Become aware of your breathing through introspection

Read the video while you watch it!

At is breathing and what is it for?

Breathing occurs involuntarily, so we are unconscious and we could say that we don´t have control over it. However, it´s a link between your body and your mind; it´s also linked to the nervous and cardiovascular system.

"When we breathe, we actually have an effect on how much blood our heart pumps”. (Cuando respiramos, en realidad ejercemos un efecto sobre la cantidad de sangre que bombea nuestro corazón).

Carestia, D. R., Beltran, A. F., Cerdera, F., Sanchez, M. L., & Ibáñez, F. (2023). Impacto fisiológico de la respiración, en la salud y en el nivel del estrés. Periódicos Brasil. Pesquisa Científica, 2(1), 324-328.

Actually, it helps you to exercise your ability to pay attention and reduce stress...

• Threatened: Increased heart rate, sweaty hands, and increased muscle tension.

• Relaxed: We breathe more slowly, our heart rate slows down, blood vessels dilate and more blood flows to the intestine to aid digestion.

Nonetheless, breathing has two phases: it is performed with inhalation and is expressed through exhalation.

Inhalation

When you inhale, your diaphragm contracts and moves downward. This causes the space in your chest cavity to increase and your lungs to expand within it; as your lungs expand, air is drawn in through your nose or mouth. This is where air travels down your trachea into your lungs.

Exhalation

It is the way in which air leaves an organism. This happens due to the elastic properties of the lungs and the internal intercostal muscles that lower the rib cage and decrease the thoracic volume; when this relaxes during exhalation, it causes the tissue to rise upwards to exert pressure on the lungs to expel the air.

What does it mean introspection?

It´s a "SELF-ANALYSIS" that refers to looking inward (seeing inside oneself) and the environment to understand the shape of our emotions, thoughts and behaviors to understand why we act the way we do.

“If I don’t know myself, I won’t know how I will respond to external situations. That is, I won’t know which of my actions are good/correct, and which are not, so I can correct them and learn from them”. (Si no me conozco, no sabré cómo responderé ante las situaciones externas. Es decir, no sabré cuáles de mis acciones son buenas / correctas, y cuáles no para poder corregirlas y aprender de ellas).

Martinez Diaz, M. E., & Fernandez Zapata, R. (n.d.). (2017). Apply yourself to life. (p. 35, 36). Mexico City, PPC.

"If we combine breathing with introspection, we obtain an improvement in our mental and physical health as demonstrated by the following study":

The Craighead Experiment

Craighead (cardiovascular physiologist) began research that allows us to understand how respiratory activity influences blood pressure.

“He and his team measured the effect of inspiratory muscle training, or IMT, which involves using a handheld device that makes it harder to inhale. In a group of healthy adults, those who practiced high-resistance IMT for 30 breaths a day for six weeks saw a 9 millimeter drop in their systolic blood pressure, the first number in a reading. A control group, given sham training with low-resistance breathing, saw no improvement, according to results published in 2021 in the Journal of the American Heart Association”. (Él y su equipo midieron el efecto del entrenamiento de la musculatura inspiratoria, o EMI, que contempla el uso de un dispositivo manual que dificulta la inhalación. En un grupo de adultos sanos, aquellos que practicaron EMI de alta resistencia en 30 respiraciones al día durante seis semanas observaron una disminución de 9 milímetros de mercurio en su presión arterial sistólica, el primer número en una lectura. Un grupo de control, sometido a entrenamiento simulado con respiración de baja resistencia, no tuvo mejoras, según los resultados publicados en el 2021 en la revista Journal of the American Heart Association).

Carestia, D. R., Beltran, A. F., Cerdera, F., Sanchez, M. L., & Ibáñez, F. (2023). Physiological impact of breathing on health and stress levels. Brazilian Newspapers. Scientific Research, 2(1), 324-328.

"FOCUS EXERCISE"

(see reproduction)

Step 1.- Begin the exercise with three deep breaths, in a comfortable place free of any distractions within your reach.

Step 2.- Close your eyes and concentrate. If you can't, focus your gaze on a fixed point.

Step 3.- Continue with your natural breathing and try to locate a part of your body where you feel the passage of air, concentrate and concentrate on that.

Step 4.- Try to keep your attention on that region of your body, and try to locate what you feel when the air passes through there...

Step 5.- If you get distracted, go back and keep your attention on the area, now think about where you feel the passage of air and the physical sensations it causes.

Step 6.- Focus on your surroundings, keep your attention on the smells and sounds you hear.

Step 7.- Travel through your entire body in your mind, curiously observe each part and detail, and perceive the sensations that arise.

Step 8.- Return your attention to your breathing, take three deep breaths and return to the present.

Do it often!

"Cover up."

Bibliographic Sources (APA 7th Edition)

• Bisquerra Alzina, R., Chao Rebolledo, C., Patiño Domínguez, H. A., García Navarro, E., & Valle Alvarez, A. E. (2022). Tutoría y Educación Socioemocional 3 (1ª (1ª ed., p. 14, 76). Santillana.

• Carestia, D. R., Beltran, A. F., Cerdera, F., Sanchez, M. L., & Ibáñez, F. (2023). Impacto fisiológico de la respiración, en la salud y en el nivel del estrés. Periódicos Brasil. Pesquisa Científica, 2(1), 324-328.

• Martínez Díaz, M. E., & Fernández Zapata, R. (s.f.). (2017). Applícate a la Vida. (p. 35, 36). Ciudad de México, PPC.