Welcome to the first day of…

Michelle Cross’ Guide to Deeper Relaxation:

The ultimate, no-stress/de-stress tool for busy people!

Many of us are suffering from excessive stress and anxiety but find it hard to make the time to relax.  We know it can’t be good for our bodies or our minds but we just don’t know how to break the cycle...

Thankfully, help is at hand!

In this FREE e-course, I’ll be giving you useful information and quick & easy tools that will help you to experience deeper relaxation and nourish your mind and body. You also receive a FREE guided relaxation audio, just reading on.

My Guide to Deeper Relaxation is quick, uncomplicated and doesn’t need specialist knowledge or expertise.  With each small step, you’ll be walking your way to a more peaceful, balanced state of being, improved health, and be better able to cope with life throws at you!

If you know anyone else who’s in need of some healing and relaxation, why not let them know about this free course? They can sign up by going to this page - http://yogarelax.co.uk/summerwellbeing.htm

So, let's start by laying down some good foundations…

“Breath is life”

Today’s session is all about...

Breathing

You’re able to survive days without food or water, however without breath, you ’d only last a few minutes...  In the same way that fire can’t burn without oxygen, your body’s cells can’t produce heat and energy without it.  Despite this need, it’s amazing how little attention we pay to the importance of our breathing!

Yoga recognizes the importance of “the Breath” for delivering oxygen to every cell in our brain and body.  “The Breath” is also seen as the mechanism through which vital energy or life-force (prana), passes into our body and cells (taken from the air we breathe).

But don't worry, even if you don’t practice Yoga, you’ll still benefit from concentrating on your breathing!

 

The mechanics of breathing determine the level of oxygen supply so by slowing down and by learning to breathe correctly, you can both nourish your cells with oxygen and help to manage your vital energy (prana). 

Sadly, most of us have forgotten how to breathe correctly.  We breathe shallowly, usually through the mouth and barely use our diaphragm.  We use the top parts of our lungs but most of our blood vessels are actually based around the lower parts.  This means we’re receiving only a fraction of the amount of oxygen and energy we truly need. 

How can you breathe correctly?

Shallow chest breathing gives rise to oxygen deficiencies.  Deep, abdominal breathing is the answer to optimum oxygen levels.

It is natural to breathe using the diaphragm and abdomen.  If you watch babies, you will notice that they breathe in this way.  As you become older, factors like stress, anxiety, bad posture and inactivity cause you to take shallow breaths which uses only the upper chest. 

Breathing correctly means you need to be breathing through the nose, keeping your mouth closed, and achieving a full inhalation (where your abdomen expands and causes your diaphragm to move down) and an exhalation (where your abdomen falls causing the diaphragm to move up).

Breathing this way makes better use of your lungs and diaphragm, which means your brain and body take in more oxygen to nourish every cell in your body and they receive more energy.  So it makes sense to learn to adjust your breathing technique to ensure you get as much oxygen as possible, so you feel better!

By controlling our breath through slowing down, your brain waves change too, so if these slow down you can reach your desired state of deeper relaxation and improve your health.

Which is the most essential stage of breathing - inhalation or exhalation?  Many of us might think the answer’s inhalation as it draws oxygen into our bodies.  In fact, you should be aiming for good exhalation.  Why?  Well, the more stale air you can exhale out of your body, the more fresh oxygen you inhale to replace it and this nourishes every cell in your body and helps you to feel great. 

Don't worry!  It just takes ten minutes to learn to relax and breathe well!

Most of us may picked up some bad breathing habits along the way but the good news is it’s a habit that can be easily unlearnt!

So to finish up today's part on deeper relaxation, I've made it easy for you to practice correct breathing to induce relaxation...

By practising the deep breathing exercises and relaxation covered in my ten-minute audio relaxation – simply click here to listen at least once a day, you can start to breathe correctly using abdominal breathing, and help to induce a wonderful state of deeper relaxation.

Think of it as ten important minutes of downtime that you and your body deserve...

Relax, unwind and see the results -

Remember that to make the most of the audio session, you’ll need to give yourself the chance to relax and think about your breathing, so make yourself comfortable and avoid unwanted disturbances.  Please don't operate heavy machinery or drive while listening to this!

Even as you start to improve your breathing, you’ll begin to notice the positive effect it has on your mind and body – I’ll cover more on that in the next part of this free e-course...

In the meantime, have some great relaxation sessions - each time you listen and practise, you should see both your well-being and technique improve!

If you have any questions, please email me at info@yogarelax.co.uk

See you again very soon….until then, enjoy your relaxation time...

Best wishes,
Michelle

www.yogarelax.co.uk
www.michellecross.co.uk

Your Subscription

You’ve received this free e-course through www.yogarelax.co.uk where I share principles and tips from my Yoga teaching with my subscribers. 

As you can see from this e-course, you don’t have to practise Yoga to enjoy the benefits of relaxation!  Please visit the rest of this site  or my other site to see other holistic treatments and activities which promote relaxation and well-being.

Of course, you can opt out from this course at anytime, but I hope you find the information and my audio relaxation – simply click here of use – after all, what do you have to lose?