Yoga Practice: Breathing Your Way to Beauty

I hate feeling stuck, don’t you? So do my patients. Many of them have spent months longing for an eyelid lift, facelift, rhinoplasty, or other cosmetic enhancement procedure.

Their fear is keeping them stuck and unable to move forward. What are they afraid of?

• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of making the wrong decision

“But Dr. Marcells,” you say, “These people are your patients. How did they get from feeling stuck to feeling stunning?”

As you’re about to learn, many patients free themselves of fear and fill themselves with resolve using an ancient yoga practice. Don’t worry. I promise you that no yoga experience is required. All you need is an open mind, a willingness to do something different with your body, specifically with your lungs.

Intrigued? I hope so. Because what I have to share today is truly mystical, but incredibly practical at the same time.

Stress Is Natural, Not Necessary

It’s understandable that the thought of a surgical procedure, no matter how small or simple, make some people feel anxious. Those feelings trigger physical responses in the body, none of which are good for pain management. When you’re stressed, your blood pressure and heart rate increase. That lowers your threshold for pain and agitates the nervous system.

When the cause of your anxiety is a giant jellyfish, this stress is a good thing. It gives you extra strength for fight or flight. When you’re thinking about cosmetic surgery, however, stress simply paralyses you.

It can also affect your healing.

There is a correlation between high levels of stress hormones triggered by anxiety— adrenaline, cortisol and epinephrine—and surgery outcomes that are less desirable. Highly stressed patients may complain of increased pain and/or longer healing periods.

Fortunately, controlling your breathing can help. You can use it to overcome the fear of making a positive decision for facial plastic surgery. After surgery, you can use breathing to help distance yourself from any discomfort and accelerate your healing.

Cosmetic Surgery Breathing Exercise

From time to time, and especially when we are feeling stressed, we take shallow gulps of air in something known as chest breathing. As the name suggests, when you are chest breathing, air only enters your upper chest and very little goes any lower.

Chest breathing robs your blood vessels of oxygen and can strain your heart and lungs. It can literally be a killer.

I want to help you fight stress and find a place of calm that is always waiting for you. Here’s all you need to do.

• Choose a time when you will not be interrupted for 10 minutes or so.
• Find a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down.
• Begin by focusing on your breathing, notice both the rate and the depth of each breath.
• After a few moments, start to control your breath like this:

– On the inhale, fill your belly with air, letting it expand. When it is full, then fill your rib cage. Finally let a little more air in to fill your upper chest.

– On the exhale, release your breath in reverse order. First exhale from the upper chest, then from the rib cage. Finally, let the air go from your belly, exhaling with enough force so that you feel your navel being pulled back towards the spine.

• Repeat 10 times

The effects of breathing mindfully are incredible. It will almost instantly relax your body, calm your mind, and help you find clarity in your thoughts. Not bad for 10 minutes work!

This is a simple but powerful tool that is now yours to use whenever you need it.  Remember: All you have to do is breathe.

Would You Like to Know More?

If you have questions about anything mentioned in this post, please contact us on 1300 555 095. You can also use email or the ‘book consultation’ feature of this website to make an appointment. It would be wonderful to hear from you.