Breathing

Why a blog post about breathing?
I'm wondering too and am not sure where to start.
Breathing is something we do. An unconscious reaction. If it becomes a conscious reaction it can be of great benefit.
I did a lot of conscious breathing before I became ill. I played the flute and could hold very long single notes, create long phrases of perfection without taking a sneaky breath in the middle. Swimming was also a big thing for me. I used to love diving underwater and doing two strokes of butterfly, or three strokes of front crawl without breaths in between. I would feel my chest constricted by the volume of the water and watch the bubbles as I gently let the air out as slowly as possible.
Conscious breathing has reappeared in my life recently and is very important. Filling the whole of the diaphragm loosens the stomach, lengthens the breath and leaves a calmer, meditative state. It is a great way to almost control the stress response system. I am sure whenever I was in a bed-bound state these techniques were more important than I realised. I never called them meditation or Yogic breathing I would just lie, listening to calming music or an audio book, breathe slowly and clear my mind of thoughts. Even concentrating on a game of snooker or a cricket match would give me that time of stillness. For years I have followed the idea of breathing in 1,2,3 breathing out 1,2,3,4. Emptying the lungs that little bit more lets the whole body relax.
Now my routine involves yogic breathing (Alternate Nostril Breathing/ Alternate Nostril Exhaling), daily meditations too. Daily meditation began for me, just a couple of weeks before I began the yoga lessons. It was also mentioned in a lot of books and recovery stories as an essential for releasing the automatic stress responses. A lot of free meditation podcasts and guided audios are available online. I found them and choose a few. One of the best was a simple 10 minute guided 7-11 breathing meditation. Very simply, inhaling for a count of 7, pausing and exhaling for a count of 11, pausing and so on. The idea is to slow the count down as the breath relaxes the body and after ten minutes the breath is ready to guide you through a calm and peaceful day. I do this and other breathing techniques when I am just sitting reading a book or eating my dinner, sitting in the car passenger seat listening to the radio. It gives a focus other than the illness and leaves me better able to deal with any frustrations that may come along.