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Category Archives: Breath in Time of COVID

Breath in Time of COVID

Breath & Whole Body Health

Posted on by Ellen Heed
01
May
Trauma literature is replete with ways to use the breath to either come into presence or to retreat from it; breath is our silent partner in nervous system regulation. By breathing deeply and slowly, we slow our nervous system, dipping into a healthy parasympathetic state of rest and digest. When we’re too up-regulated, we breathe shallow rabbit-y breaths up around our collarbones. Traps tighten, shoulder blades reach for the stars, and our necks kink forward. This has neurological consequences, as the very nerve that feeds a range of motion to our diaphragm gets squeezed into oblivion between tight neck muscles.
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Breath in Time of COVID

Do You Breathe Well?

Posted on by Ellen Heed
24
Apr
Breath allows us to SEE how which branch of our nervous system dominates our experience, for better or worse. When things swing out of balance, the use of breath can offer sensations to make a correction. How did we accumulate this much stress anyway? Present circumstances aside, as a culture, we do everything to train young people to quiet their bodies and suppress their boisterousness, along with their breath. We're told to sit still in school. Not to wiggle, not to squirm. To suppress our urges to pee, ignore our need for a snack, and not scratch that itch. As a consequence, we've learned to ignore our bodies. Including our breath.
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