Women's Health Holistically! Tip-of-the-Month

Just Breathe!


Stress is an everyday part of life in American society. Even more so for women who are victims of domestic violence. Their “fight or flight” systems never get turned off because they must always be on alert for the next trigger that will set off their partner.

There are many ways to help alleviate stress. Some are simple and inexpensive and others require some time and money, but all of us, whether we are victims of abuse or not, need to teach our bodies how to “let go.”

One very simple way to reduce stress is by breathing correctly. One easy way to do this is something called the 3-part breath, which I’ll describe later in this article.

When we are in constant alert mode, our adrenals get over-stressed, our other body systems are over-taxed and this leads to many common diseases and conditions. So learning how to deal with stress is important.

When our sympathetic nervous system receives a message of danger, a cascade of events happens in our bodies, including the release of adrenaline. It sends blood to our limbs and increases our heart and breathing rates. We breathe more shallowly in our upper chest. Ancestrally, this prepared us to run from a physical threat, or to stay and fight.

After the danger is over, the body should get messages from the parasympathetic nervous system, which sends blood to the interior of our bodies so we can digest food and have a normal heart and breathing rate. Breath should come more deeply from the abdomen.

Today, with our fast-paced lives, we live in a constant low-level state of stress. When domestic violence is added to the mix, it becomes a higher level of constant stress. Our sympathetic nervous system “forgets” how to turn off and we end up always breathing with just the upper 1/3 of our lungs, which makes us anxious. Our digestion also suffers.

To help correct this imbalance, telling someone to “Just breathe,” without giving them instruction in how to do it can be frustrating. Their bodies just don’t remember how to do it. Babies know how instinctively. So do animals. But often we have forgotten how.

In 3-part breath, first, you place your hands on your upper chest and as you breathe in, you use only your upper chest muscles and make your hands rise and as you breathe out, your hands fall. Do this for several breath cycles. This is fairly easy for most people, but some of you will find yourself feeling a bit light-headed or anxious. That’s because you are not getting enough oxygen. This is the type of breathing done when people are stuck in the stress cycle.

The next step is a bit of a challenge. Put your hands on your lower rib cage and now breathe only with the muscles that widen the lower ribs. As you breathe in, your hands should move outward. As you breathe in, your fingers should move closer together. This takes some concentration, but once you get it, continue for a few breath cycles.

Next, place your hands on your belly with the fingertips of the left hand touching the fingertips of the right hand and when you breathe in, your fingers should move farther apart, as you breathe out, your fingers should come closer together. Only your belly should move.

For shallow breathers, this can be a real challenge, but keep trying. This is where your breath should come from. A muscle called the diaphragm essentially divides your body in half and is attached to the lower ribs It should drop as you breathe in, expanding the belly and making room for the lungs to expand. By doing this, we can get a full breath.

The last step is to combine all 3 levels. Place one hand on your upper chest and one hand on your belly. As you breathe in, first raise your belly, then expand your ribs in the middle and lastly, raise your upper chest. Hold for just a second and then reverse the process. Release the air in the upper chest, then the mid-ribs and finally let the belly relax.

As you become more adept at this, make the out-breath twice as long as the in-breath. This really releases toxins from the body. After several breath cycles, return to normal breathing, which should have the belly expanding to drop the diaphragm in order to expand the lungs.

To discover more ways to combat stress and maintain your health, come to the Waco Holistic Health Fair, Saturday, Oct. 18 from 10-4 at McLennan Community College Conference Center, 4601 N. 19th Street, Waco.

(Contributed by Jamie Graham, L.Ac., of Healing Touch Acupuncture. Jamie is a licensed acupuncturist and specialist in women's holistic health care. Visit her website here.)