11 Oct Co-blogging with Dr. Stephanie, Installment II
Our blogging adventures with Dr. Stephanie Marango, MD, RYT continue! Be sure to visit her new website and check out her lecture series that begins Oct 16th. Here is an excerpt from her recent blog post, “Your body, Your Self: Use your breath to live your life;” if you missed the first installment you can read it here!
Breathing is one of the few physiologic functions you possess that is both involuntary and voluntary. “Involuntary” means you don’t have to think about it in order to do it. Could you imagine if, each second of the day, you had to command yourself to inhale & exhale in order to breathe? That wouldn’t leave much time to get anything else done! Fortunately, Mother Nature (in the form of our brainstem), takes this task out of your hands and gives it to the involuntary (autonomic) division of your nervous system.
In terms of “voluntary” breathing, think about the last time you chose to change your breath: perhaps you went for a swim & held your breath underwater. Or, when performing sit-ups, you coordinated the exhale with the abdominal contraction and the inhale with the relaxation. Deliberate thought — and activation of the voluntary (somatic) nervous system — can alter your breath.
Continue reading here!
Want more? Join Dr. Stephanie for her FREE lecture, “Introduction to the Sacred Body” at Kinected this Tuesday (10/16): 6:30-8:30pm.
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