You are no doubt familiar with the expression "don't hold your breath" - and you probably attach your own meaning to it.  One interpretation could be that whatever it is you are waiting for is not likely to happen.  Another makes an interesting pre-supposition that if you hold your breath, you can control the outcome of something happening.  It suggests that by holding your breath in, the thing that you want might just come off.  It may simply be interpreted as "it is not worth bothering with".

Have you noticed that when you are concentrating intensively, you sometimes hold your breath?  When you are watching a good film, do you hold your breath at a crucial moment for the character you have become enrolled in?  When you get tense or angry, do you notice that you forget to breath?  The truth is, most people are not aware of the way they breath until it becomes a problem.  You just take it for granted.  If you have done any hypnotherapy with me, you will have learned to be mindful of where the breath enters your body and where it leaves. 

Many meditative processes such as Yoga and Tai Chi focus on the rhythm of your breathing.  Hypnotic techniques certainly focus on breathing.  There is of course a really good reason for this, it is the easiest way to bring you back to a sense of your own 'being'.  In our busy lives we have become constantly distracted by outside interferences such as TV, Radio, Internet, News Bulletins, Mobile Phones, Aircraft, Cars, Trains..............and the list goes on. 

I recently met  Martin Jones who practises and teaches something called Holographic Breathing.  Martin cured himself from Lyme's disease through learning this wonderful technique of breathing.  I am not going to disclose the methodologies that Martin uses as that is his intellectual property (if you are interested I would suggest that you log onto his web site http://www.holographic-breathing.com where you can learn more).  His teachings are synergistic with many other techniques that I have come across that re-connect us to the earth and also to the universal energies that make up this huge Cosmos. 

Being mindful of the way you breath is pivotal to health and well-being.  You can try the most simple exercise of merely observing where the breath comes into your body and where it leaves.  Feeling the rush of air pass through your nostrils and then the sense of relaxation of your muscles as you exhale.  Your body welcomes a consistent and strong flow of oxygen.  If you are holding you breath whilst you work something out in your head, try just letting it go and finding out how much easier it is to concentrate.  When you put your focus on something you begin to notice what is actually happening.  Take some time now from this point to become and observer of your breathing patterns.  The simplest things are often the ones that get overlooked AND they make the biggest difference when they are done mindfully.  Enjoy breathing air into parts of you that you may not have even known existed.  Breathing matters - it's obvious isn't it?