Breathing

I was reading the sample of Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty last night and in the book, a 10-year-old monk said, “The only thing that stays with you from the moment you’re born until the moment you die is your breath.”

So what did this kid mean? It is a known fact that Monks meditate. A lot. And a part of meditation is learning about your breath and how to control it. A few pages later, the monk delivers even more wisdom, “When you get stressed-what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life.”

So let's learn what deep breathing sessions can do for you and how to implement them into your daily routine.

Firstly, controlling your breath is not only a strategy that monks use. Elite athletes like the defensive boxing expert Floyd Mayweather and the 95% win rate UFC fighter Israel Adesanya also use breathing techniques to maintain energy during fights.

Israel said in an interview, “You know how you breathe, not just breathing for the sake of breathing. Just put it this way, watch him (Marvin Vettori, his opponent) …at the end of the first round. He’s going to be mouth breathing. And you’ll see me nasal breathing in, out… fresh air.”

Becoming more mindful about breathing can help to stabilize your heart rate, calm you down, focus your mind and/or energize you.

Try this:

• Set a 2-minute timer (you can do more if you want to) and concentrate on your breath. Breathe however is comfortable for you - it’s the awareness that matters. If a thought arises, notice it and let it pass. 

• You can experiment with counting to ten with your breath - 1 in breath, 2 out breath, 3 in breath etc, and then at 10, begin again. If you count too high or drift off, just come right back to your breath and the counting. 

• Be creative with it. Imagine you are walking upstairs in a Japanese garden or taking free kicks if it helps. 

• There are tons of free apps that you can get on your phone as well. Find time to practice this skill and you will find you will get better and better at it.

This is something that admittedly takes long to master and feel the results. The last time I had a really good streak (between 60-70 days) I started to feel the effects around day 30. The results were apparent after day 30 and increasingly were better. Give at least a breathing exercise video a go on YouTube and see how you feel. It may surprise you how relaxed and focused you are right after.