Ayo Handy Kendi, CTBF/CSM, The PositivEnergy Breath Coach

In recent years, I’ve been observing more discussions in mainstream media about deep breathing, its benefits and its impact on stress. I am pleased with these discussions as a person who, when growing up, had always heard someone tell me “take a deep breath” when I was excited or afraid.

I experienced some focus on breath in the 1970’s introduced through TM (Transcendental Meditation). I later became intensely aware of breathwork, in 1996, through a Certification in Transformational Breath, and became a CTBF. I have advanced in this study, eventually referring to myself as a Breathologist and becoming a Certified Stress Manager (CSM), by 2005. However, I have become more concerned that the advice “to take a deep breath” - written in many articles, books, and suggested by presenters and yoga teachers - merely tips the scale of the information needed for this advice. These discussions and advice assume that people know “how to take a deep breath”.

My years of experience, as The Positive Breath Coach - presenting before millions on radio, t.v., in print, in private practice and at events - have proven that this is NOT the case. Many people need to “relearn how to breathe”. I have also found out that when people relearn how to breathe better, they are more relaxed. Thus, they manage their stress better by receiving minute to minute yoga.

In 2000, I read a Washington Post article that stated that 90% of Americans breathed incorrectly. Without a research source cited in this article, I decided to not just mouth the statistic, but to do my own informal study.

In 2008, at every health fair, workshop, workplace demonstration and in my private practice, as I offered my “relaxation on site breath analysis”, these check-ups began to show a consistent pattern that proved the statistic true. After every 9th adult participant who experienced the check-up, only one person would actually show the ability of taking a deep breath. The others required an adjustment in their breath pattern. I saw the same consistent pattern in the workshops. I would look at a circle of participants during these check-ups and generally would find one or two, in a group of 20 or more, who actually were breathing deeply while the others weren’t.

I even checked children in the age range of 4-10 and found that approximately 8 out of 10 of them had lost what they naturally did as babies: Deep breathing from their bellies, or as the medical term identifies, from the “diaphragm”.

Try this simple test to check your own breath pattern:

Sit or stand where you are. Put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly (below the navel). Close your eyes and breathe normally for a few seconds. What hand moved up and down as you inhaled air in – the hand on your chest or the hand on your belly? If the answer is your chest or the middle or upper portions of the lungs—you are a “chest breather” like most people! You are NOT breathing efficiently. Efficient breathing occurs with a deep breath from the belly (abdomen) which expands during the inhale and just the opposite, the chest remains relatively still.

HOW DO WE START BREATHING INCORRECTLY

With so much restricted breathing, my informal study lead me to better understand why we are a nation so health challenged and filled with stress. It has also spurred me on with a passionate desire to create a “breath movement” with my motto to help people to “relearn how to breathe for better life, health and work™”.

Think about this. Daily in America, children are examined by a doctor who will say, “take a deep breath”. These children will draw in their little bellies, hunch up their shoulders, hold their breath tight and high in their stuck out chests and the doctor does nothing to tell them that “this is not a deep breath but instead is a shallow, constricted breath.” So, this method becomes programmed in their thinking as a deep breath, and they will continue with this inefficient breathing pattern as a life-long habit through their adult life, until, hopefully, someone corrects them.

Such incorrect breathing is further reinforced after the doctor’s visit, as most of us are socialized towards poor breathing. Men are encouraged to stick out their chests to look bulked up and women are taught to suck in their bellies to look trim with that bottleneck, slime curve from waist to hips. As a result of such posture compromises, we breathe inefficiently, and have become a nation of “chest breathers”.

The Importance of BREATHING

So, what’s so important about breathing correctly, anyway? We all know how to breathe. We would not be here if we didn’t - right?

What’s so important about the breath is that breath is life! Our breath is right under our noses, free and accessible to all. While we say we know how-to breathe because we are living, many of us are walking around half-dead and debilitated with low energy, poor concentration and bad digestion and are emotionally worn. That is because we are NOT breathing correctly. We are putting our health at great risks.

The truth is that we take our breath for granted and only realize its importance when we find ourselves unable to breathe. We take in approximately 20,000 breaths a day (15-18 times a minute). Breathing is an automatic function of the Limbic portion of our brain and is the primary function of the respiratory system, which is where we CAN control it through proper “breath mechanics or better breathing techniques”.

Being aware of the correct way of breathing enables us to maximize each breath that we take. Deep breathing expands the belly as we inhale. It expands the lungs to the fullest capacity to bring in the maximum amount of oxygen to optimally nourish our blood flow and support all of the cells in the body. Exhaling by constricting the belly releases more carbon dioxide, the gas that we don’t need. Carbon dioxice is often referred to as “the trash of the body”. The bottom line is that every proper breath brings in more oxygen and offers better detoxification for enhanced cellular and body function processes.

Breathing from the chest, or breathing shallow from the middle or upper portion of the lungs, creates a vicious cycle of stress on the body that prompts more shallow breathing. This, in turn, creates more stress. Shallow breathing causes strained lungs, tight muscles, nervous tension, cloudy thoughts, anxiety, increased blood pressure, lowered stamina, depleted immune and cell regeneration, a racing heart and many other challenges. Studies on shallow, restricted breathing have documented that it is the first place, not the last, that one should look at when emotional stress, fatigue, disease, or other evidence of disordered energy, or trauma presents itself.

Breath is also the link to our higher, spiritual nature whereby we are able to tap into our inner wisdom to find beauty, joy and happiness in everyday life and relationships. Many sacred texts indicate that The Almighty breathed into humankind and man became a living being. Further noteworthy is the fact that the Latin root of the word “spirit” is “to breathe”.

Ancients in Egypt, as early as 300 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era), used breath control as a means of bringing union to the higher and lower self. This was the foundation of conscious living, accompanied by movement, stretching, diet, spiritual rituals and higher thought. This earliest discipline was later transported to India, around 1,000 A.C.E., and was described with the Sanskrit word “Yoga” or “yoking back to consciousness”.

Such conscious awareness practices have evolved. Today, we see a resurgence in such practices as meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong and martial arts. All of these use breath as the common link. Many more are beginning to use “breathwork” to heal the emotional mind, increase concentration, reduce depression and manage stress.

Thus, deep breathing is being heralded in recent years by more and more spirit-mind-body practitioners and the medical community alike. The Washington Post cited evidence in a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study, in May 2005, that deep-breathing is ranked in 4th place among the 10 most widely used forms of alternative, complementary self-care remedies used by a growing 1/5 of Americans.

I am suggesting that our breathing is the easiest thing that we can change for the greatest impact on Spirit, Mind and Body. This perhaps makes it the best wholistic health prevention technique that we have. I liken deep breathing to a total package wellness solution, that doesn’t cost us anything to use, is always available right under our noses and always delivers. Despite tons of medical research, deep breathing is too often overlooked in the paradigm of health prevention and wellness discussions of today. As we overhaul our “sick care health system”, this perspective must be changed.

DEEP BREATHING AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

Deep breathing and other breathwork techniques are not given their proper respect and recognitions as an “Old Age” stress management technique for the “New Age” to help us cope with stress – the silent killer. Dr. James Gordon, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, was quoted in a recent article, stating “When you bring air down into the lower portion of the lungs, where oxygen exchange is most efficient, everything changes. Heart rate slows, blood pressure decreases, muscles relax, anxiety eases and the mind calms, which gives people a sense of control over their body and emotions that is extremely therapeutic. Slow deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have.”

Stress is the reaction that we all exhibit when adapting to what we believe is happening to us. Same with the hormonal chemical reaction that floods our bodies to respond with energy to “fight or flight “ from what we believe is happening to us. Chronic stress occurs when there is an accumulation of stressful situations that happen so unrelentingly that we have no time to recover. Years of stress build-up has a damaging effect on the mind and almost every part of the human body. Chronic stress increases the levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, boosting levels of inflammation in the body. Scientists have identified this hormonal increase as the first direct link between stress and aging. That could explain why intense, long-term emotional strain can make people get sick and grow old before their time.

We live in a high-tech world of information overload, economic pressures and overwhelming demands placed on our time and energy from family, social, work and community responsibilities. We are additionally being stressed out from prospects of global warming, natural disasters, health epidemics, political unrest, global conflicts, double-digit unemployment, and killings on college campuses. The rate of stress-related illnesses has increased dramatically.

Stress related health disorders include cancer, heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, asthma, other respiratory issues, skin diseases and Alzheimers. They include emotional challenges like fear, depression, anxiety, PTSD and addictions and social challenges like poverty and violence. Therefore, I am advocating that stress release and relaxation be practiced daily. Mastery of deep breathing for stress management provides us with a cutting edge tool from the classroom to the boardroom.

Everyday stress and events of the world create widespread trauma which affects us collectively, not just the affected. It is most important to keep these stressful emotions in balance in order to actually not hurt ourselves. To reduce the domino effect when things are out-of-control during these times of intensity, we must find a way to "shake off the negative tension". This is important for keeping the space in our hearts open for the positive energy to flow in. Then, we can be fully present, hopeful and strong to get our own selves through the chaos in order to help others.

We must breathe deeply, fully and consciously through the stress of our times. Our attention must turn to breathwork as a self-care coping, survival and rescue tool. We must use breath techniques that build up our life-sustaining oxygen reserves. We must relax and calm the nervous system in order to react clearly and calmly and to expand our mental capacity for hope. Deep breathing may be “the” modern-day survival technique that can make a dramatic difference in stressful times of catastrophe as well as in times of peace.

With all that is going on, stress must be dealt with immediately. If not, we will find ourselves adding to the stressful times by our stressed-out responses. Please, continue to breathe, consciously and deeply to release the stress and trauma and advance yourself on every level. Breathwork is life-changing. Change your life and manage your stress. Change the way that you breathe from a shallow breath to a deep breath for minute to minute yoga.

If you need help to de-stress, to cope, to unwind, or to advance your life-force energy to advance to your highest potential , I offer “Relearn How to Breathe for Better Life, Health and Work”™ through PositivEnergyWorks™.

I offer affordable individual and group deep breath coaching with stress busters; individual Transformational Breath™ sessions for breath therapy and immediate detoxification of stress hormones; workplace breath/stress management sessions or to avoid professional burn-out, Breathshops™ that utilize breathwork and other wholistic practices to stop smoking, lose weight, encourage sleep, enhance relationships and/or coping responses to grief, pain, abuse, anger or addictions; inspirational breath lectures/demos or storytelling; and convention/special event relaxation-on-site services.

In the Washington Metropolitan area, my private practice is located in the N.W. area near public transportation and the Metro. View www.breathepositive.com for my new online workshops and coachings. I also travel out of state to breath-cater™ your group, company or individual healing with sessions custom designed specifically for your needs. As a public service, I am even willing to breathe with you over the phone if needed. Call 202-667-2577 between the hours of 9 a.m. – 12 noon, EST. I am starting a Certification Class for Breathology in November, 2010, and if interested, contact me, to see if we can bring this work to your area.

Ayo Handy-Kendi – The PositivEnergy Breath Coach and founder of Black Love Day

Renowned as Mama Ayo, she currently serves as a Breathologist/Stress Manager and Inspirational Speaker/Life Coach. Ayo demonstrates over 30 years of experience as a vegetarian, community organizer, social service/mental health counselor with a BA in Community Organizing and AA in Human Services. She is also a Certified Senior Yoga Movement Instructor, Certified Stress Manager (CSM), Certified Transformational Breath Facilitator (CTBF). She is Certified in Reiki I, II, RaSekhi I, II, Qi Gong I, II , Diversity Training and Aroma-therapy. Furthermore, she is spiritually degreed in overcoming the life challenges of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, addiction, homelessness and the violent deaths of her teenage son and oldest brother.

“PositivEnergy™”, the I-can-do concept for quality life, along with breathwork, is a process of attitude change and attraction. She is the author of, “The Power of the Breath”, “The Black Love Book”, “PositivEnergy – Motivational Messages from a Sister in the Struggle”, a play, “A Day of Withdrawal” and is currently working on “Saging Baby Boomers Guide to Stress-free Living”. Ayo further serves as the CEO of PositivEnergyWorks, a health service of transformative processes, products and events focused around breathwork. She is also the Founder/Dir., African American Holiday Association (AAHA), a non-profit that uses holidays, celebrations and rituals for social change, healing, cultural and economic empowerment; and is the founder of Black Love Day- Feb. 13th and The Ritual of Reconciliation.

For a life-changing re-connection to the “Power of the Breath” and her “breath movement” call 202-667-2577 or view

www.BreathePositive.com

Related Posts: Video: How to Do Deep Breathing Relaxation Techniques

Visit Mama Ayo's site to learn more about correct deep breathing and stress relief. Remember also to keep visiting The Ultimate Stress Blog.

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