Breathing techniques to banish anxiety

When I speak to people about their stress levels, I usually get two responses.

1. I'm not stressed at all! (You're telling me this, and your body is telling me otherwise...)

2. I'm stressed and it takes over my life. I'm out of control at times. (Often the mums I see who are juggling a career, kids, walking the dog, cooking dinner and keeping a house going with the laundry, cleaning etc)

There is an amazing breathing technique that I like to share with as many people as I can. I learned it a while back from my amazing yoga teacher, and use it frequently to settle my little guy (and myself) into bed at night.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Simply get comfortable in any position and put your hands in your lap.
2. To maximize oxygen intake, it’s important to learn to breathe from your abdomen (belly breathing) rather than your chest. Focus on your breath until you feel your stomach rise and fall more dramatically than your chest with each inhalation and exhalation.
3. Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold the breath for 6 counts and then exhale through your nose for a count of 8. The time it takes to exhale should be about twice what it is to inhale. 
4. Let go of thoughts while you breathe. The 'monkey mind' can be so overwhelming and powerful at times!
5. Do 4-8 breath cycles 1-3 times every day (this is what is recommended, however, I tend to do it at times when I need to wind down- after lunch and before bed at night). I also find it useful if my son has had a big fall, hit his head or something & is really upset (hopefully it will encourage him to breathe deeply when in a stressful/traumatic situation during his life).

I especially recommend it for those of you who may have identified some form of anxiety or stress and it is consistently on your mind. 

If you have a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure or any other cardiovascular issues, mindful breathing, practiced daily may help regulate your current condition.


If you’re having trouble focusing on just your breath, consider incorporating a positive repetitive phrase (mantra). E.g. I breathe in positivity, I let go of fear. All is well.

By being mindful of your breath, you assist your body to let go on more levels than just the physical. It helps to retrain your brain to create positive pathways. It creates resilience, patience and feelings of wellbeing.

A few mindful minutes per day is all you need in order to get started.

What are you waiting for? Get breathing!

Yin yoga. Slow, deep restoration.

I have learnt the basics of Vinyasa flow classes, since beginning yoga about 10 years ago. Enough to be able to lead my own practice at home, and teach my partner or a couple of friends occasionally. I must admit though, I don't think I ever push myself - mind-wise and emotionally, as much as a yin yoga class does. This week marked a new yoga expansion in my life.

Mr. Bikram at teacher training. That's a lot of sweaty people!!

There are many yoga styles, and what suits you depends on what you are looking for. Take Bikram for example- a very yang dominant, heating, 'rarrrr' type yoga, that makes me feel exhilarated, but drained if I do it too often. People often shy away from yoga because they don't think it's a work out. Have you seen the abs & buns of steel on yoga teachers?? You wouldn't get a body like that if yoga wasn't a strong work out!

Anyway, I have been wanting to try a different style of yoga for a while, as change is a necessary part of expansion, and expansion is what I have in focus at the moment.

Enter, YIN yoga! Cooling, internal and restorative.

  Basically, it brings you into a deep meditative state whilst remaining in some poses for up to 10 minutes. Slow paced for the body, and intense for the mind, as the ego tries to search for more ways to take you away from the present moment, it is a lesson in surrender, patience (we all need more of that!) and acceptance.

I found some poses were just awful to begin with- think sitting on your butt, legs in a 'splits' position, heels flexed. ouch, before you even begin the pose!! Once you are accepting and present in the moment, your breath flows, your body stops screaming, and begins to soften and release. Your head actually nearly touches the floor in front of you!

I found myself relaxing into some poses only to think I could have stayed in them even longer. This is a stark contrast to the first few moments when my body was feeling like it was ready to run out of the room screaming.

The following day, I felt lighter, brighter, and my mind had so much clarity compared to my all too frequent 'mama brain'. 

I felt like I was ready to slow my yoga practice down. My body doesn't call for heavy workouts (does anyone's really?) and in order to feel more balanced, I realised I needed to do more internal work.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to slow down? Have you ever slowed down?

In our modern society, everything is in the fast lane. No rest for anyone, working more than ever just to do what? Exist? A tired existence at that. Think about this. 

When we slow down, we rest. Rest allows us to have more clarity, we are able to make better decisions. Decisions for the greater good, starting with ourselves. 
We choose to be kind, gentle and loving as opposed to impatient, irritable and angry.
We tend to eat slower, chew more, & choose better foods. New pathways in our life seem to appear that may have already been there, but perhaps we've never slowed down enough to see them.

Make it your homework this week to take time out to do some internal work. Even better, try a yin yoga class. Your mind, body and soul will thank you.

 

Herbal Fertility- Part 2 - Men

It is very easy for a woman to blame herself for not falling pregnant straight away, but conscious conception takes a healthy mama and papa bear.
 
What if I told you males make up 50% of infertility cases? Yep, it turns out men don't just make up half the chromosomes when it comes to making babies. They play just as an important role as the females knowing their cycle, and intercourse happening on fertile days.

So guys, what steps have you taken to ensure you have enough viable sperm to fertilise the egg this month?

I have a few valuable tips for you to try out before you're actually trying to conceive.

Sperm take about 120 days to reach maturity. So that's about the amount of time I'd recommend starting to consciously make an effort to create better sperm.

Serenoa repens or Saw palmetto, is considered a male tonic herb. It encourages testosterone in the body to remain in a favourable form, as opposed to going down a pathway which might lead to symptoms such as 'man boobs', prostate enlargement, and hair loss. 
It is a common aphrodisiac herb, and is useful in treating and preventing benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH).
Men with high stress, poor immune function, poor lifestyle and dietary habits have shown to respond well to this herb, as it is also helpful in restoring nervous system balance.

Tribulus terrestris has been shown to increase testosterone and DHEA in men, which may help to improve sperm quality and motility, and even treat erectile dysfunction.
A Bulgarian study performed in 1998, showed a 61% increase in conception for couples with antisperm antibodies (female immune system attacks sperm cells), who were taking Tribulus. The average time it took couples to conceive after treatment was 5 months.
Tribulus is one of the best male reproductive system supporting herbs.

Epimedium grandiflorum also known as horny goat weed has been used as an aphrodisiac and for increasing sexual desire and performance. The active ingredient Icariin has been shown to increase nitric oxide; increasing circulation to the extremities. It may be useful in aiding sustained erection.

Gingko biloba is traditionally used to improve memory, mostly due it's ability to increase tissue perfusion rate. Since Gingko has a circulatory stimulant effect, it may assist with erectile dysfunction. Gingko is also a potent antioxidant, which may improve the quality of sperm produced. 

Generally speaking, if you can increase your count of 'normal' sperm (see right), you're in with a much better chance at promoting fertilisation, and your lady maintaining the pregnancy (the woman's immune system will 'kill off' a non-viable fertilised egg otherwise). 

There are a number of nutrients that are particularly useful such as Zinc, Selenium, CoQ10, Vitamin C, Lipoic acid and Omega 3. If you take a multi vitamin, make sure it contains these important nutrients!


Some diet and lifestyle tips...

- Clean up your diet. Eat many different colours of fruits and veggies each day. This helps to increase your antioxidant status & produce healthier sperm cells.

- Drink at least 2 litres of filtered water per day. Ensures you have enough fluids to produce a good amount of ejaculatory fluid and stop it from being too thick and sticky.

- Cease alcohol and smoking of all kinds to decrease the toxic burden on your body.

- 30 minutes of physical exercise daily. You don't have to have bulging biceps to produce quality sperm, but the extra oxygen and blood circulation is extremely important for balancing your mind and body.

-   Cease masturbation. Yep that's what I said. It is essential to 'save your sperm' in order to get the mature ones to swim the fastest on the fertile days to win the fertilisation race. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), they believe the male essence or 'life force' so to speak is in his semen. If you keep as much semen on board as you can, you will have more energy, less lower back pain, and produce stronger offspring.

- Avoid bike riding for long periods of time as it puts a large amount of pressure on the perineum and prostate.

- Avoid saunas, hot showers and baths. I'm not saying you have to freeze in the cold shower in the middle of winter, but keep the water warm, not hot. The testes are designed with their own heating/cooling system and the ultimate temperature is just less than regular body temp (around 36 degrees celcius).  

- For temperature reasons as outlined above, avoid tight fitting underwear. Use loose fitting boxers, or just go commando!

If you are questioning your fertility, I urge you to have some further testing from your health professional to find out more.