The Miracle Ball Method: How Breathing Transforms Your Body and Mind
What breathing tells you about your body, your pain, the way you move, stiffness, anxiety, the way you sleep at night, the way you stand, your metabolism.,,,,,, Everything !
Mindless breathing vs deep breathing?
Mindless breathing versus deep breathing? There are many misunderstandings about breathing that prevent us from getting the benefits that our body craves. Most people’s response to breathing is either “Of course, I’m breathing”, or “I do yoga, I meditate”. This is accurate and even beneficial to a certain extent. But what if I’m telling you that breathing could do so much more than improve your breathing. It improves everything as I suggest in the title of this blog. It improves your muscle tone, alignment, metabolism, ability to sleep. It takes down your stress, relieves anxiety. It takes pressure off sciatic pain, lower back issues, neck, and shoulder problems. The list is endless.
How can simply breathing do all these things?
Think of opening a window to let fresh air into a room. If you open the window a small crack, you might get a small amount of air in. I would equate this to how most people breathe, mindlessly. We don’t need to walk around noticing our breath, that would be exhausting. By mindless I mean, we are simple not aware of our breathing in order for our body to correct it when necessary. There is the other option of opening the window all the way and letting a lot of air in. Let’s equate this to deep breathing.
What’s missing here is the effect opening windows has on the room you are in. That’s the missing link, how does our breathing effect our bodies. When we acknowledge what the effect of our breathing is having, there is a unique physical experience that begins, a phenomenon in the body most people never take advantage of.
These reactions are not arbitrary. Maybe the fresh air feels good in some way when you open a window. You might enjoy that verses it feeling stuffy. Some people when they breathe begin to notice adjustments the body makes in their posture. Their tight neck and shoulders feel relief. They are now getting feedback from their body.
Your body knows how to use your breathing responses to meet your individual needs.
Simple things like this go on all day in our everyday lives. We change things based on what we experience. Your physical body changes based on breathing. Once we acknowledge those responses, we can increase the benefits based on what we notice. Even better to know is our bodies will do this naturally, acknowledging response is like taking in the scenery when you are traveling. You let it affect you. You take the experiences with you. These become options your body now has as you go throughout your day.
Benefits of letting the body breathe. Here are some common observations:
- “Wow breathing begins to move into my back muscles, or shoulders. That feels good.”
- “I don’t even have to make myself breathe; it’s happening on its own. That so much easier.”
- “My body is adjusting to sit differently, and the pressure is off my lower back now.”
- “How can I keep this feeling, its so much easier to move.”
When we acknowledge how breathing is affecting the muscles of our body, we stimulate our nervous system to feel different parts of the body. Your nervous system, or your kinesthetic sense, goes to work. We do have to let it happen. There are only two options. You continue to try to control your breathing, which is impossible to do all day. Or, you experience what happens to the body when you let yourself breathe. If you over think the process too much, you prevent the body from make the changes “YOU” need.
All the physical changes are the options you take with you during your day. So, when your body returns to what’s familiar:
- schlumping, deflated from poor breathing,
- stiffness, being tired,
- stressed,
- back, neck, or shoulders straining
you can begin to use the experiences to change the way you stand, sit, move, simply because you have experienced this process through the Method. You can even make an exhalation to stimulate your diaphragmatic muscles during your day.
Most people think it’s about pulling air in, let your air out during the day.
What you can do:
Watch the sss sound video and try this on your own. Making an sss sound is simply taking your tongue behind your top teeth and making the sound of a long extended s, like a hissing sound.
You can begin sitting or lying down. Don’t force it. Use the same simple process you would opening a window. In the beginning you might notice minimal effects, but you still notice. That is the difference. Give your body a short time between sounds to respond. No response, is a response.
Allow your body to use the air to benefit your alignment system your circulation, your ability to move more freely and your ability to get the relaxation response. The list is endless when you notice how breathing actually changes a physical reality just like opening that window! You don’t make the air come in, but you do notice the changes. Your body is doing what it knows how to do. Enjoy that, it’s a gift. 😊