Did you know the average person, at rest, takes approximately 16 breaths per minute. If you are a math wizard you will figure out that is about 960 breaths per hour and you can equate the breaths per day and per week, per month and per year from there. If you are even more ambitious you can estimate at the age of 80, how many breaths you will have in a lifetime.
Breathing is a vital part of our lives but also a part of our being that we rarely give a second thought to, unless something or someone forces us to draw attention to it.
I joined a new mobility yoga class and one of the key components of the practise is to focus on concentrated breathing efforts. You will surprise yourself with what this focus can do while learning what you can do when using calculated breathing in and out methods.
A mother in labour tries very hard to focus on breathing to not only help with potential pain endurance but because it is easy to get out of breathing rhythm when working hard to bring another life into the world through physical efforts.
When that child is first born, parents may hold their breath while waiting for that child to take their first breath. And hearing that first breath, accompanied by that first cry, draws the inevitable sigh while breathing outward with that relief.
Our son was a trauma baby and he had irregular and scary breathing patterns as a babe however, when we learned the benefits of baby massage to help relax the child to help create a breathing pattern, we were thankful for the advice and methods to relax him, and the resulting easier breathing efforts.
While watching someone in palliative care, we spend endless minutes or hours watching the person we love breathe in and out; never wanting to forget those moments and agonizing in grief when the last breath is drawn.
We hold our breath at sports events, anxiously awaiting the clock to expire so that we can finally celebrate our team's win. As parents of a sports participant, we find ourselves holding our breath while our kid is pitching, batting or goal tending, or on a breakaway or running the bases.
When we are scared out of our wits, we take minutes to “catch our breath” after the fright is over.
When we are nervous, we take deep breaths in our nose and exhale through our mouths to help nullify the butterflies.
When enduring painful procedures or an injury, we are encouraged to practise distinct, methodical breathing to help ease the pain and distract from it.
When we are in the outdoors, we instinctively draw deep breaths to take in the fresh air that surrounds us, adding to the pleasure of the views we are seeing
Entering a restaurant or our mom’s kitchen, we can take deep breaths to capture the full flavour of the delectable cuisine we are experiencing.
Children, when hurt or scared, are known to hold their breath while crying adding to the anxiety and fear of the parent trying to comfort them
Breathing is in many catch phrases – waiting with baited breath, breathtaking views, breathe it all in, just breathe, you take my breath away, don’t hold your breath waiting, or comparing some experience to a breath of fresh air.
So many songs have been written about breathing. “Every breath you take,” by the Police; ‘Breathe” by country artist, Faith Hill; or Shania Twain’s song, “It only hurts when I’m breathing”.
I was looking for inspiration for this monthly editorial, and all I had to do was just simply focus on something we don’t pay nearly enough attention to, and that’s breathing. I’ll finish with this wise quote I found online: “When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace.” – Unknown
