Until I practiced Reiki I never realized I held my breath when I was tense or stressed. Holding your breath when stressed doesn’t allow the body to get enough oxygen, compromising your well-being, and increases your chances of fatigue. Reiki helped me improve my breathing habits.
Lack of oxygen to the brain does not allow it to think clearly. Things can get confusing, foggy and tiring quickly. Our bodies tense up and often lead to poor sleep patterns. We can also begin to compromise relationships, whether at work or personal, if we don’t cope with that stress.
Stress in my life would make me feel exhausted at the end of the day, with no energy to look after myself or anyone else. I naturally wanted to shut down and away from people I cared about.
When I first began practicing Reiki I realized I naturally started to inhale and exhale deep breaths. My tension slowly melted away with those breaths. If I was tense before a Reiki session I realized I was holding my breath along with my tension. After practicing Reiki for a while it helped me pay more attention to how I was dealing with stressful situations on a daily basis. I noticed I was holding my breath quite a lot in those moments, and then made a more conscious effort to take in deep breaths when someone or something agitated me. It helped release the tension before I got to an overwhelmed feeling, or exploded on someone.
Breathing was a natural temporary fix to release the stress, but practicing Reiki after a long stressful day took me to a deeper form of relaxation. Once I felt the stress disappear, doing things for myself and others didn’t seem so daunting. I had a greater sense of love for myself and others because I cared for myself first with my Reiki practice. I had more to give after each session. Breathing in and out was like breathing in life.
It is amazing how breathing and coping with stress are deeply interconnected. Reiki helped me be more conscious of better breathing patterns and de-stress for my body. Try Reiki if you too want to take control of the stress in your life and find another path to relaxation.
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