Although there is nothing “hard” about breathing – or at least it shouldn’t be – the most difficult aspect of the practice is remembering to do it. Our breathing is automatic, we don’t have to think about it. It just takes care of itself. There are myriad benefits to your health, performance, emotions, and spiritual experience that come from the conscious use of the breath. The challenge lies in transforming an unconscious act into a conscious one.

In a recent article in Examiner.com, Jordann Rawlings recommends training yourself to take a moment to breathe and be mindful each time a stressor enters your consciousness – your cell phone ringing, a meeting alarm going off, etc. This can be a very effective approach.

There are a number of other proactive strategies that we recommend as well. Put a couple of recurring daily reminders to stop and take a couple of deep breaths in your calendar or cell phone. Put a note on the bathroom mirror or refrigerator door. Hang something from the rear view mirror in your car. You get the idea. Find a way to remind yourself. It doesn’t take long to develop the habit once you set your mind to it.

For those of you who would like some assistance, you can sign up for our Twitter reminder service. It sends a short “remember to breathe” text message to your phone two time a day along with a short affirmation or interesting fact or quote. For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it only takes a moment to sign up and it is free. Just remember to turn on the updates to your phone.

The address of our Twitter reminder service is “@remembr2breathe” (yes that last “e” is missing in “remember”). We also host a PerfectBreathing micro blog with the lastest news and information at “@perfectbreath”.

With just a few minutes of attention each day, you’ll find that the habit of mindful conscious breathing will grow and provide you with a host of benefits that will continue to grow with each passing day.