Wendy Leung: Are you struggling to get a handle on your IBS and anxiety?
Watch this video for a simple way to start taking back control.
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If you're overwhelmed by your IBS and you have no idea how to start fixing it, by the
end of this video, you'll have an amazing tool that'll help you get unstuck.
Wendy Leung: Holistic Health & Happiness Coach, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Powerhouse
IBS Conqueror.
And I know how hard the IBS struggle can be.
I teach my clients had ended their IBS journey, and now I'm sharing with you, too.
Wendy Leung: I'm starting a new series on IBS therapies and what you can do to really
get your IBS under control for good.
And today, we are starting with the basics.
So, breathing, it's an essential part of staying alive so much so that our bodies do it automatically
without us ever having to think about it.
Our bodies create the energy we need to function using oxygen from breathing and nutrients
from the food that we eat.
But, have you ever noticed what happens when you get intense pain, or you feel stressed,
or anxious, like when you're terrified that your IBS is going to flare up as soon as you
leave the house?
You probably start holding your breath without even knowing it.
Do you forget to breathe when your IBS symptoms flare up?
Let me know by dropping a yes or no in the comments below.
Wendy Leung: So okay, breathing is important, but how do you use it to help your IBS?
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, or TCM for short, pain and stress are a reflection
of stuck energy in the body.
With IBS, your weak gut already doesn't have enough energy to do the job properly.
And then, the emotional stress causes your body to hold, and so you get stuck and your
circulation gets disrupted, too.
Breathing is especially important so you can make sure that your body has enough energy
to fuel your organs, and also to keep proper circulation.
In TCM, the lung organ system is also highly connected to the large intestine organ system.
So by focusing on the lungs, we can actually support the large intestine as well.
Wendy Leung: One of the best ways to calm your body and your mind during pain, stress,
or anxiety is to teach it to keep breathing.
You've probably been told more than once when you've been feeling anxious to just breathe.
But, I know it's easier said than done when your mind and body are in panic mode.
So, here are three simple breathing tips, and one awesome breathing technique to help
you get out of IBS attack distress.
Wendy Leung: Tip Number one, keep it simple.
If you're in a panic, go as simple as possible and take it one step at a time.
Think, "In, out, in, out."
Keep going like that until your focus returns and your breathing slows down.
Wendy Leung: Tip number two, breathe into it.
Instead of trying to distract yourself from the pain and the discomfort, breathe into
the pain.
Focus on it, and imagine it open up and dissipate.
As it dissipates, imagine your body opening up and relaxing, too.
Wendy Leung: Tip number three, practice breathing.
This one might sound strange, but if you add a breathing practice into your daily routine,
you're going to be able to consciously use it as a tool whenever your IBS flares up.
A regular breathing practice also promotes flow.
So it doesn't just help you in the moment, it also helps calm your IBS and heal your
body long term, too.
Wendy Leung: There's a million different breathing techniques, but the one that I teach my clients
is called deep diaphragmatic breathing.
It's easy, and it exercises the diaphragm muscle under your lungs to help you open up
your chest and breathe more deeply.
Here's how you do it.
Place your hands on either side of the bottom of your rib cage just above your waist, thumbs
behind and fingers in front.
Take a slow, deep breath in, and feel your rib cage expand out to the side, pressing
out against your hands.
Then, breathe out slowly, feeling your rib cage contract back to the normal position.
Repeat this for one to three minutes.
If you start to feel lightheaded, don't push it.
Stop.
Have a glass of warm water, and then start again tomorrow.
Over time, you'll be able to breathe deeper and for longer periods of time.
Wendy Leung: Now, if you're sitting there right now and you're thinking, "Breathing
is way too easy a thing to actually make any difference to something as complicated as
IBS," I've got a personal story that I really want to share with you.
About five years ago, I was hit by a car while walking at an intersection.
It was a bad accident, seven weeks in the hospital, broken arm, and broken leg, and
it took me quite awhile to recover.
But even after the physical pains were gone, I still struggled with one thing that would
not let up, traffic anxiety.
It was terrifying, and the anxiety could take over my entire day.
Wendy Leung: So, for three long years, I tried every therapy that was out there to try and
get rid of it.
Western, Eastern, whatever was available, but nothing helped.
Until one day, one therapist suggested that I try deep diaphragmatic breathing.
So, I practiced the technique that I just showed you every night before bed.
And within just one week, one week, my traffic anxiety disappeared.
Three years, all the therapies you could think of, no change until one week of deep breathing
resolved my three-year-long traffic anxiety nightmare.
I'm sharing this story with you to show you the effect that breathing can have on your
body and why it's so important for your health and your healing.
If this one simple practice helped disappear my traffic anxiety, imagine what it could
do for you, too.
Wendy Leung: So to recap, the three simple breathing tips to get you out of IBS distress.
Number one, keep it simple.
Number two, breathe into it.
And number three, practice breathing using the technique that I showed you.
So, breathing is just one of the amazing tools that I share with my clients to help them
bust their IBS.
If you want to learn a few more of them, including some TCM nutritional advice, sign up for my
free online class.
The link is in the description box below.
Also, come join a tribe of people just like you in my Facebook community of Powerful Women
Conquering IBS, where I share even more tips on how to kickstart your IBS journey to health.
Wendy Leung: If you liked this video, make sure you let me know by dropping a hi in the
comments below.
Let me know what your biggest takeaway was.
And share this with your fellow IBS conquerors, because I want to be able to spread the word
with you that IBS is not a forever thing, and we can definitely beat this together.
I've got a lot more things to share with you, including more tools that you can use to get
your IBS under control, so make sure that you subscribe to my channel and hit the bell
to get notified every Friday when a new video is posted.