I am thrilled to welcome Grace, breathwork facilitator, wellbeing coach and freelance copywriter based near Morges to my blog! She juggles this with being mother to two energetic girls, aged 4 and 1, who she thinks of as her biggest teachers. Today, she introduces us to breathwork.
As mums who are juggling mothering with work and all the other parts of life, we have to hold so much: emotionally, mentally and physically. As a result, us mums often find ourselves stressed out, disconnected from ourselves, at capacity in every sense and desperately searching for ways to make it all feel easier and more enjoyable.
What if I told you that there is a tool that can support you to navigate the challenges and stresses of motherhood and that it was under your nose all along?
Read on to find out why breathwork is such a powerful tool for busy mums and how to use it to meet the ups and downs of motherhood feeling like you’ve got this.
What is Breathwork?
Breathwork is the umbrella term to describe consciously using breathing techniques to enhance physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. It has been used in ancient traditions, ranging from yogic pranayama practices to breath-centred meditations in various religions, for thousands of years. The emergence of breathwork in the Western world coincided with the consciousness-raising era of the 60s and 70s and it has only become more and more popular since then.
Breathwork and Meditation: What’s the Difference?
Both are mindfulness practices, in that your attention is on what is happening in the present moment. However, while meditation normally involves observing the breath without modifying anything, breathwork is about consciously changing how you are breathing. It is this element of having something active to do and focus on that can make breathwork feel accessible to people who find mediation a challenge due to their ‘monkey mind’ that just won’t switch off.
What Are the Different Styles of Breathwork?
There are a huge variety of breathwork techniques, which can generally be split into two camps: regulating techniques and transformative techniques. Regulating techniques are simple but effective techniques you can turn to change your state (e.g. from nervous to calm) throughout the day, making them perfect to cope with the stresses of motherhood and life. Transformative techniques are those that involve being guided by a facilitator to use a connected breathing pattern, with the aim of facilitating emotional release and building resilience to stress.
Both are hugely beneficial for mums but have different functions. Regulating breathwork practices, such as slowing down the exhale, help you get through stress and bring yourself back to a regulated state in the moment. However, if you want to delve deeper into the root cause of what is causing you stress in your life, then transformative techniques – like conscious connected breathwork – can facilitate self-healing and personal growth.
What Are the Benefits of Breathwork for Busy Mums?
Depending on the technique, the benefits of practising breathwork can be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Here are just some of of the reasons why practising everyday regulating breathwork techniques is so important for busy mums:
- Manage Stress and Anxiety: By changing your breathing pattern, you can change the way you feel in any given moment. This is because by slowing down or speeding up your breathing, you have direct access to your autonomic nervous system. So if you feel stressed or anxious, you can slow down the breath, which helps to send the message to your body and mind that you are safe and you can calm down.
- Respond Rather Than React: Breathwork helps you regulate your nervous system, which means you have more capacity to cope with stress. As a result, when stress hits – in the form of a toddler tantrum for example – you have more choice about how to respond in a calm and grounded way rather than impulsively (and perhaps explosively) reacting in a way that feels unaligned with your values and how you want to parent.
- Strengthen Your Intuition: Breathwork provides you with a door to your inner world and inner wisdom. With practice, you can feel able to turn down the “noise” around you (opinions, expectations, shoulds…) and tune into what you really think and how you really feel. Nurturing that connection to the part of us that just knows means less self-doubt, less worrying about what others think and more self-trust in how you parent and do life. That saves so much energy and feels very empowering!
- Carve Out Space Just for You: Taking some time to do some breathwork is a simple and accessible way to set aside the to-do list for a moment and take a moment to really nourish yourself. Carving out regular time for yourself not only fills up your cup so you can give from a place of overflowing but also serves as a powerful reminder that your needs matter.
- Ripple Effect on Your Family: Doing breathwork just for yourself is completely valid, but having a breathwork practice will undeniably have an impact on your family. Children are extremely sensitive to their parents’ nervous systems, especially when they are young, so any work you do on regulating your nervous system will only reap benefits for your family as they pick up on your calm, grounded vibes.
Getting Started with Breathwork: Top Tips for Busy Mums
- Start Small and Build From There: Commit to 5-10 minutes a day. You can use a wellness app to help you or use my Everyday Breathwork Bundle of downloadable audios.
- Make Breathwork a Part of Your Routine: You can try habit stacking, which means committing to doing your breathwork practice directly before or after a habit which is already ingrained, like brushing your teeth or making a cup of coffee.
- No Time? Get Creative! There are many techniques that you can do anywhere, anytime and while doing another activity. Examples: while walking to work/back home from the school drop-off, while driving, while doing the dishes…
- Experiment: There’s a breathwork style for everyone so keep an open mind and try things out until you find something that sticks. Also, experiment with the time of day, length of practice and location to land on the formula that works for you.
- Do Breathwork With Your Kids: While taking a moment just for you is probably the most relaxing option, it might not always be possible. Embrace having your kids around to try out some fun breathwork practices like this one.
To sum up, for us mums juggling it all, breathwork is an extremely accessible and effective tool to have in your backpocket at all times. When challenges and stress arise – which they will – you’ll have breath to count on to connect you to yourself and cope with the stress in a way that feels aligned to who you are.
Ready to Transform Your Experience of Motherhood with Breathwork?
There are two steps you can take today to start integrating breathwork into your life and reaping the benefits:
- To get a taste of breathwork, download your free copy of The Everyday Breathwork Bundle. The audios are between 4-6 minutes long so even the busiest of mums can absolutely make time for them. Download them HERE.
- Ready to dive even deeper? While learning with apps and recordings is a wonderful place to start with breathwork, working with a breathwork facilitator is an effective way to get the most out of breathwork.
To be guided in a variety of breathwork techniques and come away with a plan of how to integrate your favourite ones into your life so you can reap all the above benefits, come along to the Mindful Tools for Mums workshop with Verena and I on the 29th of September from 9:30 am to 12 noon in Lausanne. Sign up HERE.
