In Chinese medicine, the lung and the large intestine are intimately connected. Lung energy corresponds to the intake of new things and new ideas, and Large Intestine energy relates to letting go of things that no longer serve us.
When we are depressed, we start to breathe shallowly because we don’t want to take in anything new anymore. We are too exhausted or overwhelmed to take in anything new. Everything seems like a struggle. It’s hard, it’s brutal, and the pain can feel so very insurmountable!
For sure, taking medication seems like the easiest route to climbing out of our black hole, and getting beyond our struggle. How great it would be if our negative feelings could just dissolve within a few hours or a few days with medication?!
Medication doesn’t work well for a lot of people, though. And even for people it does seem to help, the majority of them would prefer an alternative to taking medication with side effects.
Enter breathwork! This practice is extremely helpful for depression. Breathwork is also highly effective in ameliorating other related conditions, including anxiety, insomnia and overall tension.
The very act of taking a breath is life affirming. You are choosing life with every breath. You’re choosing to go on and continue….to see what life has in store for you around the bend.
The more we breathe deeply, the more oxygen we supply to ourselves. Conscious breathing simultaneously lifts our vibration and gives us more energy. This makes it much harder for the negative emotions to stay lodged in our tissue, which gives us the ability to shift our perceptions of ourselves and the world.
Because breathing is a physical process, it changes us on a cellular level. Deep breathing literally and emotionally helps us to define and redefine who we are. After a breathwork class, we physically feel different as a result of the deep breathing, and may find ourselves able to once again take in things that are new.
A ray of sunshine starts to peek through, into our inner being.
Maybe our life is different from how we thought it would turn out when we were 18, but maybe this different life has taught us many things, and maybe our life can be more spectacular than we had ever imagined.
Breathwork brings us back into present time and enables us to connect to people and life around us. It’s a simple but highly effective tool. Try it when you can!!
Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based on the same subjects you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail. Earle Wimberley