Natural Gut Health- Improve Digestion & Reduce Anxiety with Spiraldance Breathwork

Having tight knots in your stomach or dealing with digestion discomfort can feel challenging.

Surprisingly, we have a natural built-in mechanism to combat this and it’s right under our noses. When we breathe diaphragmatically, we improve not only digestion but also help to calm our nervous system to shift anxiety.

Years ago, when I first started my Breathwork Training in 2003, I remember my teacher saying to “breathe in the belly.” At the time, having been fairly disconnected from my own breathing and body for most of my life- this was a challenging exercise.

It was, as if- as I placed my hand on my belly and tried to breathe in, I felt distant from myself. These ways of living “just outside ourselves” can be common, especially when we’ve learned to stuff our emotions and avoid tuning in to how we’re really doing.

The truth is, this tender area of our body hosts more than just our digestion and elimination organs, but is also the access point to our more mammalian brain- our “gut knowing”. Our belly area can also harbor our “feelings”- this includes patterns of holding in our belly for fear or shame around body issues, storing (like a kangaroo pouch) unintegrated emotions of anger or rage, or avoidance strategies of not even feeling connected to our body out of fear.

But inviting ourselves to reclaim this area of our body with our breathing helps not only can liberate us from feelings of self doubt/self esteem issues but also helps us to literally move forward in our life with more power, strength and calm. Not only does natural diaphragmatic breathing help us feel better and promote “feel good” hormones like serotonin, but it also improves digestion, supports more efficient breathing patterns to gain more energy and helps us tap into our “gut knowing” to heighten our intuition.

So- what exactly IS diaphragmatic breathing? Underneath our rib cage, sits the two-lobed parachute that is our diaphragm. A secondary smooth muscle- the diaphragm is responsible for supporting our healthy free range breathing as well as promotes heart health, massage for the internal organs and helps to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system to generate feelings of calm and ease. Breathwork Sessions with Spiraldance Breathwork can help shift underlying patterns of holding the belly, breathing more in the chest, and chronic reverse or shallow breathing patterns by re-training how we breathe and gifting ourselves more connection to our natural breathing process.

You can help to promote your own healthy breathing habits by laying down and placing your hand on your belly and taking a feel deep diaphragmatic breath- ie. feel the belly rise as you inhale. These "breathing breaks" help offer a somatic reminder to turn on our natural stress reducers and help calm ourselves in the moment. Stress holding patterns can be a habit, learned behavior or a sign of underlying unresolved patterning- this is where the deep therapeutic benefits of a 1-1 Spiraldance Breathwork Session can make lasting results. 

We were born with the ability to breathe in a natural, organic, fluid way. When we breathe more diaphragmatically we get on our own side of healing and well-being. This is great news- and a simple, easy way to reclaim our health! Yay! Feel free to reach out with any questions. Enjoy!