Your Questions Answered: What the Breath has to do with Mindfulness and Stress Management
If you’ve ever taken a class with me you know that I’ll cue the breath in sync with movements during yoga, and that my guided meditations are heavily focused on breath and breath-awareness. Students follow along and experience the benefits, often accepting them at face value, but one of the most common questions I get
By | Sarah Vaynerman
If you’ve ever taken a class with me you know that I’ll cue the breath in sync with movements during yoga, and that my guided meditations are heavily focused on breath and breath-awareness.
Students follow along and experience the benefits, often accepting them at face value, but one of the most common questions I get after class from curious, analytical minds is this:
“What does the breath have to do with anything?”
It’s a great question, and the answer gets right to the heart of mindfulness, opening up a practical conversation that covers important points on present-moment awareness, accessibility and even the central nervous system. So, let’s get into it.
1. For starters, our breath is always with us. It is available to us anytime, anywhere.
Whether or not we’re paying attention, we’re always breathing in and breathing out. This constant presence makes it a fantastic place to direct and rest our attention in times of stress, distraction, overwhelm, and even in times of wonder, appreciation and gratitude. We can access our breath whenever we need something to focus on. Using the breath as an object of meditation means mindful moments can happen any time, anywhere.
2. The breath is a formidable object of meditation. In every moment, the breath possesses infinite qualities to observe and connect with as an exercise in present-moment awareness.
There are so many different aspects of the breath for us to focus on. We can notice its temperature, observe how it moves through the body, follow the pace of our inhales and exhales, listen to the sound it makes, feel it across our teeth, how different shapes of our face can change its qualities… the list goes on. This abundance of options gives us an always-available place to direct our mind and attention that is both simple, yet engaging.
