The embodied breath

When was the last time you did nothing but breathe? Phone down. Eyes closed. All your awareness directed to your breath. Notice your breath at this moment. Are you taking calm, deep breaths? Is the pace as short and clipped as your patience? Or are you holding your breath entirely, as if awaiting bad news?

For an essential, life-sustaining act that should be second nature, human beings aren’t always the best at breathing. The average person takes between 17,000 and 23,000 breaths per day and it’s rare for many of us to consciously notice the breath, unless we’re faced with dis-ease. Cognitively, we know that the breath is vital for survival, but isn’t this really a case of not appreciating what we have till it’s gone?

“Everything in our body is governed by the breath-our bones, blood, tissue, organs and believe it or not, even our cells have a rhythm in which they breathe and operate within us,” shares craniosacral therapist and yoga practitioner, Kathy Gabriel.

When under stress, our body’s sympathetic nervous system or ‘fight or flight’ response