Breathing for calm

Wellbeing and wellness are two words that we hear more and more these day. Stacy Crawford is the owner of Klear Water Coaching and Wellness. She uses a unique approach that focuses on the connection of mind and body.

Stacy tells us, “Wellness and wellbeing is really about making choices and creating practices to thrive and be healthy and that can occur in many ways.” She adds that her training from the Center of Mind Body Medicine, and it’s rooted in science. “These are also practices that our ancestors used. So we’re going back to those ways.”

In continuation of Stacy’s last visit, we dove right into the idea of breathing for calm, it a way to regulate our nervous system. Calm breathing activates the Vagus Nerve and tells our body that all is well.

The first step is to relax and ground yourself. You breathe in through your nose to fill your belly. Then you’ll slowly breathe out through your mouth. Start small with six breathes at a time. You can begin to build a habit by practicing this may times throughout the day.

Regular practice will create neural pathways. “It’s actually pretty magical and wonderful,” Stacy tells us. “That way when we’re in those stressful times we’ll be able to access our prefrontal cortex.”

And while you go through this practice you have to be gentle with yourself and let go of judgement. Stacy has more information on her website.