and joy

By Lois Grasso

We can live without food for up to 40 days. We can live without water for three days. But without taking a breath, we die in just minutes. Oxygen is our most essential nutrient. Yet nearly 80% of Americans constantly deprive themselves of oxygen by inhaling only 20 - 30% of their potential lung capacity. If you are not able to see your belly rise with the inhale and fall with the exhale, you are one of the 80%!

If your breathing is not powered by the diaphragm muscle, your cells are not getting enough oxygen. They are literally struggling to survive. At best, this internal cellular struggle causes “unexplained” anxiety and a sense of lack or struggle. At worst, it leads to terminal illness and an early grave.

And breathing does much more than contribute oxygen to the body. The movement of the diaphragm provides important stimulation of abdominal organs – especially the liver and intestines!

So, why are most of us breathing improperly? First, consider the systematic “training” we receive throughout our lives as we are constantly told to “stop crying”. In order to comply with this demand to resist what comes naturally under stress, we must hold our breath. It is the only way to stop crying and be acceptable again! With practice, we become so adept at holding in our breath - and our feelings! - we nearly lose the ability to breathe and feel. Eventually, we are holding the breath at the slightest sign of stress – just when we need it most!

With the assistance of a professional breathing coach, you can expand your breathing capacity and eject old emotional baggage from the driver’s seat of your mind and body. Conscious Connected Breathing is the basis of a number of “brands” of therapeutic breathwork (ie., Transformational Breathing™, Vivation™, Rebirthing™, and OxyGenesis Breathwork™), all of which help to release chronic tension and retrain the body to breathe more fully. OxyGenesis Breathwork also incorporates percussive acupressure (aka EFT), manual stimulation of tense muscles, and more. By using a connected breathing rhythm (ie., no pause between inhale and exhale) which is similar to the way an infant breathes when crying, we give our bodies permission to release unexpressed physical and emotional energy that got stored in the body (as tension) earlier on in life, because we had to stifle it.

Once those energy blocks and corresponding beliefs about ourselves (ie., “Being myself is not acceptable”) are expressed and cleared, most people report a sense of self-acceptance, clarity, and joy that puts the conscious mind in the driver’s seat

With enough practice, it can become automatic to breathe deeply and relax at the slightest sign of stress. The negative effects of major stressors, including intense grief, addictions and severe illness or injury, can be reduced as well. This is when your breathing becomes a highly versatile self-healing powertool for building a vibrant and joyful life.

Why choose breathing therapy in a world that is blossoming with new holistic therapies everyday, some of which seem so much more novel and exciting? If your true goal is a consistently joyful life, doesn’t it make sense to turn your most essential connection with life into your most reliable ally? As Andrew Weil, MD says, “Breath is the movement of Spirit in the body. Spirit is your essential power.”

Lois Grasso is the founder of OxyGenesis Breathwork, and the non-profit OxyGenesis Institute in West Hartford, CT (www.oxygenesis.org). She also uses EFT, with or without breathwork, and is available for local and long distance (phone) sessions and seminars in corporate and educational settings. She can be reached at 860-796-1480.

 

Tags: Breathwork