Our breathing is something we do mostly unconsciously, and as such it is considered an involuntary physical action. We can become more conscious of our breathing, though, and apply mindfulness to it in order to help ourselves heal from our various mental, emotional and physical afflictions. When we practice conscious breathing, we connect our minds, hearts, bodies and spirits and repair the disconnectedness that many of us suffer from when struggling with addiction and mental illness. We bridge the gaps between the various parts of ourselves. We therefore enable ourselves to heal holistically, rather than trying to tackle our issues separately. The more we learn about our challenges, the more we see how inextricably linked and related they actually are. They cause each other, compound and worsen each other, and fuel each other. Conscious breathing is one of the best practices we can add to our healing toolbox to help us recover from all of them.
When we breathe mindfully, we stop ourselves from functioning on auto-pilot, unconsciously and without awareness. We learn to pause and take a breath before reacting as we normally would. We become less likely to react out of anger or defensiveness. We become slower to judge or criticize. We become more likely to give ourselves the time we need to make calm, thoughtful, rational decisions. With conscious breathing, we’re better able to slow down our racing thoughts and regain control of our overactive thinking minds. We’re able to think more clearly and process our thoughts more easily. We’re better able to communicate those thoughts, along with our needs, wishes and boundaries, with the other people in our lives. We learn to calm ourselves down and offset the anxiety and panic that so commonly accompany our addictions. We foster a deeper sense of peace within ourselves and we rebuild our faith in ourselves. We connect with our intuition and our inner guidance system. We reconnect with the truth of who we are, something that we often tend to forget when we’re inundated with the stress, pressure and turmoil of addiction.
Conscious breathing teaches us more about the breathing patterns we were perpetuating unconsciously that were undermining our well-being. Many of us, for example, breathe rapidly, with shallow, incomplete breaths. This breathing pattern can increase our anxiety and panic and heighten our stress levels. We can find it even harder to calm ourselves when we’re breathing like this. When we become more conscious of our breathing, we can take steps to correct our breathing patterns for better health and wellness. We prepare and empower ourselves for true recovery.
The recovery programs at The Guest House include Conscious Connected Breathwork as part of our healing modalities. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.