It sounds simple enough right?  It’s the most basic human function that keeps us all alive.  But can you remember the last time you actually took a nice deep breath in and consciously just let it go?  If you can, good for you, you’re definitely part of the minority when it comes to breathing.  Want to give it a try?  Go head, suck in a deep breath from your gut/stomach, hold it in for a second and just let it go.  You can close your eyes if you want a better experience, at least for me.  So how did it feel?  Do you feel more relaxed?  Did those things you were thinking about before fade into the background?  For me, it usually forces me to live in the moment and not think about all the things going on it my life.

We’ve all gone through tough times in our lives, I think that’s what makes life interesting and worth living.  Have you ever felt so overwhelmed from a situation that you felt like someone was stepping on your chest and you couldn’t breathe?  I can remember 2 separate incidents in my life where my anxiety got the best of me and my breathing was very short and shallow.  I let my negative thoughts/thinking get the best of me and was so stressed that I thought I was going to die because I couldn’t breathe.  It is not a good feeling at all but I now know how to deal with situations like that when they come up again, just breathe.

I recently signed up for a fitness app called classpass which allows you to check out different boutique gyms/studios without the yearly commitment that a lot of regular gyms require.  It’s a great option for people looking for variety in their workouts as you can check out yoga, pilates, spin (indoor cycling), boxing, circuit training classes, etc.  I’ve been able to check out 5-6 different yoga studios that I wouldn’t have been able to try out otherwise.  I’m discovering new studios weekly, one of which is a mediation center out in the Westwood area.  It’s called unplug meditation on Wishire Blvd and I’ve taken 2 classes so far, one focused on visualization and the other on breathing.  My first class was on visualization and I have to say, it wasn’t what I expected going into it.  Honestly, I thought it was a waste of 45 minutes.  I guess I was expecting it to be this life-changing thing where I would feel more relaxed and have a clearer head.  I really liked the studio and the vibe from my first visit so I decided to give it another shot.

As I was deciding what class to take after work on Thursday, I checked my classpass app and saw there was a 7 pm mediation class (at the aforementioned unplug mediation studio) with a focus on breathing so I decided why not give it another shot?  You know how they say timing is everything, well I decided to take this class because of what had gone on at work that day.  It was a pretty normal morning at work until a few hours into the day, my boss out of nowhere yells out “F*CK” then proceeds to hit his desk really hard.  You know when you’re watching a scary movie and you get startled because something jumps out at you?  Well, that’s what happened that morning in the office.  I later asked my other coworkers if they were startled as well and one of them said yes, haha.  Let’s just say, my boss is a little on the edge when it comes to his emotions.  So I decided to take this breathing class not only for myself but in honor of my boss’ outburst that day.  The class actually turned out to be one of the best classes I’ve taken since joining classpass and just AMAZING in general.  I went into it not having any expectations and left the class in a different state of mind.  Other than breathing the only other thought that crossed my mind during class was about writing about my experience on this blog.  I’ll spare you all the details of the class as I feel like I’m starting to ramble on this post but just imagine concentrating on breathing for 30 straight minutes.  The instructor advised us to hang out after class for a bit and not to drive right away.  I was like yeah right, I’m going to just get up and go home.  I was totally wrong as it took me a good 10-15 minutes just to feel normal again.  It was like I got high off of just breathing.  It’s really hard to describe and I think everyone has a different experience but for me it was euphoric, like everything in the world was right.  Maybe it was a combination of the day at work along with my low expectations but I’m so glad I decided to take that class and will definitely be back again.

So next time you feel stressed, anxious or annoyed just remember to breathe.  Only you can control your breathing and if you can control your breathing you can control your emotions, feelings and life.  I challenge you to take 5 deep breaths in and just let it go once a day and see how it makes you feel.

QOTP: “Be aware of your breathing.  Notice how this takes attention away from your thinking and creates space.”  -Eckhart Tolle