Some of you who practice Mindfulness might wonder why I did not say "Take a deep, cleansing breath" instead of simply "Take a Breath." The reason is that I have a tendency to hyperventilate. When one hyperventilates they do not expel enough carbon dioxide.
It used to go somewhat like this for me when I am experiencing a panic attack. This is an example of my mind talking. "Take a deep breath. No. I am feeling like that was not deep enough. I feel like I am not getting enough air. Take another one. Try to make it deeper this time. That's it, just keep taking deep, deep breaths. Uh oh. I am starting to feel tingly all over. I feel light headed, like I might pass out. Take more deep breaths. This is not helping!"
So, I suppose I could have said "Take a deep breath. Just one, and make sure you exhale." But, I decided to just make it simple. Just breathe normally. Pay attention to your breath, but do not hyperventilate.
A few years ago I ran across an article about breathing in yoga. I cannot remember the numbers to count to while breathing, but it said that you need to actually exhale for a longer count than you inhale. I wonder how many of us actually hyperventilate a bit on a daily basis without even knowing it.
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