17 Jun Breathing

Demands and stresses

Feel more present and “embodied”

Having worked in the City of London for over two and a half decades I have been noticing the difference in the kind of patients referred to me over the last 2 years. People have been coming with a multitude of different complaints, usually associated with demands and stresses arising from so many stimuli, fake news and deadlines. This high tempo existence can affect us all and this is a great reason to look for ways to be and feel more present and “embodied”.

According to the Frontiers in Psychology online journal, “psychological studies have revealed breathing practice to be an effective non-pharmacological intervention for emotion enhancement (Stromberg et al., 2015), including a reduction in anxiety, depression, and stress (Brown and Gerbarg, 2005a,b; Anju et al., 2015). A one-day breathing exercise was found to relieve the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization induced by job burnout (Salyers et al., 2011)”.

Breath in. Breath out.

Welcoming patients back to their bodies

Breathing can be the door to heaven and the diaphragm is the main facilitator of a good breathing mechanism. I use this concept throughout my treatments by assessing and treating diaphragmatic imbalances before tackling other body parts. This opens a possibility for the patient to start to reconnect to their bodies and for me to truly engage with other tissues that may be struggling to function as well. It is amazing to see the positive outcome so quickly and welcome patients back to their bodies!