Take a Breather Workshop Your Journey to Wellness Starts with How You Breathe

        Do you know how important breathing is to our physical and mental health? Breathing brings us energy and sends oxygen into the cells in our body. Not only that, with the right breathing techniques, emotions can be regulated thus reducing anxiety attacks as well as stress level.

        On 25th February 2022, the English Language Centre of Hin Hua High School organized a breathwork basics online workshop which aims to encourage the use of English outside of the classroom, expose different breathing techniques and some breathing tools to its participants. The online workshop was conducted by Miss Shyne and participated by thirty-two students and teachers.

        Miss Shyne started the workshop by asking the participants two questions - how well they breathe and how well their ventilation response is. In order to find the answers to these questions, the participants were asked to count the number of cycles of breath they take in one minute and how long they can hold their breath before the first urge to take an inhalation. Ideally, a healthy, calm person should take less than 12 breaths per minute and be able to hold his breath for at least 30 seconds.

        Then, Miss Shyne proceeded to introduce four different breathing techniques which are three-part breath, Ujjayi Breath, Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) and KapalaBhati (Skull-shining Breath).  After learning one breathing technique, the participants practised for three to five minutes, following the step-by-step instructions given by Miss Shyne. By the end of the session, everyone felt calm and relaxed, some even claimed to feel sleepy and ready to go to bed early. Among the participants, Tee Shin Mei, from Senior Three Berlin expressed that she was glad to sign up for this workshop as she now knows how to calm herself down during her SPM examination through breathing exercise. Another participant, Yew Zhao Yuan from Senior Three Berlin mentioned that he was there at the workshop because he wanted to show his support to his English teacher and was surprised to learn something very useful. In addition, an English teacher, Miss Suchatra, thought that the workshop was incredible as she learned different breathing techniques that have helped her to relax and reduce her stress. 

        Living in a fast-paced environment, we often find ourselves moving from one task to another without much time in between or juggling multiple duties at the same time. Therefore, it is important to pick up breathing techniques to not only  help us slow down and relax, but also focus and enhance our cognitive and physical performance.