It goes without saying that a large percentage of us take breathing for granted. It’s one of those things that happen without us noticing, like blinking or swallowing. Even while we sleep, this simple act of living continues quietly, day after day, throughout our lives. We are never taught to breathe properly, it just happens instinctively. A newborn baby, for example, breathes deeply into his belly, fully expanding his small abdomen as he inhales, and contracts his abdomen as he exhales to release stale air. This is yogic breathing. Most babies will breathe through their nose and not their mouths, unless they are congested. This is also the correct way to breathe. Our noses filter and warm the air before it enters the delicate lungs.
So if we all knew how to breathe properly as babies, how come we messed it up? Well, in today’s modern world it has to be our daily lives. As babies we don’t have a care in the world, we grow up and start interacting with family and friends, then school and the pressure that comes with it. Trying to fit in and be liked and wanted and needed and loved brings an enormous amount of stress into our lives, and stress affects our breathing. Your breathing directly reflects the level of tension you carry in your body. Under stress, your breathing usually becomes shallow and rapid, and occurs in the upper chest. When you are relaxed, you breathe more fully, more deeply, and from your abdomen. It is difficult to be tense and breathe from the abdomen at the same time. So vital is proper breathing to physical, mental, and emotional health that it is a primary component of many yoga practices. Pran means “life force” and yama means “control”. Pranayama then is “breath control”. The ancient yogis noted that when the breath slows down, the agitated mind begins to calm down as well.
Breathing not only provides much-needed oxygen for life, it improves heart, lung, and brain function. Oxygen flow is also necessary for cell reproduction. Natural and healthy breathing is essential for good health, it connects our body with our mind and our emotions. Taking the time to learn to breathe properly makes us aware of our breath, calling us to be present in the moment. Simple breathing techniques can relieve stress and help us overcome anger and even depression.
Some of the benefits of yogic abdominal breathing include:
* The brain requires much more oxygen, relatively speaking, than any other organ in the body. Proper breathing improves concentration, gives greater clarity of thought and increases your ability to face complex situations without suffering stress.
* Provides better emotional control and balance and improves physical control and coordination.
* Yogic breathing also helps maintain a balance between the two sides of the brain, which deal with different aspects of our lives. The right side of the brain is associated with intuition, emotions, and feminine attributes. The left side of the brain deals with logic, objectivity, and masculine attributes. By developing the ability to calm and control your breath, you can learn to focus and balance your mind and control your emotions.
* Yogic breathing exercises are a vital tool to help with meditation, simply because of the way they sharpen mental focus.
* Increased oxygen supply to the brain and muscular system.
* Stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system promotes a state of calm and well-being. The exact opposite of the sympathetic branch of your nervous system, which stimulates a state of emotional stimuli (fight or flight) and the same physiological reactions that underlie a panic attack.
* Helps improve mental focus and thus allows us to free ourselves from the hindrances of negative thoughts and a wandering mind.
* Increased feelings of connection between mind and body. Anxiety and worry tend to keep your head spinning. A few minutes of deep abdominal breathing will help ground you.
* More efficient excretion of body toxins. Many toxic substances in the body are excreted through the lungs.
* Improved concentration. If your mind is racing, it’s hard to focus your attention. Abdominal breathing will help you quiet your mind.
* Abdominal breathing alone can trigger a relaxation response.
Shallow breathing at chest level
Many people suffer from phobias, panic or other anxiety disorders, if you do, check your breath. If you’re breathing too high in your chest or too shallow, this could be your problem. Shallow breathing at chest level, when rapid, can cause hyperventilation. Hyperventilation, in turn, can cause physical symptoms very similar to those associated with panic attacks.
Studies have found differences in the breathing patterns of anxious and shy people compared to those who are more relaxed and outgoing. Fearful and timid people tend to breathe shallowly from the chest, while more outgoing and relaxed people breathe more slowly, deeply and from the abdomen.
Before you read on, take a minute to notice how you’re breathing right now. Is your breathing slow or fast? Deep or shallow? Is it centered around a point high on your chest or low on your abdomen? You may also notice changes in your breathing pattern under stress compared to when you are more relaxed.
If you find your breathing is shallow and high in your chest, don’t despair. It is possible to retrain yourself to breathe more deeply and from the abdomen. Practicing belly breathing on a regular basis will help you gradually move the center of your breath down from your chest. Regular practice of full abdominal breathing will also increase your lung capacity, helping you breathe more deeply. If you want help, join a yoga class that includes breathing techniques. You will find them very supportive and the extra exercise will be good.
abdominal breathing exercise
These breathing exercises are taken from the ancient art of yoga and can be done just about anywhere; before a meeting, exam, presentation or just after a stressful day.
Yogic breathing exercises are divided into three phases: inhalation, breath retention and exhalation. Yoga places great emphasis on concentrating on performing these exercises slowly and precisely to ensure optimal results.
1. Sit in a chair with a straight back. Place one hand on your abdomen just below your rib cage. Make a mental note of the level of tension you feel.
2. Slowly inhale deeply through your nose to the “bottom” of your lungs, or as far down as you can go. If you are breathing from your abdomen, your hand should come up. Your chest should move just a little as your abdomen expands.
3. When you have taken a full breath, pause for a moment and then exhale slowly through your nose. Try to keep your mouth shut. Make sure to exhale completely. At this time allow your whole body to loosen up and relax.
4. Take ten slow, full abdominal breaths. Try to keep your breathing smooth and regular, without swallowing or letting it out all at once. Try to listen to the flow of the rhythm in and out. Remember to pause briefly at the end of each inhalation. Count to ten, progressing with each exhalation. The process should be like this:
Slow inhalation…Pause…Slow exhalation (count “one”) Slow inhalation…Pause…Slow exhalation (count “two”) Slow inhalation…Pause…Slow exhalation (count “three” ) and so on up to ten. If you start to feel dizzy while practicing abdominal breathing, stop for thirty seconds and then start again.
5. Extend the exercise if you wish by doing two or three “sets” of abdominal breaths, remembering to count to ten for each set (each exhalation counts as a number). Five full minutes of abdominal breathing will have a pronounced effect in reducing anxiety or early panic symptoms. Some people prefer to count backward from ten to one on each breath.
calming breathing exercise
The Calming Breathing Exercise is a very effective technique for quickly reaching a state of deep relaxation.
1. Breathing from your abdomen, inhale slowly while counting to five.
2. Pause and hold your breath for a count of five.
3. Exhale slowly for a count of five, through your nose or mouth. Make sure to exhale fully.
4. When you have exhaled completely, return to your normal rhythm and take two breaths, then repeat steps 1 – 3 in the previous cycle.
5. Continue the exercise for at least three to five minutes. This should involve going through at least ten cycles of five, holding five, five out. Remember to take two normal breaths between each cycle. If you start to feel dizzy while doing this exercise, stop for thirty seconds and then start again.
6. Throughout the exercise, keep your breath in a regular flowing action, without gulping in air or exhaling suddenly.
7. Optional: Each time you exhale, you can say “relax,” “calm down,” “let go,” or any other calming word or phrase silently to yourself. Let your whole body loosen up as you do this.
The calming breathing exercise can be a powerful technique to stop the impulse of a panic reaction when the first signs of anxiety appear. It is also helpful in reducing the symptoms of hyperventilation.
practice
Practice the abdominal breathing exercise, or calming breath, for five minutes every day for at least two weeks. With practice, you can learn in a short period of time to “tune down” the physiological reactions that underlie anxiety and panic.
Once you feel you have gained some proficiency in using either technique, apply it when you feel stressed, anxious, or experience the onset of panic symptoms. By extending your practice of any of the breathing exercises to a month or more, you will begin to retrain yourself to breathe from the abdomen. The more you can shift the center of your breath from your chest to your abdomen, the more consistently you will feel relaxed on an ongoing basis, with each breath you take…