Tag: breathing

fitness · habits · holiday fitness · holidays · meditation · mindfulness · motivation · stretching

Making Space: Day 18

Christine Hennebury

I’m starting with our meditation today.

Earlier, I thought I was feeling fairly relaxed. My day isn’t particularly busy and my writing is going well. I have been able to set my own schedule and things are good overall.

I went to YouTube found the meditation video for this post and pressed play.

As I breathed through it (this one has a visual to breathe with, I love that!) I found myself anxiously looking at the time bar at the bottom wondering why it was taking so long to do a 5-minute practice. I realized that my mind was hopping over to my writing. And I found that my shoulders were braced like I had to ‘push through’ the practice.

Hmmmm, interesting, hey?

I wasn’t hard on myself about it. I tried to just notice and keep coming back to my breath – I did ok with that.

I kept breathing. Time kept crawling.

And then I started to feel my shoulders and neck relax. I hadn’t even noticed that my neck was tight until it released.

And my breathing got even slower and I started to feel even more calm.

So, I guess I especially needed this video today.

If you are in this metaphorical boat with me, I hope the video helps you, too.

A 5 minute breathing exercise video from the Daring Authenticity YouTube channel. The still image is of a circular shape made of overlapping petals in a rainbow of colours. The shape expands and contracts during the video to guide the speed of the viewer’s breath. The image background is a speckled white.

Breathing is a fundamental way to make space for ourselves, especially in our own brains, but it is not the only way.

A little movement helps, too, and this ‘office break’ video was exactly what I needed today. I particularly liked the shoulder move where you are reaching forward and then pressing back.

If you aren’t feeling up to doing this whole video, you could try watching it until you see a movement that feels doable and just do that one. Consider the video a menu instead of a to-do list.

A 5 minute office break workout from the BodyFit by Amy YouTube channel. Still image shows the instructor standing next to a wall sign that says ‘5 Minute Office Break”

I hope you find whatever space you can in your day today, whether it is through these videos or by pushing the clean laundry aside on the couch so you have room to sit with a crossword puzzle and some tea.

Here’s your star for your efforts: ⭐️

And if you have been reading these posts and thinking ‘That star isn’t for me, I haven’t done anything at all!’ Here’s an extra one for you: ⭐️ Our lives are complex and parts of them are really hard, let’s be kind to ourselves and accept those gold stars. Your efforts matter.

Even if the results are not what you hoped, your hard work counts.

Wishing you ease and space today and always.

Dancing · fitness · habits · holiday fitness · mindfulness · self care

Making Space: Day 12

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

How are things going so far?

Have you been managing to make some space for yourself through movement, meditation, or through something else that makes you happy?

I really hope you have.

But if it is hasn’t worked out for you yet, I still applaud your efforts.

It’s tricky to find time for yourself in a busy life and it’s even trickier to find energy to do something different with that time. It’s far easier to just zone out and go with whatever habits you already have.

I’m not criticizing the tendency to zone out. I do it too. Sometimes, it’s is all we can manage to do and that’s fine.

But if zoning out is not serving you well, if it is not helping you to feel rested, then maybe you can ease your way toward another form of self care.

Today’s breathing exercise (it’s not exactly a meditation but it also kind of is) might be a good place to start, even if you just follow it for a couple of breaths.

You don’t have to create a huge space for yourself right away, the teeny tiny space of a few breaths is an excellent place to start.

A breathing exercise video from the Hands On Meditation YouTube channel. The still image is a greenish blue sky with different shades of greenish blue mountains at the bottom. The words ‘4-7-8 Calm Breathing Exercise’ are in the foreground in white.

If you want to get moving today, this hip-hop dance video is a fun way to get started.

A 5-Minute Hip-Hop Dance Cardio video from the PopSugar YouTube channel. Still image shows three people is exercise clothes in a gym with wooden floors and a white brick wall.

No matter what you decide to do today, I hope you find some ease.

⭐️ <- for your hard work

ADHD · fitness · habits · mindfulness · self care

Don’t Hold Your Breath, Christine

Christine Hennebury4 Comments

No, I’m not being snarky with myself here. I’m not stuck waiting for something that will never happen. I’m literally reminding myself not to hold my breath when I’m trying to focus.

Do you do that too? Or is it an ADHD thing?

Either way, it’s no fun. I’ll be trying to work on something and I won’t realize that I have been holding my breath until I catch myself sighing as I exhale. It’s not a good feeling and it involves a lot of unnecessary tension and I really want to stop doing it.

And in the course of figuring out how to break the habit, I’ve started by just being more conscious of when I might hold my breath and trying to stop myself earlier. But I have also been doing some research into different breathing videos and techniques. I figure that if I can practice breathing in more beneficial ways then I can not only stop holding my breath but I can replace my ineffective technique (holding my breath) with one that serves me better.

I mean, even if it doesn’t work, I get to spend some time breathing slowly and chilling out. There’s no downside to that.

So far, I have discovered that I really like having a visual element instead of just audio because it engages more of my brain so I can focus with more ease. (You know, so I don’t end up holding my breath while I practice breathing.)

Here are a few of the useful things I’ve found:

I’m not particularly anxious at the moment but I’ve still found these breathing GIFs for anxiety pretty good.

And I’m a fan of this video:

A video called ‘Deep Breathing Exercise = 2x The Anxiety Relief.’

And I find box breathing very relaxing:

A video called ‘Box breathing relaxation technique: how to calm feelings of stress or anxiety’

And if you are into breathing in shapes, this is adorable!

A video called ‘Deep Breathing with Shapes- Coping Skills for Kids’

In addition to playing around with all of these videos and GIFs, I have been reading James Nestor’s book Breath and I plan to talk about it on an upcoming post. I’m not sure exactly when that will happen yet, though, so don’t hold your breath on that one. (Ha!)

Do you have any breathing videos or techniques to recommend? What do you use them for? What do you like about them?

Guest Post

Still learning! – On breathing and focusing (Guest post)

cdaigle2 Comments

cdI have blogged before on what I have learned from my personal trainers. Once the term was over I was left to myself and felt somewhat like an abandoned puppy. True enough, my trainers have left me with a program and a wealth of information but it is not the same training on my own. Continuing to workout the way I did with them is a challenge: stretch enough, focus, push myself. If no one is there to remind me, it is tempting to go straight to workout without the stretching and as tempting to just hop in the shower once done (I talked about what I have learned about stretching here).

One thing I have learned from my trainers has been to focus: pay attention to my body when I set it in motion and work it out. The first time I went to the gym for a workout on my own, I had my iPod with me. There was no reason not to listen to music since I was by myself. Before training with my personal trainers, I had always used my iPod. But something interesting happened as I was returning to this old habit: a few minutes into my weight lifting, I noticed that I was doing it all wrong: mindlessly moving the weights around and not focusing on the strength and movement and what my body was feeling. I was also losing count and being distracted by the music. I simply unplugged! I have not used my iPod since then for my workout sessions, be they cardio or weight lifting. I find that I can concentrate more on what I am doing and feel I am getting better results this way.

Another very important thing I have learned in the last weeks of my training program was proper breathing while running. One of my trainers noticed that I was not breathing properly while we were running around the track. The running was always done with intervals: two thirds of the track jogging, 1 third sprinting. The sprints would put me out of breath completely and it was very hard to do multiple laps. I thought my stress-induced asthma was the sole culprit. Thanks to my trainer’s observation I found out that I was in the habit of breathing as fast as my running pace. This worked kind of ok while jogging but the sprints were a killer: try hyperventilating while running! He advised me to take longer, deeper breaths. I had to learn to dissociate the breathing pace with the running pace. Every running sessions after that I would just focus on my breathing, making sure to get the air way down into my belly and then completely out. I am also learning to breathe in through my nose and exhale through the mouth. I am getting better at it, every time I go out and run. It is making my jogging/running much easier, even if I still need my puffer to get me going (this asthma won’t cure itself).

I continue to apply what I have learned with my trainers, especially to be focused and to breathe properly. It feels great and I feel more powerful!