What is correct breathing?
A person can live without food for more than a month. A person can live without water for several days. Without breathing, a person cannot live even for a few minutes. What is “breath” and what is its value (besides maintaining life in the body)?
As children, we all breathed correctly – we filled the belly with air first, and then the chest. Over time, under the influence of various external and internal factors, we began to reduce the respiratory process and practically do not use belly breathing, i.e. We breathe shallowly. Thus, we have excluded correct and healthy breathing from our lives. This becomes a key cause of stress and a depressed feeling in life.
This is usually observed in office workers since sedentary work leads to curvature of the rib corset and compresses the diaphragm. As a result, our lungs cannot perform a full respiratory cycle. Such a person does not breathe, but “puffs” like a steam locomotive, the efficiency of which is less than 9%. In addition to a sitting position, office clothing interferes with proper breathing: ties, tight belts, jackets, and even tight shoes.
Every cell in our body depends on oxygen and the quality of inhalation of the lungs that it nourishes. And since our cells produce carbon dioxide as waste products, the body needs proper exhalation to remove them from the body.
To function properly, our brain requires 20% of the total volume of air we inhale. Therefore, when we breathe shallowly, we limit the flow of oxygen to our brain. In such cases, we may experience symptoms such as anxiety, poor concentration and mood, and lack of energy.
Conscious Breathing
When we come to our breathing mindfully and pay attention to it, we can deepen and slow it down. In this way, we will indirectly slow down our heart rate. This helps calm our body’s internal systems that are activated during times of stress. Conscious breathing allows us to focus on our body in the moment and move beyond our thoughts. This reduces anxiety and restlessness. You don’t need to go anywhere to calm your mind and body. You just need to get your next breath right.
Exhalation also plays an important role in the process of conscious breathing. Exhalation is the stage when a miracle happens. When you feel stressed, but you are “on the go” (office, street, crowded place), a long exhalation can calm you down. This is a simple and effective tool – just focus on lengthening your exhalation to 6-7 counts. A long, deep exhalation will be followed by a deep inhalation. This type of breathing will instantly calm your mind and body and bring you into a state of “here and now.”
Breathing exercise
The following breathing exercise will help you create space for more mindful and conscious breathing:
- lie down comfortably on your back or sit in a comfortable position with your legs crossed and your spine straight;
- place one hand on your chest and the other on your lower abdomen;
- close your eyes and begin to breathe in slowly through your nose, watching as the air fills your stomach and the hand on your stomach rises. Next, air fills your chest area, and you feel your ribs expanding, enlarging your chest. Your other hand also slowly rises;
- at the top of your breath, focus on slowly, softly, and evenly starting to exhale through your nose, lengthening it (without super-effort!) one or two counts longer than your inhalation;
- repeat as many times as you feel comfortable.
This breathing exercise can be done either in the morning to start your day, or in the evening to calm down before bed. It can also be performed at any time during the day – it will return you to the body and the feeling of the moment of life “here and now”.
Namaste
