Recently I went ice skating with my 7 year old – it was her first time, and my first in many years.
You should have seen her holding on to me while I was desperately trying to hold on to something else, and both of us falling onto the ice. I truly don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.
It’s not a huge surprise that I had my first teary laugh in a long time while being physically active and thus, breathing hard. We know that breathing deeply – the way we do when we’re exercising, or doing pranayama – allows us to move prana through the body, and thus cleanse the manomaya kosha, or the mental/emotional body.
It’s just what the breath does. If you’ve ever tried not to laugh in class, you know you have to hold your breath or it’ll all come pouring out. Same with crying.
We often spend so much time “holding things together” that we lose touch with how we’re actually feeling. Try this: empty your breath out through your nose – help the process by drawing the low belly in and pushing downward from there. This makes space for a natural breath to flow in.
So how are you REALLY feeling today mama? Whatever it is, it’s ok. Let it move through.
Full, conscious breathing helps us experience our truth, and keeps it flowing instead of getting stuck. So, whether they are positive or negative, we want to keep the flow of emotions moving unhindered; otherwise we can feel disconnected and confused by the emotions that do get through.
And yet so many things get in the way of a full breath: just being busy, hyper-focused or stressed out can decrease our full breath.
Being pregnant in itself can be a hindrance to a full inhale: as baby grows, the diaphragm has less room to expand down to receive a full, conscious breath and we often can’t always fully feel what it brings up.
Whether you’re pregnant or not, to expand your inhale, interlace your fingers behind your back, lift your heart, and draw your shoulders back. This will make space in the top chest as you breathe in.
New moms can add a bit of core work to the breathing process: support a fuller exhale by drawing in your low belly muscles and pushing downward as you breathe out.
Draw your low belly in on the exhale (not recommended when you’re pregnant) to literally push on the colon and encourage energy to move down and out. Breathing this way strengthens our core while grounding the energy downward from the hips, and naturally allows for a fuller, refreshing inhale.
Try breathing consciously whenever you think of it this week mama! And enjoy what comes through. Especially if it happens to be hysterical laughter.
