A few days ago, I experienced a very difficult day. My business partner and I had a disagreement which ended up with the cancellation of a business plan that had been my main focus of work and dedication for the past few months. I couldn?t help but feel betrayed, upset, and yes, very sad not only to have wasted all that time, energy, and dreams associated with the business in just a few minutes, but to have found out that my business partner whom I?d considered a true friend, didn?t appreciate our relationship as I thought she did.

Feeling anxious and in despair, I found myself doing nothing all morning but thinking about the unfairness of it all? I cried, I felt the anger, and the sadness, and the pain, and experienced the whole spectrum of those ?well-known-not-very-pleasant? feelings that we all get every now and then? Not knowing what to do to get rid of these feelings, I decided to go for a walk with my faithful and unconditional four legged friend, but it didn?t help. I returned home and called a close friend, but didn?t help either. I turned the TV on looking for distraction, only to realize 15 minutes later that I didn?t even know what the show was about. I could just feel the impotence and frustration as controlling forces beyond my will. Scary.

Have you had a similar experience? What have you done to feel relief, to help yourself? I certainly didn?t know what to do for hours, but all of a sudden I realized I was sitting at my desk reading e-mails and clicking on a link that I?d gotten in one of them. I later realized that it had been a blessing.

Soon after clicking, a mellow voice was guiding me through a fantastic meditation, and I was hooked. Matt?s voice was hypnotizing! The stiffness on my neck was gone in minutes, and I felt warm and relaxed all over. The voice was guiding me and I just let go? It was a great experience!

I?d read about the importance of breathing correctly, but didn?t pay much attention to my own breathing until that day. I decided to do some research on it and was totally amazed at these facts that I?m about to share with you in the next paragraph. I certainly hope to help you become more aware of your own breathing as well as to realize how important it is to breathe correctly for your health and vitality. Deep breathing can also be used as a tool to be more in control in those stressful situations that we all encounter throughout life.

Also called hypoventilation, shallow breathing can be the norm in our society as we live in a fast paced world. It can also happen when we are under stress, or when we feel anger, fear, sadness and/or pain. It?s a typical physical response, a mild reaction to the body?s ?fight or flight? response, even when no physical threat is present. A sign of shallow breathing is when our shoulders rise as we breathe. Shallow breathing is usually fast, thus causing anxiety and exertion. It prevents the correct oxygenation of the cells which causes muscle overload and fatigue. This in turn results in muscle aches and pains, stiffness and feeling tired all the time. If not corrected, shallow breathing can become chronic only to create a vicious circle that worsens the symptoms overtime.

Shallow breathing also impedes correct oxygenation of the brain, which in turn prevents us from utilizing our problem-solving capabilities in an effective way. The long term effects of shallow breathing are lack of vitality, and eventually, depression. Other accompanying problems are headaches, nervousness and long term effects on blood pressure.

The good news is that we can learn to breathe correctly. Start by becoming aware of your breathing. If you notice it is shallow, ask yourself what you are thinking or concentrating on most of the time. Once you notice your inefficient form of breathing, it can be corrected with some practice and guidance like any other habit.

Remember that breathing correctly can help you improve your quality of life. That is something we all can learn relatively easy. After all, we are all ?breathing beings?, aren?t we?