The Miracle of Conscious Breathing

When I ask graduates of my Yoga-Based Stress Reduction Training what they find most helpful from the course, conscious breathing is usually at the top of the list. I have also found this to be true in my own experience.

The first time I discovered I can use my breathe to influence my physiology was by chance, years before I began studying yoga. During a stressful episode, I experienced a bout of rapid heart beat that returned to haunt me periodically through the next few years. I wore a heart monitor for testing purposes, I went through the stress test for heart problems, and I took medication for a while. What really helped me, however, was somehow, instinctively, I would lie down and breathe slowly. I discovered that the exhalations helped my heart to slow down and return to its normal rate. I stopped the medication and managed my rapid heart beats with my breath. After a while, the problem stopped completely.

It was only after I began delving into the phenomenon of stress years later that I learned that the heart, the breath and the mind are linked in a manner that affect each other, and studying yoga taught me even more ways that the conscious breath can be used to influence physiology. I began teaching my psychotherapy clients how to use conscious breath to manage their anxiety and depression. Out of that work evolved my Yoga Based Stress Reduction Trainings and my Breathe Better courses.