Three simple exercises that will enhance your health, allay your anxiety, and perhaps even prolong your life.
Those who examine these things say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any accomplishment. By that reckoning, anyone whose been alive for longer than 14 months should be a respiration maestro.
Yet while you’ve been doing it all your life, thousands of times a day, breathing might be the one affair you’ve gotten worse at the longer you’ve practised.
And if that’s the case you might be amazed at the health and energetic benefits you stand to gain by learning to do well again, what once came naturally.
If you pitted yourself against a baby in a breathing contest where the prize went to the most relaxed and efficient breather, chances are the baby would best you.
Babies — and cats for that matter — breathe fully and deeply, the natural breath of the relaxed condition. As their breath infuses their blood with oxygen they get the energy they need to keep growing and learning. (And crying, never forget the crying — if you tried crying loudly for an hour the way babies do, you’d collapse in a puddle!)
Many adults have lost the hang of natural breathing so can access just the tiniest fraction of their inherent energy and can only envy babies their staying power.
Full and free respiration is a powerful antidote to stress and stress-related symptoms, improves your energy, helps you to heal, frees you from the grip of wrenching emotions and sharpens your mind. Yet many people have simply forgotten how to breathe well over the years.
Under the weight of environmental stressors; perhaps habitually sucking in their stomachs so they can look fit, many people have forgotten how to breathe well.
Add in the way many people, at work or in leisure, spend hours sitting in front of a screen, shoulders rounded, chest and rib cage collapsed, neck jutting. This way of sitting leaves the lungs scant space to expand as they should. Not only do these people not take in nearly as much air as their lungs can hold, their weakened abs do a poor job of pushing the air out.
Hence many become shallow chest, or thoracic, breathers.
Shallow breathing, or chest breathing is the drawing of minimal breath into the lungs, usually by drawing air into the chest area using the intercostal muscles rather than throughout the lungs via the diaphragm. Shallow breathing can result in or be symptomatic of rapid breathing and hyperventilation. Most people who breathe shallowly do it continually, never aware that their breathing is far from optimal.
Shallow breathing creates anxiety, stress and can cause panic attacks, and can be associated with asthma, hyperventilation, pneumonia, pulmonary edema, and shock.
When the breath is extremely shallow, known medically as hypopnea, it can lead to hypoventilation, which can cause carbon dioxide to build up in the body, a symptom known as hypercapnia.
Fortunately it’s not all that difficult to recover the habit of breathing healthily once we’ve regained a bit of respiratory muscular strength and reminded our body of what it already knows how to do naturally.
If you’re not used to breathing properly anymore, you have to retrain yourself what it feels like. The three simple exercises below can put you on the road to doing just that.
How to Practice
As a general consideration, you will ideally practice the exercises below on neither a full nor empty stomach. Allow at least one hour after a normal meal for proper digestion. Remember to keep your spine, neck and head straight, vertical, and relaxed at the same time.
Practice in a clean, well ventilated and peaceful place, and if possible outdoors in the fresh air. Try to choose a place where you won’t be disturbed. These exercises are a practice for the quiet mind.
The key to successful practice is patience. Take your time. Develop your practice gradually and learn to listen to the needs of your body; it knows if you are doing something wrong.
If problems arise, stop. Discontinue the practice and seek advice.
Always begin with some movements to warm your body, and always end your session with a rest, preferably lying down.
Caution: Your breathing cycle is linked to some of the most potent forces in the human psyche. Always keep your explorations within comfortable limits, physically and emotionally.
Should you start to feel as if you are gasping for breath, stop. If you feel faint, tingly or in any other way uncomfortable, stop. Relax, rest and if necessary sit quietly and do something you find soothing and calming.
People with high blood pressure or glaucoma should not breathe more deeply than normal, nor hold their breath.
Simple Deep Breathing
Lie down on your back, legs straight or with a bolster under your knees. Get symmetrical.
Let your chest open naturally, feeling the contact of your shoulder blades with the floor, one hand on your abdomen just below your rib cage, the other on your chest.
As you slowly inhale through your nose, notice your abdomen rising and pressing against your hand. The hand on your chest should stay still.
Gradually tighten your abdominal muscles as you smoothly exhale. Notice the pressure of the hand over your abdomen decrease.
Practice for five to 10 minutes at a time.
When this becomes easy repeat the exercise sitting in a chair, and then standing up.
Pigeon Breath
This dynamic breath is fantastic for opening the chest, freeing the breathing channel and letting you win back control over your breathing. It’s not only a brilliant counter to insomnia; asthmatics find it an excellent preventative measure.
Each separate move focuses on a different muscle group engaged in the breathing process.
Kneel or stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, head facing forward. Stand tall. Engage your core by lightly lifting your pelvic floor and drawing the skin of your abdomen away from your pants. Keep your core engaged throughout.
Interlock your hands under your chin, and then raise your elbows sideways as you breathe in through your nose, allowing the breath to expand your chest. Your chin rises gently, guided by your interlocked hands. (You don’t want to force your head to back too far). This first stage of raising the arms works on the intercostal muscles and the rib cage.
Breathe out through your mouth in a slow, steady stream, as if blowing through a straw, while lowering your elbows and tilting your head back slightly. Don’t force you head back, and don’t feel as if your elbows must meet. Seek comfort in the position. Your chin points forward; your eyes look up. This movement enhances upward movement of the diaphragm.
Hold the position as you breathe in, with your attention focused on your sternum. This expands the sternum and the upper chest
Breathe out through your nose, returning your head to the original position.
Repeat several times then pause to appreciate the sense of calm this simple breath promotes. Rest in that tranquil place for several minutes, allowing a great sense of peace to infuse your being, channelled by your gentle inhalations and exhalations.
Windmill Breath
In this technique you revolve your arms like the sails of a windmill, expanding each side of the chest and lungs in turn. When you practice Windmill Breath regularly you’ll find it helps open your chest and gives you greater control of your respiratory muscles. That can make the breathing process much easier
Stand tall, feet hip width apart. Engage your core by lightly lifting your pelvic floor and drawing the skin of your abdomen away from your pants. Keep your core engaged throughout.
Raise your right hand behind you as you breathe in, twisting your body to the right. By the time your hand has reached shoulder height your trunk should be fully turned to face the right. Your head moves in line with your trunk. Don’t pause; you’re still breathing in as you raise your arm overhead and turn your body back to the front. Remember, you are breathing in as the arm is rising up. Pause here for a second or two.
Your exhale begins as you start lowering your right arm in front of you, ready to return to your side. Simultaneously raise your left arm backwards and upwards, twisting your body to the left, then return to face forward as you complete the outbreath. Pause for a few moments.
Repeat this sequence for five more breaths, each time turning to the right as you breathe in.
Repeat on the other side, activating the left side to balance the lungs. This time your left arm rises on the inbreath and your right arm rises on the outbreath.
Repeat six times. Gradually build up to five minutes of practice.
The masters of yoga say we only get a certain number of breaths in our lifespan. By their calculation, breathing 15 times per minute lets you live to about 75 or 80 years. If you breathe 10 times per minute, you will live to 100.
If you want to live a long and healthy life, you might want to learn how to breathe well all over again.