Breathe!

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Sun Sep 30 23:03:00 2001


[]] Breathe!

http://www.myspirit2.homestead.com/breathe.html

Chronic pain frequently consumes a person's entire life.In order to live well with chronic pain you must dispell the myth that the mind and body operate separately. Relaxation and pain are opposite states and cannot coexist peacefully without using good centering and balancing mechanisms.

Breathing is attracting more and more attention from the medical community. Doctors have discovered that it is an easy and remarkably effective therapy. Breathing is related to the body's panic alarm, and whenever your air becomes even slightly restricted you will become anxious very quickly. Your heart will begin to race, your blood pressure will increase, and if this continues you will enter a state of extreme agitation or panic. Conversely if you pay attention to your breath and you take in slow, deep controlled breaths, it will have a calming effect on the body. Relaxed breathing is a mind/body process that will nurture the nervous system and produce peaceful relaxation.

Most of us do not know how to breathe properly so that the body relaxes with each breath. Your body draws air from two areas of your lungs. If you are in a stressful situation you will draw short gulps of air from the upper part of your lung. These short breaths stimulate the bodies fight or flight response. This causes the release of adrenaline, which increases the heart rate. Your body is ready for the oncoming stresses.

Slow, deep breathing, from the diaphram or abdominal area causes a lowering of the blood pressure and slows down the heart. By making a conscious effort to breathe both from the upper then from the lower part of the lungs you will reach complete relaxation. If you visualize in your mind a circular motion that coincides with your deep breathing you accomplish even more. This type of exercise establishes a counterbalancing effect between the stress of living with pain and the total relaxation of the body. It is an antidote that you can practice to help you to decrease your pain and end the suffering associated with living with chronic pain.

Try this exercise. Lie on your back on your bed. Place one hand on your abdomen and one on your upper chest. Close your eyes and begin to visualize a round ball that you will wrap your breaths around. As you inhale feel your upper hand rise, then move to your lower hand and feel it rise. Keep visualizing your breath going around in a circle. Then as you exhale slowly feel first the lower part of your body recede and finally the chest area recedes. Continue this exercise for about five minutes. If the visualization is too difficult, leave that part until you have mastered the breathing alone, then add the visualization. When you finish this exercise your body will feel very calm and peaceful. This is the ideal climate for your body to experience healing.

Deep breathing is part of a behavioral approach to treating chronic pain. Patients must accept the fact that the pain has changed their life forever, and that they need to make personal changes along with it if they are to survive. Denying the pain or the changes it brings is counter productive and will result not only in more pain, but a lower quality of life for the patient and the family. Patients must become active participants in their care and must accept responsibility for their treatments. By using skills like pacing, job rotation, delegating some work to others the entire family will benefit. The quality of life will increase for the patient and everyone else on this journey.


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