Today I feel a freshness in the air outside. After a big sigh, it feels fresh and satisfying like that too. I have been criticized for sighing a lot. I do sigh a lot...it is taken as rude BUT I had heard rumours that sighs are actually healthy for us so I thought it was in my best interest to find out if this was true. It would give me a leg to stand on.
It turns out that sighing is a necessary, involuntary reflex to re-inflate the little collapsed air pockets (the alveoli that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in our lungs). When we start with a breath but then do another one on top of this (a sigh), it draws in enough air to do that.
Sometimes, I do sigh out of frustration, but it is probably because I have constricted my breathing for a while, thus needing to sigh. I suppose it would be better to just be upfront about my thoughts and feelings rather than resort to NEEDING to sigh though. However, oft times, when I finally just sit down to rest after any kind of hard work - I really enjoy that sigh. It's like saying "Job well done." Don't you feel the same?
Sometimes making a piece of art myself causes me to sigh - usually frustration or that "finally" word pops up. Sometimes it is caused by just seeing a piece of art that has touched my soul...it is like, it HEARD me. . . or listening to a piece of music or watching a riveting scene in a play or a choreographed dance. I suppose things CATCH OUR BREATH. And we sigh. Breathtaking beauty in additional to relief from an intense time.
Yes, we sigh MORE when we are in a stressed state, but there is some talk on the street that the areas of the brain that process emotions during a sigh may trigger the release of chemicals that help modulate brain, gut, muscle and heart tissues. Go figure.
So sigh away. BIG LONG SIGHS. I can even trigger a sigh on demand. It is a release akin and to making art itself. Making art IS an emotional sigh and you can follow me on my Instagram page to see my recent work sighs anytime.
