Experience the unexpected from what you already possess

Today I want to share the story of Regan (named changed for confidentiality) and how she is experiencing the unexpected.

Regan is a 40 something desk jockey who plays recreational soccer twice per week, resistance training once per week and runs in the river valley once per week. She initially came to me to help with her right knee that she had surgery on about 5 years ago. At the end of January, we started a concerted effort to work on posture and neck/shoulder pain as her knee pain was resolved.

Her desk isn't properly set up for work due to it being a make-shift set-up while working remotely. She complains of lots of chest tightness, shoulder and neck stiffness and poor posture.

We have been doing a lot with her breathing. Back in the Spring, she only started breathing through her nose for the first time and finds it to be very calming at bedtime to focus on nostril breathing. Her awareness to her own breath has increased and has noticed a distinct limit in her ability to breath with her right side of her body (e.g., the right ribcage and lung).

As the months have past, she began to note that her shoulders and neck felt good and the work with the diaphragm has her thinking about the role her breathing has on how her upper body feels.

Unbeknownst to her, the breathing work was able to bring awareness to what is and is not feeling good in her body particularly when trying to force herself to push through movements.

We have also discovered that when we support her lower body, she is able to breath with more ease. How cool is that?! She was shocked the impact a yoga block and yoga strap helped her breathe better.

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Who knew that the breath was SO powerful?!

It is always with us every moment of our day but how much do we really pay attention to it?

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Regan is keen to continue to work on her breathing as she is finding benefit in so many aspects of her life.

​One of the books I read over the summer was Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. In his book he dives into his own personal experience and the historical background to breathing. Nestor presents a variety of ways to breathing and the rationale for why one would try the techniques. What fascinated me the most was the relationship to our tissues and how they change when we alter how we breath.

We can change our breathing.

Let's not forget our breath.

If you want to have some fun exploring, I would be honoured to support you. It doesn't have to be only breathing as our bodies are so connected every which way. I've got private virtual sessions open for the Fall on Friday mornings. We can start with one session to explore and I even have five and ten session packages available. ​


Let's experience the unexpected gift of our breath!

Stay well and happy moving,
Lisa

​P.S. If you want a visual, here I am talking about the three part breath, one way to start working with your breathing.