Breathing. It’s the first thing you did when you came into this world. You do it all the time (about 25,000 times a day actually), no matter what else is going on. If it were to stop happening, you would stop living. You can’t live without it. Maybe it deserves a little attention…

Why bother breathing? Properly, I mean. Well, for starters, it is the only way of providing our organs with the oxygen they need for their, and our, survival. Our cells need oxygen to create energy – we need energy, we like energy, it allows us to do things.Secondly, breathing is one of the ways in which our body gets rid of waste products and toxins. Go for a quick run up and down the office stairs. Back already? Take a seat, catch your breath. Ok, it’s heavier and faster than it was before. That’s because you have created more carbon dioxide – a waste product – so your body needs to work a little harder at breathing to get rid of it and at the same time, deeper breaths bring in more oxygen, ready to replace the energy you just used up and create more energy.

Thirdly, it boosts our lymphatic system (the body’s ‘sewage’ system). A bit of science (if this isn’t for you, skip to the next paragraph!). Blood is pumped through our body carrying nutrients and oxygen to the capillaries. These are surrounded by a fluid called lymph. Our cells help themselves to what they need and in exchange they deposit their toxins into the capillaries. However, some of these toxins/waste products are too big to pass into the capillaries (such as dead cells, blood proteins and some other toxic material) so instead they are swept up and removed by the lymph.

Now, our lymphatic system doesn’t have a little pump the way our circulation system does – the heart – which moves blood around our body. Lymph moves around our body through muscle contraction (and little one way valves that make sure it only flows in one direction) and through breathing. So, you see – the deeper we breathe, the more help we give the lymphatic system to get rid of the gunk that we don’t want hanging around in our body (the more gunk hanging around, the less oxygen our cells are able to absorb as they’ll be fighting for space!). Our lymphatic system is really important – if it shut down for 24 hours we would die due to a build up of blood proteins and excess fluid in the body.

So – BREATHE and MOVE your body! As we get older, life becomes busier, there is always something to do, something to think about, something that needs our attention…and our breathing becomes more shallow and rapid, from the chest instead of from deep down, using the diaphragm muscle’s full potential. To restore our breathing to its proper function and ability, we need to take some deeeeep breaths. Every day.

Try it out: sit somewhere quiet (the loos at work perhaps if you can’t find a peaceful park bench); take a deep breath in through your nose, begin by filling the bottom of your lungs, gradually filling them all the way up to the top, filling your chest, your belly and chest cavity stick out (with no one watching this is a very satisfying experience!). When you feel you can’t take any more air in, pause. Notice the silence and peace. Then, slowly release the air back out through your nose, your abdominal cavity presses in, exhaling every little bit of air. Pause. Begin the cycle again. Repeat this ten times and feel your whole body relax. You’re at peace because all those ecstatic little cells of yours are zooming around, they’ve been given a shot of the good stuff! Doesn’t it feel great?

Conscious breathing also allows you to connect with your body and invigorates the mind (your boss will like it).(p.s. did you realise that what you just did is also a basic form of meditation? ) “You can live three weeks without food, three days without water and three minutes without air.” Aie karamba! In…out…in…out…in…out…