Breathe
Deep breathing for pain relief—these are purely my own opinions and are not medical advice
Twenty years ago I developed debilitating fibromyalgia. My muscles were so knotted and painful it felt like I was sleeping on marbles.
I was incredibly fortunate to meet a medical qigong practitioner who taught me how to live with pain. It’s extraordinary how those lessons continue to serve me well.
Some of those principles:
To get rid of pain you must go toward the pain. Our default is to try to avoid it.
All trauma—physical or emotional—manifests itself in the body in some way, so deal with it when it happens, don’t ignore it and keep going.
You can manage chronic pain through deep breathing, also known as yoga breathing.
She used shiatsu (acupressure) on my muscle marbles, pressing directly on them while I breathed deeply. It hurt so badly I cried more than once, but the next week I would be in a little less pain, so it was worth it. Over the course of a couple of years I had learned to manage it on my own.
A few years later I had major abdominal surgery. The nurse came in to check on me that night and I was doing deep breathing in the hospital bed. She thought I was nuts. 😀 But my need for pain meds decreased quickly and I healed well.
Deep breathing also helps with targeting. It can slow your heart rate when it is racing, counteract anxiety tech, tame the anger tech, and keep your nervous system calm instead of going into fight or flight.
Did you know that when you are in pain or under threat that you start taking small breaths? It’s a defense mechanism that serves us well unless we live in chronic pain or are under constant threat. That’s why deep breathing helps—it returns you to a state where you can heal.
There are different ways to do deep breathing, but this is how I was taught.
Take a breath through your nose over four seconds. So big that your diaphragm sticks out.
Hold it for six seconds.
Blow it out quickly through your mouth. Keep blowing until your diaphragm deflates completely and you have pulled your abdominal muscles toward your spine.
Do this in sets of three.
Do this as often as you need to during the day.
You should feel your shoulders relax, heart rate slow, energy moving through your limbs.
I hope this is helpful for someone out there!
Just for fun, here’s a lovely song by Emma Nissen to inspire you to take time to breathe.
