Article #Breathwork

Breathwork and boosting your immune system

“Remember, you are your own best investment. Invest in yourself and your lifestyle. Quality of life is a key component in finding joy and maintaining self-confidence.”

~Akiroq Brost

The immune system is an important defense mechanism that protects our bodies against colds and illness. The immune system has a vital role: It protects your body from harmful substances, germs and cell changes that could make you ill. It is made up of various organs, cells and proteins. Our immune system is essential for our survival. Without an immune system, our bodies would be open to attack from bacteria, viruses, parasites, and more.

Natural Ways to Boost Your Immune System

There a number of different ways to naturally boost your immune system. Maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, hydrating yourself, sleeping in adequate amounts, etc...

Besides all this, did you know that the ‘simple act of breathing properly is a terrific way of strengthening the immune system?

We’re all about proper breathing techniques, movement and mind training here at The Life Awareness Project. You can simply improve your health by controlling your breath. Having our own breath to boost our immune system is entirely FREE, free of costs!

Scientific research has shown that over 90% of doctor visits are stress-related. Most diseases start from the mind. Once we learn to tap into the power of the breath, we can control the mind and our health.

Mind and body are connected, your mental state influences your physical health. You have probably had someone tell you to "look on the bright side" or to "see the cup as half full." Chances are good that the people who make these comments are positive thinkers. Researchers are finding more and more evidence pointing to the many benefits of optimism and positive thinking.

Breathing and Its Auto-Immune Response

The controlling of the breath and its beneficial effects on the body are the following:

Lowering blood pressure
Lowering cortisol levels
Improving autonomic response to physical and mental stress
Improving arterial blood flow

Mindful breathing can help fight the progression of autoimmune diseases by bringing our body back into the calm part of our nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system.

What is Cortisol?

Think of cortisol as nature’s built-in alarm system. It’s your body’s main stress hormone. It works with certain parts of your brain to control your mood, motivation, and fear.

It’s best known for helping fuel your body’s “fight-or-flight” instinct in a crisis, but cortisol plays an important role in a number of things your body does such as:

Manages how your body uses carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
Keeps inflammation down
Regulates your blood pressure
Increases your blood sugar (glucose)
Controls your sleep/wake cycle
Boosts energy so you can handle stress and restores balance afterward

Keeping stress under control is important for your long-term health

One of the best ways to turn down the stress response in the body and activate the parasympathetic response is to use slow, relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing.

The physiological responses to deep, controlled, mindful breathing are so profound and luckily for you, it’s not complicated and again, FREE!

Just breathe!

"Stand Up Straight"

That's timeless advice we've probably all heard at one time or another. Good posture is also known as a neutral spine. When we have good posture, the muscles surrounding the spine are balanced and supporting the body equally.

Here’s a quick posture check-in:

When sitting, your feet should rest flat on the floor, with even weight on both hips. Your back should be mostly straight (you’ll have natural curves in your lumbar, thoracic, and cervical areas). Your shoulders should be back but relaxed and your ears should line up over your collarbones.

When standing, your legs should have a slight knee bend so you’re not hyperextending or locking your knee joints.

Our posture impacts our body's ability to access our major breathing muscle, the diaphragm.

Here are just a few examples of how we hurt our bodies every day:

Scrolling over our smartphones that causes poor neck posture;
Sitting in the car with hunched shoulders shortens as well our hip flexors;
Watching TV while being curled up on your sofa or chair;
Spending the entire day in an unnatural seated position at work;

And the list goes on and on...

By adopting a poor posture, our spine, shoulders, hips and knees take a certain amount of toll. This may result in a number of structural abnormalities that in turn lead to back pain, joint pain, reduced mobility and muscle stiffness. Another adverse effect is nerve constriction. Due to the changing shape of the spine, the new working and movement of the muscles and joints put pressure on the nearby spinal nerves. As the nerves connect the spine to all parts of the body, these pinched nerves do not only cause neck and back pain but also cause pain in other parts of the body. Some of the common postural problems are as under.

You might be thinking "what does this have to do with breathing?"

It's a very simple and straight forward answer,

If your posture is not optimal, your breathing won't be optimal either!

The bottom line here:

Activate your diaphragm and breathe. Strengthen your immune system by fixing your posture and breathe.

Breathwork And Mind Trainer

Michaël has been linked with breathwork, movement and meditation. He claims to have the answer to a healthy lifestyle, to a healthy immune system, where the major factor is to focus on a controlled breathing technique.

"I always knew that there was more power in the mind than we learn in school and in our society. I felt that with the power of thought, prayer and a good mindset you can influence your reality in some way. This especially showed it really works when I was 18 and suffered from a major car accident in which a disk in my spine was broken, hip fractured, right arm paralyzed and some more disabilities. Doctors told me that I might never completely recover from some of these damages. I am very grateful that by the power of positive thinking, prayer, Yoga, QiGong I am now completely healed from this.
I did see a lot of suffering in the lives of people around me because of stress, anxiety, feeling unfulfilled etc... I realized that there is a way to come out of this suffering and especially breathing is a very, very powerful tool for that."

You already have the right tools to start improving your health TODAY

A holistic approach to health will always win. Once we understand that improvements in these essential body systems can happen thanks to natural processes, we can take steps towards building a solid foundation for health. It’s simpler than we think.

Learn to exhale, activate your diaphragm, breathe deeply, and work on fixing your posture.

Simply breathing in a correct way will have positive immune responses.

When we slow our breathing and reset our bad breathing habits, our body will receive the signals that all is good.

I'd like to finish with just one simple and effective sentence: