A Silent Revolution
Change doesn't need to be big or radical. It can be small and incremental.
A revolution is defined as overthrowing a government or social order in favour of a new system.
But what does a revolution look like in terms of our own minds and bodies?
What new system could be brought in to promote health and wellness?
Many people today are over-working, over-eating, and over-consuming, so it’s easy to see why many are also over-stressed, over-thinking, and over-breathing.
It’s very hard to stop this cycle. We either have to stop working, change diet, or unplug from the modern world for a while. But that’s not a sustainable solution long-term for most.
I lived this all-in all-out lifestyle for many years but I could never find peace or balance in either one.
It was only when I learned to take control of my breath did I learn that it didn’t matter how fast the world was or how much I had to do because if I had a calm and slow breath my heart, brain, and nervous system would also be calm and slow.
I call this a silent revolution. It doesn’t need the same radical power that a normal revolution needs. It can happen incognito and unbeknownst to everyone else - literally under our very noses! But it can (at least in my case) create a kind of peace and steadiness that’s hard to find anywhere else.
In the introduction of my new book - The Joy of Breathing - I wrote:
Each breath, regardless of where they’re breathed in the world or the age, gender, race, status, or health condition of the body who breathes them, will activate all ten systems in the body — skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive.
For each breath forms the density of bones, teeth, and sheaths of muscle fibre, it repairs, maintains, and regulates organ functionality, it aids digestion, it adds and subtracts weight, it directly communicates with the nervous system, it regulates the body’s temperature, removes toxins, releases hormones and endorphins known to cause stress and relaxation, and balances the body’s pH levels. It does this breath after breath, from birth until death, every single moment we are alive, and it never ever stops.
Some breaths cause inflammation and fatigue. Others, if sustained long enough, can even change bone structure. What I unintentionally discovered while I was learning to scuba dive that day was a truth that not only forms the foundations of this book but of life too. And that is that the quality of life is directly linked to the quality of the breath. But, more importantly, with a few simple exercises, it can produce specific outcomes that are beneficial to health.
That’s the power of the breath and for the average person it happens 20,000 times a day, every 3.3 seconds.
So, whether you’re meditating, completing a task at work, or chatting to a friend, you can change your breath at any moment of the day. It can be your own little secret. A silent revolution that has billions of oxygen molecules marching their way through cell membranes to provide energy, power, and healing.
Below is one of my favourite breathing exercises for you to try.
Box Breathing
Breathe in deeply and smoothly through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold your breath at the top for 4 seconds
Breathe out softly and calmly through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold your breath at the bottom for 4 seconds
This is one complete cycle
Continue for 25-50 breaths or 5-10 minutes
To deepen the experience, increase the number of seconds you breathe in and out and hold for (5 or 6 seconds, for example) if it feels right to do so