Business Fit Magazine November 2018 Issue 1 | Page 44

Business Kayana Breathwork, Dissolving Stress’ Tentacles Viola Edward Stress is a state of inner personal anxiety and can occur in all aspects of our lives. It triggers processes of non-communication that hinder productivity, creativity and intimacy. All of us, in some way or another, can be affected by this ‘condition’. Symptoms like bad moods, prolonged tiredness, anxiety, lack of motivation and negative vision are almost normal in today’s world, yet prolonged exposure to them will create serious unbalance in our systems. A major difficulty of healing this ‘illness’ lies in the fact that stress continuously feeds back on itself. Once it is present in the organism, its effect becomes a cause. It is important to differentiate between what I call “Creative Tension” and “Real Stress”. Creative Tension is a stressful situation where we retain a certain control, such as in sport or the organisation of a wedding. Real Stress appears in a situation where we have no control over the event, such as an accident, natural disaster, economic crisis, etc. Stress inhibits breathing One of the most devastating effects of stress is the inhibition of breathing. With the repetition of stressful situations, the result becomes chronic and generates serious hang-ups such as lack of creativity, low productivity, chronic fatigue and mood swings amongst others. The symptoms experienced can be repressed One of the most devastating effects of stress is the inhibition of breathing 44 emotions, frustration, lack of purpose, difficulty in expressing love and gratitude, all of which will affect our joy in life. To liberate ourselves from the effects of stress, the study and practice of breathing techniques is an excellent place to begin. Breathing Breathing is a life-sustaining activity that we begin to practice instinctively from the moment we are born and continues uninterrupted until the moment we die. The rhythm of our respiration is such a familiar practice to us that most of our lives we are even unaware of our participation in this vital action. Remember, however, that though we are able to survive for many days without food and not quite so long without water, if we are prevented from breathing, most humans will be dead within three or four minutes. This is how fundamental the breathing process is to our well-being. Breathing dynamics Let us take a closer look at the dynamics of the breathing process. Singers and wind instrument players, amongst others, are always conscious of breathing as their music depends on being able to deliver a continuous flow of breath across the vocal chords or through their musical instruments. Athletes depend on powerful breathing rhythms to be able to deliver high levels of oxygen to their performing muscles. The air that we inhale into our lungs contains a percentage of oxygen and when this oxygen content comes into contact with the blood circulating in the spongy tissues of our lungs, it is absorbed into the blood stream. The steady pumping of our heart supplies oxygen rich blood to our brain and to the muscles and organs of our bodies where the oxygen is consumed in an energy- supplying mission. When we are working hard our hearts beat faster and we breathe more strongly to supply the increase in energy required by our bodies. In a healthy body, this biological breathing dynamic manages itself naturally and instinctively without the requirement of any conscious intervention. 45