Lifestyle

Breath your way to better health

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Traditional Thai massage and Hatha yoga practitioner Fiona Smith explains the straw breathing technique.

You need a straw to breathe through. Get in a comfortable sitting/ lying position. Chronic, shallow chest breathing leads to pain in the upper back, shoulder and neck and also exacerbates RSI injuries. In many lung disorders such as asthma and emphysema, the ability to exhale has been greatly diminished. The exhalation is cut short and then the inhalation is pulled in using ‘accessory’ respiratory muscles instead of the diaphragm.
This way of breathing can lead to more serious lung and heart problems. Straw breathing promotes deeper breathing by lengthening the exhalation. It is also an ideal way to relax, promoting rest and sleep.

• Place the straw in your mouth. Gently hold it there with one hand
• Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth
• When you breath in, touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth to stop yourself from breathing in from your mouth.
• At the end of the exhalation, concentrate on letting the inhalation happen naturally. If you can do this it will feel like a gentle ‘bounce’ up through the centre of your body. Allowing this to happen will make the in breath effortless.
• Continue for three minutes.

contact \Fiona directly at www.fionalsmith.co.uk

Relaxation exercise

Friday, August 1st, 2008

This is particularly good for aches and pains, difficulty sleeping or if you have a lot of stress.

You need to lie down and it will take 10-20 minutes. It’s a great one to do at bed time.

Take some deep breaths to get yourself settled. Then tighten all the muscles in you toes as tight as you can and hold for 10 seconds then relax. Next move to the muscles in your feet, your ankles, your calves and slowly move up through your entire body including your back, shoulders, mouth, nose and scalp. Lastly allow the final relaxation to roll over you like a wave. Concentrate on your out breath and just rest. Over time, this exercise can lead to wonderful, deep relaxation.

Learn to relax

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

We cant always expect to recover from illness or improve our quality of life without a fundamental lifestyle shift. Proven complementary therapies are often not as popular as they should be because of this reason. Elements of our lifestyle are often the cause and aggravating factors that stand in the way of healing. By understanding these factors you can gain the power to make positive changes towards optimum health.

We are all amazed at the bodies innate healing power but all too often we put unnecessary pressure on ourselves, believing that power will never diminish. Every chronic illness is a manifestation of unresolved or incomplete healing which, if left untreated, leads to disease. For example, environmental triggers such as smoking, pollutants, pathogens or food additives need to be removed from our bodies by our own host defenses. These host defences are diminished by those very environmental triggers with the addition of stress, age or even over exercise. The host defenses themselves are reliant on a nourished body, a relaxed mind and a strong spirit.