I would like to introduce you to a powerful method that may dramatically impact the way you experience life. It certainly has mine. It's the number one technique to fight stress, be-come grounded, and create a sense of well-being. Do you have any idea what that could be?

Not so long ago, women fainted for just about everything. A mouse, sudden noise, bad news; down they went. People still faint, but clearly a lot less often. Why? Well, when we are startled or frightened our bodies produce adrenaline, which alerts every muscle we have to get ready to fight or to flee. Subsequently, we need more oxygen to "feed" our muscles. In order to accom-plish this, we need to breathe in more air. We start to use our lungs more fully and breathe more frequently. Makes sense right?

However, there was a time that women wore corsets-very tight corsets-which only allowed them to breathe very superficially. Result: in times of stress their bodies did not get the oxygen they needed, they became light headed, dizzy--and fainted.

Still, even without corsets, many people do not use the full capacity of their lungs. They breathe shallowly. When they are under stress, they tend to become nervous and panicky-partly due to lack of oxygen. That's why it is so important to breathe the natural way: always breathe from the abdomen and expand the rest of your lungs when you need more oxygen.

Do you breathe the natural way? Well, let's explore. Put your hand on your abdomen; what do you feel? Do you feel movement? What happens when you are stressed? Did you know that mindful breathers can reduce their stress by just changing the way they breathe?

Become a mindful breather and help your body remember the natural way of breathing. This week, claim time to reacquaint yourself with the three movements of Natural Breathing: belly breathing, median chest breathing and shallow breathing.

Practice the four exercises below in bed before going to sleep or before getting up in the morning. Almost everyone breathes from the abdomen in the early morning. Be gentle and only practice for a couple of minutes at a time.

1. Abdominal Breathing or Belly Breathing

Relax the belly muscles and concentrate on your abdomen.

Inhale through the nose, bring the air to your abdomen and feel your belly rise.

Gently tense your belly muscles and breathe out calmly through the mouth.

Continue until you can belly breathe without any effort. Check the movements by putting your hand on your belly, just under your navel.

2. Median Chest Breathing

Inhale by expanding your rib cage

Exhale by contracting your rib cage

Check the movements by softly pressing your hands against the sides of your rib cage. When you expand your rib cage, your stomach muscles may tighten up a little bit. That's okay. Your body might have forgotten what it once was able to do naturally. But with a little training, your body will soon remember.

3. Shallow Breathing

Inhale by raising your sternum (chest bone)

Exhale by lowering your sternum

Check the movements by putting one of your hands on your sternum.

4. Full Breathing

Here, we combine the three breathing movements in a natural rhythm.

Inhale calmly by raising your abdomen, followed by your rib cage, and sternum.

Exhale by calmly lowering your abdomen, followed by contracting your rib cage, and lower-ing your sternum.

The above exercises help you rediscover the movements of Natural Breathing. The main message is that you always breath from your abdomen. When you are truly relaxed, you will notice that your breathing is low: your belly goes up and down, while your chest remains at rest. This is natural. When you need more oxygen you will start using more of your lung capacity by moving your rib cage and sternum as well. All this will happen naturally.

All is Well

Adrianus

This article is derived from the online course "Spirits Onymous," which is offered-free of charge-by The InnerGuidance Network at www.InnerGuidanceNetwork.org. Adrianus Van Munster, LCSW, BCD is author of The Journey to Profound Happiness, The ClearView Con-spiracy and Spirits Onymous: www.SpiritsOnymous.org.