Patty Mayeux Blog

We all do it. If we are lucky, it is automatic and pain-free. We don’t even think about it. Paying attention to breath is meditation 101, the most basic mindful awareness practice. I’ve used box breathing (four counts inhale, four counts hold, four counts exhale and four counts hold) during dentist visits. Six breaths per minute breathing is a part of my Upgrade. It is based on a practice that encourages slow breathing (6 per minute as opposed to the average 12). This is how I do it: I start the stopwatch on my phone then count long breaths while picturing a blue sky. If you want to get technical, you could tick five seconds for each inhale and five for each exhale. When 30 breaths are reached, I look at the stopwatch, the goal being to reach at least five minutes. Bonus, this helps to lower blood pressure, so try it while waiting in the doctor’s lounge. Just today, I recommended this practice to a loved one who admitted to feeling overwhelmed with family, house and job needs pulling at her from all directions. She scoffed at the idea of spending five minutes on self-care and self-love.

Life will go on if we forget about breathing, but at what cost? 

Thanks for reading this blog post. For more in depth essays on various, random and sometimes frivolous musings, please visit my Substack site.