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Did you know that the simple act of
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breathing and mindfulness could be a
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powerful tool against stress and
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anxiety. Hello, and welcome back! In this
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episode, we’re exploring a topic that’s
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both scientifically proven and
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biblically sound–is the power of
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breathing and mindfulness. Now, if you’re
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anything like me, you hold a healthy dose
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of skepticism when anyone comes talking
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about breathing exercises. In this
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episode, we’ll talk about breathing the
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different types and how it helps us.
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We’ll break down how God’s design for
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our bodies can help us fight stress and
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anxiety. We’ll explore how we can use our
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breathing and mindfulness to draw closer
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to God. So, whether you’re a breathing Pro
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or feeling a bit skeptical, let’s dive in
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to see what we can learn about breathing
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and mindfulness. Let’s talk about how
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breathing works. In Debra Fileta’s book,
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Reset, Debra says that when you breathe
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in air enters your nose and mouth and
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travels down your windpipe into your
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bronchial tubes, which connect to your
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lungs. From there, the air enters air sacs
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called alveoli and passes into your
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bloodstream. The leftover carbon dioxide
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which would be toxic to your body if it
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built up, then gets passed back out of
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your body through exhalation. Without
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your awareness, you’re breathing 20,000
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times per day. The main muscle
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controlling this automatic breathing is
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your diaphragm-tightening as you breathe
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in and relaxing as you breathe out. Let’s
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explore what happens when our bodies
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encounter a stressful situation. So, when
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our bodies feel stress coming on, or we
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enter a stressful situation, our
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Sympathetic Nervous System, better known
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for the Fight-or-Flight response starts
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to prioritize certain bodily functions.
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Our respiratory system gets put on high
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alert, allowing our body to take shorter
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quicker breaths. It’s trying to fill our
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body with as much air as possible but
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often, the opposite happens. You see, when
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our bodies are full of anxiety or stress
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sometimes, we can feel like we can hardly
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breathe. This is commonly known as
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hyperventilating, which means over-
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breathing. Some common symptoms of
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hyperventilation include your mind
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spiraling out of control. Feeling sweaty,
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dizzy, lightheaded, and weak. Having a dry mouth
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or tingling in parts of your body. All
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right. Now that we have a good foundation
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for how breathing works, let’s talk about
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types of breathing. In her book, Reset,
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Debra Fileta talks about two types of
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breathing. First up is Chest Breathing.
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This is felt primarily in the upper
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chest because it doesn’t bring in enough
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air to expand your lower lungs. This may
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move your shoulders up and down, but it’s
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not enough to expand your
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belly. Next up, you have Diaphragm
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Breathing. And this is deep breathing
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that moves your stomach in and out. All
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right. Now, we have a really solid
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foundation of what happens when we
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breathe. Like how it all works, the
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different types of
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breathing. I want to know, and I’m sure
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you do, too. What do we do with this
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information? And in her book, Reset,
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Debra Fileta says that we need to fight
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physical with physical. So, what does that
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mean? Well, when a person is in a fight or
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flight response, they’re responding to a
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stressful situation. The last thing that
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you should do is try to talk logic to
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that person. At this point, you can forget
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about trying to reason with that person.
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Instead, you can utilize breathing
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exercises and mindfulness to help bring
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that person their brain back to
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Baseline. You know, in the Bible, it
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reminds us to think about things that
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are true. It teaches us to meditate on
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God’s word.
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See Isaiah
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2:63, Joshua 1:18, and Philippians 4:8. You
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know when we speak of mindfulness that
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word gets thrown around quite a bit
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today. So let’s help understand that
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better. Mindfulness helps your body to
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slow down, to be present in the moment,
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and it allows your body to get back to
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Baseline. Mindfulness has been shown by
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scientists to reduce symptoms
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of anxiety, panic, and depression now. It’s
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important to note that these exercises
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do help you get back to Baseline, but
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they do not remove the stress altogether.
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More work will need to be done. All right.
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So, if you’ve never practiced mindfulness,
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if you’ve never done breathing
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exercises you may be going, “Craig, I
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wouldn’t even know where to begin.” And in
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her book, Reset, Debra Fileta highlights a
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few different approaches, and I’d like to
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touch on a few of those. So, first off, the
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one that she mentions beginning is the
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breathe method, and that’s an acronym.
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That’s B R E AT H E, and this is by
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Charles Stone. And Charles Stone wrote a
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book called Holy Noticing that Debra
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highly
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recommends. So we’re going to go through
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each of these letters to help us better
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understand how Charles Stone is breaking
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this down for us. So, first off is body.
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Being aware of your physical body states
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and sensations, as well as, controlling
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your breathing. Now Debra says that we
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will focus specifically on this
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particular one today. And when we’re
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ready for deeper mindfulness, we can
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proceed to the others as well. Second, is
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“R” for relationships. So we’re here we’re
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assessing the health of your
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relationships “E” is environment. We’re
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taking notice of your current
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surroundings. This includes the sights
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sounds, smells, and God’s creation. And
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then “A” that is afflictive emotions or
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affect. This is acknowledging how you’re
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currently feeling. All right. Next up, we
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have “T” and this is thoughts. It’s being
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conscious of your current thoughts. “H”
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is our heart it’s paying attention to
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the state of your spiritual life and the
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Holy Spirit’s whisperings or impressions
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on your heart and then e engage it’s
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engaging the world like Christ
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practicing holy noticing in the mundane,
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the everyday, the ordinary. Okay, this is
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perhaps my favorite part of any episode
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that I record. And that is the practical
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application. I call it take action. And
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today, we are practicing mindfulness.
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We’ve talked about breathing, and we’ve
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talked about mindfulness and what all
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those are,
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but you know if you’re anything like me
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this can seem like a little cheesy or
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maybe awkward and hard to get going. So, I
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wanted to share some tips that were
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in the book, maybe just to help you get
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over that awkward phase. To kind of
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implement some of this. So, in her book,
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Reset, Debra Fileta says that sometimes
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it helps her
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clients to close their eyes to help
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them focus. She suggests slow breathing
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in counting to five and then breathing
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out. She calls this practice, you know
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counting to five. A five-count. So
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she says that many people find it
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helpful to incorporate a favorite
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passage of scripture into this practice.
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And I realized myself that this may take
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some research to find one that’s the
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right length, the one that is your
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favorite that appeals to you.
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So maybe do some research for that. And
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practice with something else first. And
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I’ll give you some other ideas here just
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a second, so Charles Stone, the author
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of Holy Noticing. And the author that we
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also talked about with the BREATHe
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exercise or the BREATHe
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acronym. He suggests saying, “Holy Spirit”
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upon breathing in and then upon exhale
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saying, “Breathe on Me.” So maybe “Holy
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Spirit” “Breathe on
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Me.” And repeating that. And I think that’s
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a pretty simple one. Also, something
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else that is mentioned in the book is
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that you would inhale, exhale, and then
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say, “Praise the Lord!” That one is also
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pretty simple. Debra Filet suggests
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that we should possibly end with a short
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prayer, and I’d like to share the one
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that she uh clues in the book she says
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Lord, thank you for giving me my body. I
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am fearfully and wonderfully made. I
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yield it to you today as a Living
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Sacrifice. Verse for reflection. Psalms
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156 “Let everything that has breath
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praise the Lord!” All right, let’s review.
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In this episode, we broke down breathing
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to help us better understand the
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different types, how it works, and how
0:09:59.680,0:10:05.480
it can help. We discussed how God’s
0:10:02.760,0:10:09.839
design for our bodies can actually help
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us combat stress and anxiety. We explored
0:10:09.839,0:10:14.959
how we can use our breathing and
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mindfulness to not only calm our bodies
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but to draw closer to God.
