This month’s blog topic is on the importance of Deep Breathing and the amazing benefits it has on the mind, body and spirit.

As most schools are already well into their fall breaks, you may be experiencing in your kids some extra pent up energy, possibly leftover from the classroom and playground. This energy may be manifesting itself as stress, anxiety, frustration, and/or hyperactivity.

Many times kids don’t know how to let go of this sometimes labeled “negative” energy in a constructive way, and it’s the parents job to help steer them in the right direction. 

During the years I was teaching first grade there was a series of books written by Adolph Moser and illlustrated by David Melton that I, and the children, really resignated with. Each book was written for a certain day of the week and explored different important topics such as: Stress and anger management, self-esteem, violence, grief, divorce, and truth-control. 

Each Monday at the beginning of class I would read his book entitled, Don’t Pop Your Cork on Mondays: The Children’s Anti-Stress Book to my class which always led to very interesting, and yes, entertaining discussions. 

My favorite part of that book was his kid friendly approach to deep breathing. So without fail, every Monday morning for 13 years my students and I had the opportunity to begin our day by lying  flat on the ground, imagining that our bellies were balloons, and on the inhale through the nose we’d inflate our balloons, holding for five seconds, and then on the exhale, slowly letting all of the air out of our balloons.

Throughout the day I began to notice that the children seemed more calm and more in control of their bodies and their emotions, and remember, these are first graders I’m talking about, 6-7 year olds. Not to mention the calming and balancing effects that I felt after each deep breathing seesion.  This Monday morning breathing ritual soon became a daily event.

So without further ado I’d like to introduce you all to a simple deep breathing relaxation practice for the entire family to enjoy; it’s called, The Magic Happy Breath. 

The Magic Happy Breath was created by my teacher Dr. Joyce Mills as part of her StoryPlay® therapy and coaching model, and I will teach it to you as I learned it in my training. 

This relaxation practice is a wonderful way to give children a valuable tool for helping themselves to reduce stress and gain a feeling of control in their lives. It can be practiced anywhere and anytime and is a wonderful technique for the entire family.

Here’s how it works:

1. First get into a comfortable position…For younger children allow them to wiggle their body around until they’ve found the best spot for them. (You might even want to demonstrate this to them).
2. Then tell them to find something that they enjoy looking at, and to let their eyes rest on that spot.
3. Now that you have the spot, we’ll begin taking a Magic Happy Breath like this…
   (You demonstrate first to your kids).
4. Breathe in deeply through your nose…you want your belly to expand or stick out like a balloon if possible, and hold it for five seconds, counting aloud so your children can hear.
5. Then exhale, or let your breath out slowly through your mouth, as if you were gently blowing a feather, or letting the air out of a balloon. If you’d like you can hold your hand up to your mouth and pretend you have a feather, or if you have  one handy, better yet.
6. Then check in with your body and notice how wonderful you feel inside.
7. Repeat two more times, or as many times as you wish.

If you are teaching the Magic Happy Breath to your child, you might want to demonstrate the inhale and the exhale for them a few times so they can see you do it first. Then ask him or her to repeat it three more times following the same instructions as above.

I can’t say enough about how deep breathing has changed my life and health for the better, and I’ve seen firsthand the incredible results it has on kids in the classroom.

Did you know that by simply taking three deep belly breaths whenever you’re feeling stressed, anxious, tense, frustrated, angry, etc., that in an instant your entire body chemistry changes?

In ancient times, famous doctors claimed that the one who is able to control his breath – is able to control his life. There were no painkillers back then and people, especially those who knew the value of life and health, managed to prevent illnesses and get through stressful situations by practicing deep breathing. 

Research shows that some of the amazing and immediate benefits from deep belly breathing include:

• Increased Clarity and focus
• Reduced tension and stress
• Increased concentration and energy
• Calming of the mind
• Reduced abdominal and stomach pain
• Relief from headaches, backaches and other stress related aches and pains

And the best part about deep breathing is that it’s free, safe, and easy. Your kids can do it in the classroom at anytime whithout anyone even knowing, and finally, it’s one of the best things you and your kids can do for your health.

So until next time…
Happy Breathing!
Joy

©2012 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.

Close your eyes and imagine that your head has become infinite. Now there are no boundaries to it. It goes on and on and on and there is no boundary to it. Your head has become the whole cosmos, without any boundaries. If you can imagine this, suddenly thoughts will stop. If you can imagine your head as infinite, thinking will not be there. Thinking can exist only in a very narrow mind. The narrower it is, the better for thinking. The greater the mind, the less the thinking, and when the mind becomes total space, there is no thinking at all.

Try. And it will be good if you try from the head, because that is the base of all illness. Close your eyes, lie down on the ground or sit on a chair and relax. Just look within the head. Feel the walls of the head spreading, expanding. If you feel that it will be very staggering, then try it slowly. First think that your head has come to occupy the whole room. You will actually feel your skin touching the walls. You will feel the coolness of the walls that your skin is touching. You will feel the pressure.

Go on moving. Your head has gone beyond ― now the house has come within your head, then the whole town has come within your head. Go on spreading. Within three months, slowly, you can come to the point where the sun rises in your head, it starts moving in your head. Your head has become infinite. This will give you a deep freedom such as you have never known. And all the misery that belongs to this narrow mind will disappear. In such a state, Upanishadic seers could say, “aham brahmasmi” ― “I am the Divine, I am the Absolute.”

Osho: Excerpted from The Book of Secrets

©2012 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.

This technique says don’t do anything with anxiety. Just be alert!

I will tell you one old anecdote about Bokuju, another Zen master. He lived alone in a cave, but during the day, or even in the night, he would sometimes say loudly, “Bokuju” — his own name, and then he would say, “Yes, I am here.” And no one else was there.
Then his disciples used to ask him, “Why are you calling ‘Bokuju’, your own name, and then saying, ‘Yes sir, I am here’?”
He said, “Whenever I get into thinking, I have to remember to be alert, and so I call my own name, ‘Bokuju.’ The moment I call ‘Bokuju’ and I say, ‘Yes sir, I am here,’ the thinking, the anxiety disappears.”
Then, in his last days, for two or three years, he never called “Bokuju,” his name, and never had to reply, “Yes sir, I am here.”
The disciples asked, “Master, now you never do this.”
So he said, “But now Bokuju is always there. He is always there, and there is no need. Before I used to miss him. Sometimes the anxiety would take me, cloud me all over, and Bokuju was not there. So I had to remember ‘Bokuju,’ and the anxiety would disappear….”

Try your name. When you feel deep anxiety, just call your name — not “Bokuju” or any name, but your name — and then reply to it, “Yes sir, I am here,” and feel the difference. Anxiety will not be there. At least for a single moment you will have a glimpse beyond the clouds, and that glimpse can be deepened. Once you know that if you become alert anxiety is not there, it disappears; you have come to a deep knowing of your own self and the mechanism of inner working.

Osho: Excerpted from The Book of Secrets

©2012 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.

Close your eyes, then focus both of them just in the middle of the two eyebrows, as if you are looking there with your two eyes. Give total attention to it.

At the right point, suddenly your eyes will become fixed. And if your attention is there, you will experience a strange phenomenon: for the first time you will see thoughts running before you; you will become the witness. It is just like a film screen: thoughts are running and you are a witness.

Ordinarily you are not the witness, you are identified with thoughts. If anger is there, you become anger. If a thought moves you are not the witness; you become one with the thought, identified, and you move with it. You become the thought; you take the form of the thought. When sex is there you become sex, when anger is there you become anger, when greed is there you become greed. Any thought moving becomes identified with you; you do not have any gap between you and the thought.

But focused at the third eye, suddenly you become a witness. Through the third eye you can see thoughts running like clouds in the sky, or people moving on the street.

Osho
Excerpted from The Book of Secrets

©2012 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.

Body Shifts
A daily practice of mini body shifts will help you manage stress at your office and give you permission to pause; permission to slow down, to be reflective and to give yourself and your body a mini-break. You can intentionally:

• do some diaphragmatic breathing (see below)
• close your eyes and simply be
• walk over to the window and gaze out
• stretch your limbs
• massage your neck
• rotate your shoulders
• be kind to your body
• listen to your body – what is it asking for
• move away from your computer

Physically moving your body allows for shifts in your body’s energy. Bodies are designed to move. When you remain in one position too long, your body can give you signals that it is time for you to adjust your position; to stretch or to get up and move.

The same applies when your mind is ‘stuck’ on a position for too long. For example, when you are in a negative thought pattern, you may have a certain body position that you adopt. Perhaps there is a particular way that you sit (rounded shoulders, head bent forward) or you may have a favorite “poor me chair”.

Take a moment to become curious about how and where you do this. If you catch yourself in this body perspective, try standing up; look out the window, walk down the hall or go outside. You will likely notice that you feel differently. It doesn’t mean that every trace of your thought pattern or mood will disappear, but it is likely that some form of movement will cause a shift. It is an intentional body perspective shift.

We can impact the degree to which we relax by using diaphragmatic breathing. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your abdomen. Keep the hand on your chest still and concentrate on breathing into the hand on your abdomen. Allow your abdomen to soften and fill up with your breath. Do not try to force the breath. Simply make the process as effortless as possible. Breathing in this way will help release stress and tension. Also, as you slightly extend the out breath, it will engage the parasympathetic nervous system and assist with relaxation.

Marlena Field, PCC, CPCC, founder and author of Body-Centered Coaching, offers a free e-newsletter titled BodyMind Wisdom: listen to your body, connect with your spirit. When you subscribe, you will receive her free audio titled “Conscious Choices for Change”.

Visit www.BodyMindSpiritCoaching.com

©2012 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.