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Breathing is strained whenever a single inhalation pauses slows or speeds up When someone |
is stressed you can often hear them straining for more breath as multiple rapid gasps or |
shudders will punctuate the inhalation The gasps occur when one is continuing to inhale |
despite their bodys inclination to switch to exhalation The weakness in the breath tells us to |
stop taking a full inhalation and go back to exhaling prematurely This is the same mechanism |
that causes us to breathe shallowly and that creates the diaphragmatic speedbump This |
phenomenon of fighting against oneself for breath is sometimes called paradoxical breathing |
We are constantly modulating the rate of each breath from second to second depending |
on our level of air hunger and transient stress We may alter the rate of a single breath many |
times This is not ideal Tell yourself that you will stick with the same rate for the entirety of |
each breath If you need to change the rate because you need more air change at the |
beginning of the next inhalation or exhalation but not during an actual breath One helpful way |
to assist you in this is through breathing exclusively through the nose which we will discuss in |
Chapter |
Imagine that your breath is an accordion that you have spent your life thrusting and |
thrashing in a distraught feverish way Imagine now playing the accordion by moving your |
hands very slowly and continuously stretching the accordion out to its full length and then |
gently pressing it closed over and over |
People who perform intricate manual work or marksmen who shoot targets find that |
holding the breath helps steady the hands Once you reprogram your breath to be continuous |
and smooth breathholding is no longer necessary to keep you from shaking As you paint an |
eyebrow on that tiny face on your canvass or take aim at a distant target you will find yourself |
smoothing out your breath rather than holding it |
Distressed breathing progresses like an automobile that is alternating between stalling and |
redlining You want your breathing to be like a reliable car engine purring on a smoothly paved |
freeway with the cruise control on |
Breathe Assertively |
So far we have covered methods for breathing smoothly deeply and at longer intervals |
The fourth rule is to breathe assertively We usually breathe as if we dont have any faith in our |
breath A thoracic breather knows that a negative thought could interrupt the breath at any |
time by prematurely turning an exhalation into an inhalation or vice versa This causes them to |
breathe not only shallowly but cautiously and hesitantly as if they are tiptoeing It also keeps |
them from breathing efficiently because they are not taking advantage of inertia If a breath |
proceeds steadily it can capture its own momentum resulting in reduced effort |
During hesitant unsteady breath the breathing musculature is constantly building and |
then losing momentum |
Model your breathing on the motion of a pendulum or some other uninterrupted |
inevitable oscillating process Something that moves with certainty Each stroke of a pendulum |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
fully captures its momentum until gravity reverses the swing Any pendulum would be useless if |
it slowed or stopped midway Picture your diaphragm stroking up and down in a slow but |
unfaltering unagitated way Breathe out with certain knowledge that you are not going to |
switch prematurely to a gasp Commit to each breath steadfastly |
To feel comfortable breathing with confidence you will need to be willing to let the people |
around you hear your breath You must not be afraid of being heard or noticed Instead be |
proud of how your breath does not waver falter or hesitate Dont think that people will hear |
it and be offended Breathe decisively and audibly if necessary for all to hear Breathing |
assertively is the demonstration of true aplomb Start by using your imagination |
Breathing Exercise Uninterrupted Inhalation |
Take a deep long smooth breath all the way in Make the inhalation last as long as you |
comfortably can preferably from five to seconds Do this eight times imagining each |
of the distressprovoking scenarios below in turn As you do this dont let the upsetting |
aspects of the scenario interrupt or cause discontinuity in your inhalation |
Someone says something to offend you |
You realize you forgot your phone |
You notice you misplaced your wallet |
You pass by a stranger while walking down the street |
You hear a car backfiring or an earpiercing siren |
You notice someone looking at you out of the corner of your eye |
You tell someone what you expect of them |
You are rudely awakened by a loud alarm |
Many people who are widely admired and described as charismatic are merely assertive |
breathers The selftaught dog behaviorist Cesar Millan is one such person He is widely known |
for his Dog Whisperer television series in which he works with aggressive and abused dogs |
In The New York Times attributed his success to his sense of equanimity describing this |
as a sort of uberbalanced mien Millan calls it calmassertive energy and says that he |
approaches dogs as a pack leader |
There is good reason to believe that Millans effect on dogs derives from his breathing |
Throughout the episodes of his TV series his breathing remains calm constant and resolute |
despite repeated problematic encounters with both the dogs and their owners Cesar Millan |
and people like him have an autonomous breathing pattern that is not susceptible to being |
stopped short by the behavior or misbehavior of others Dogs are in tune with how the status |
hierarchy is conveyed through breathing think the dogs know there is nothing they can do to |
disturb his breathing so they listen to and respect him Millans techniques work as well on |
abused and subordinated dogs as on aggressive and intractable ones |
Respiratory rates and fluctuations in them constitute a language that all mammals speak |
Try sitting near your cat or dog breathing calmly and then suddenly switch to short quick loud |
breaths The animal will become concerned appear nervous and adopt your breathing pattern |
Chapter Breathe Deeply Smoothly Slowly and on Long Intervals |
If instead you breathe slowly and deeply they are likely to relax yawn and start stretching |
If you breathe slowly and deeply while training or correcting them they will heed you |
Health practitioners often need to assess their patients respiratory rate the number of |
breaths inhalationexhalation cycles taken within seconds The method a doctor or clinician |
uses to measure the respiratory rate of a child an animal or an adult can affect the |
measurement Simply handling an animal will increase its respiratory rate giving a false |
reading unless the animal is handled very gently in which case its respiratory rate may fall |
Using a cold stethoscope to measure respiratory rate in a child will increase their respiratory |
rate whereas other less obtrusive methods like counting the number of times the chest |
rises may not |
Clinical texts refer to the invasiveness of different methodological procedures for |
assessing respiration A doctor that acts either domineering or too accommodating can raise it |
Different aspects of our environment are constantly invading our respiratory dynamics |
Dont allow your breathing rate or depth to be dictated by banal occurrences in your |
environment Confidence starts with assertive uninterruptable breathing |
The Connection Between the Breath and the Mind |
Feelings of pain and frustration are compounded by shallow breathing Pride vanity and guilt |
are also ramped up by distressed breathing and will focus on these relationships in later |
chapters Shortness of breath makes us feel like we are suffocating In such a state we cant |
help but think negative thoughts Once you have internalized the four rules and are breathing |
deeply smoothly and at long intervals it will become clear to you that the mental bondage |
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