Breath, although an involuntary action of the physiological body, is a fundamental function that we tend to neglect. Breath is the core of life to our being, yet we pay so little attention to it.
When we consciously control our breath through inhalation and exhalation of life force, the body and mind are relaxed, obstacles are removed and there is a better flow of energy.
We often see athletes, who are about to tackle a race or competition, take a deep breath in and forcefully exhale. This breath initiates the body and minds readiness for what it’s about to do. For instance, when it comes to childbirth, without the patterned breath techniques that are used by the expecting mothers; this task would be considerably more difficult if not nearly impossible.
Our lives are often filled with many stresses that affect our emotions which has an adverse effect on our breath. When we feel angry or anxious our breath becomes short and shallow, creating a mean cycle by which negative emotions affect breath and the breath of negativity does not allow us to cope with the emotions that cause it.
Learning deep breathing techniques has many benefits both physiologically and psychologically, such as:
- Release of muscular tension
- Relaxes the body and mind to bring about clarity
- Relieves emotional stresses
- Relieves pain i.e. so when your chiropractor or massage therapist tells you to breathe through the pain, we not just saying it to distract you
- Strengthens the immune system
- Improves the nervous system
- Boosts energy levels
- Elevates moods
These are just a few of the benefits of controlled breathing exercises.
So when you’re feeling stressed, emotional or just a little frustrated with the world, take a couple of minutes and try one of these techniques:
Regular Breathing with or without a breath hold:
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position that allows the spine to be lengthened and aligned
- Calm the mind and concentrate only on the breath
- Inhale deeply through the nose for 4 counts
- Hold the breath for 2 counts (optional)
- Exhale the breath for 4-6 counts
- These counts are just a guideline, if you feel you can increase the counts on the inhalation, hold and exhalation you may do so, so long as the flow is not compromised.
Three part Yoga Breathing:
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position that allows the spine to be lengthened and aligned
- Inhale through the nose and allow the belly to fill up with air, drawing the air deep into the lower chamber of the lungs
- Exhale through the nose and allow the belly to deflate like a balloon
- Repeat this several times, counts may be used to help the flow of breath
- Now breathe into your belly and expand into the mid thoracic region allowing the rib cage to open outward to the sides
- Exhale first through the belly then the rib cage
- Repeat this several times
- Finally, breathe into your belly, then the mid thoracic region and then to the upper thoracic region of the ribcage opening the clavicular region
- Exhale first through the belly, then the mid thoracic and then the upper thoracic
- Repeat all three regions several times.
When practising these exercises, try to only concentrate on the breath and let all other thoughts and worries float away from the mind.
My hope for you is when you begin to practice these techniques; you’ll wonder how you ever got by for so long without them.
Just Breathe!
