October 2022

We tend to hold our breath when we’re stressed. Take a moment and think about that for just a minute. In the practice of Qigong it is often taught that where you hold your breath, that’s where you receive imbalances or pain. Think about that for a minute as well☺.

How many people say that their neck gets tight as the day goes on, and they attribute it to stress? You may even be one of those people. Take a look in the mirror and watch yourself breath normally. Do you see your neck muscles tighten or flare up when you inhale? Then, during the day when your stressed, you may notice that while you’re breathing with your shoulders and neck, you find yourself holding your breath in that spot. Same thing goes with holding your breath in the middle of your sternum – you may get chest tightness or have difficulty taking in a deep breath.

Where ever the breath is being held due to stress that is where the imbalance occurs. If we can identify why we are holding our breath, then we can let it go and begin to breath in that area again; and when we do that the imbalanced area can and does often heal.

Take inventory of yourself. Do you hold your breath? Is there something that you’re holding onto mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or even physically? Work to let it go and breathe deep.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

From all of this information about deep breathing and the benefits that come from it, we can for sure say “Yes” when asked if it helps with chronic pain! A systematic review showed significant improvements towards alleviating symptoms of patients with chronic pain (osteoarthritis, neck pain, fibromyalgia, etc.).1

With the breath influencing stem cells to be released and work to heal our body, along with many other immunological, physiological, psychological, and everything logical – our pain whether acute or chronic will be alleviated!

Seeking to find balance in life is a must have in today’s society. What better way is there to find that balance than from mindful practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, or Qigong? If it can help in so many areas of life, even all areas of life, and if it is something as simple as spending 5 minutes to breath deeply, wouldn’t it be worth it?

Reference:

1. Jahnke, R., Larkey, L., Rogers, C., Etnier, J., & Lin, F. (2010). A comprehensive review of health benefits of qigong and tai chi. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 24(6), e1–e25.

Thank you! Till next time.

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…

When we become more and more aware of our body and find out the hows and the whys as to its motives and actions, we will find ourselves noticing certain emotions or feelings beginning to surface. What I mean by surfacing is that an emotion or memory might come to the mind; or some people notice an increase in energy/buzzing feeling that literally comes to the surface of the body. Once you notice it, or see it, the negative energy is ready to be released. A great way to release it is to take that deep diaphragmatic breath and let it (the emotion or memory) go.

A great way to make this release the most effective is to incorporate forgiveness with that release. Letting go of emotions that are negative are always good, and inherently we replace that negativity with

something positive; this is because inherently we are good people. Although sometimes our body needs a little bit more help. When we release negativity with forgiveness we are infusing our physical and energy body’s with a large dose of humility.

I know what you may be thinking. “Humility? That’s a sign of weakness.” On the contrary, it is the opposite of weakness. Having the strength to forgive someone for what they did, and then forgive yourself for holding onto it, gives you the ability to be open and teachable. Without being open and teachable, we will always struggle to find out the true cause of our problems.

Till next time. Thank you,

Dr. Josef Patterson DC…