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
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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.
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