Why breathing is good for you

(especially when you get sad or scared or mad or frustrated)

Paying attention to our breathing is a way of talking to our body and our mind but without using words.

We don’t have to pay attention to our breathing most times during the day, but sometimes some situations call for more intentional or focused breathing.
For example, instead of feeling happy, we suddenly feel sad. Instead of feeling brave, we feel really scared. We feel mad or frustrated instead of calm and patient. Something happened and you don’t like it much. Maybe you don’t feel like you can control whatever is going on in the way that you want.
There are as many reasons for a change in feelings as there are people and situations in the world. It seems you can’t always control everything. But, you can mostly control one thing. Your breath.
Breathing a few slow and deliberate breaths sends a message to our mind and body that we are ok or that it’s going to be ok soon. Each new breath whispers to our mind and body that these big feelings will pass.
The big feelings that were overwhelming us soon start to lose their bigness and power over us. I’ve learned that even 5 calming breaths can help me a whole lot.

I’m really happy that I learned this breathing stuff because I get really huge feelings even though I’m quite small!
So the next time you feel your mind and body starting to feel some big scary feelings, I hope you’ll think about breathing through them.

Then let me know what your experience was. That’s how we learn.

Mindfulness Exercise

Here’s a fun and interesting Mindfulness Exercise from @conscious _counselling that involves using your 5 senses.

It’s a great way for you to get in touch with yourself and your surroundings.

To do this…Pay attention to:

5 things you see

4 things you feel

3 things you hear

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Mom and I practice some form of meditation every single day.

Honestly, I wasn’t too keen on the idea at first. Sitting around doing NOTHING? Why?

But now, after just one year, I can easily sit for 5 minutes. Mom reminds me how far I’ve come in just one year. At first, I didn’t understand why mom encouraged me to join her in her practice every day because I’m a kid. So even though I didn’t want to sit for even 30 seconds, I watched her sometimes just sitting there looking peaceful and happy and I thought that was interesting. And one day, when I felt ready, I joined her and now I look forward to my inner Iggy time as much as ice cream. True. 

Love,

Iggy