Breathe for Real Living: 5 essential techniques for everyday practice

Every morning from 9:30am to 10:00am during Happiness Week, Anna Lown, Associate Director of IEU Counseling, will be teaching a new breathing technique for everyday practice:

Monday, March 22nd 09:30 - 10:00am
1. Basic Awareness of breath (diaphragmatic breath) – We’ll explore this thing called “breath,” discuss the function of diaphragm, and  different breathing patterns that we may all display unconsciously (some healthy, some less so.)

Tuesday March 23rd 09:30 - 10:00am
2. Box Breath  - In this workshop we’ll explore consciously the 4 phases of breath and look at the effects of oxygen vs carbon dioxide in bloodstream (and thus our minds and bodies!)

Wednesday, March 24th 09:30 - 10:00am
3. Ujayyi (Oceanic) breath – This Pranayama technique from the tradition of Yoga incorporates sound and breath. Ever heard of the vagus nerve? We’ll discuss the importance breath in the mind-gut connection.

Thursday, March 25th 09:30 - 10:00am
4. 4-7-8 Breath – Expanding our breath control, we’ll look at this technique and the link between breath and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (or PNS.)

Friday, March 26th 09:30 - 10:00am
5. Kapalabhati (Breath of fire)– Can you generate energy by just breathing? Let’s explore this second Pranayama practice in a compliment to yesterday’s session about the Sympathetic Nervous System (or SNS)