Recently, I had the opportunity to re-read various articles that I have saved over the years, for one reason or another. I quickly noticed a recurring theme that appeared in several of the articles that I had saved. This common theme is that there are simple breathing techniques that we can do almost anytime and anywhere, which may be able to provide us with just what we need, without any financial cost, to nurture our bodies, mind, and souls. The various articles that I had saved touted the potential health benefits that might occur when performing breathing exercises, as well as the potential to simply help one calm/relax (de-stress). After re-reading these articles, a quick search online led to the following, August 14, 2017 post by Melanie D. Tucker, on the Livestrong.com website:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/92264-benefits-deep-breathing/
In both my personal and professional life, I have encountered many persons (myself included) whose daily lives are often busy, and at times, hectic. In particular, the daily lives of “caregivers” comes to mind. It is not uncommon for caregivers (particularly caregiver spouses, children, and parents) to report that there “simply are not enough hours in the day” for the caregiver to also take care of themselves. As a result, the well-being of caregivers may suffer. Breathing exercises (or even just pausing in times of stress to focus on taking a few deep breaths) may be a helpful “tool” that caregivers can easily add to their “tool chests of care” both for their loved one and for themselves.
Thus, as we celebrate and honor “family” caregivers during “National Family Caregivers Month,” we encourage caregivers to incorporate simple breathing exercises into his/her daily routine. Our encouragement, however, is not limited to caregivers, simply put: the bottom line is that we encourage all persons to consider adding this simple technique to your own personal tool chest. In times of stress, you may be glad that you did!
The Elder Law Center, P.C. (a division of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi & Andersson, P.C., http://www.mickeywilson.com) is located in Sugar Grove, IL, Kane County, in the Chicago Western Suburbs, phone number: 630-844-0065.
©Copyright 2017 by Constance Burnett Renzi. All rights reserved.
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