Breathing is the most fundamental act of living.
I breathe, therefore I am.
Seeing as how it is so vital and something we do 24 hours a day, considering how we breathe is time well spent.
Just for a moment shift your awareness to your own breathing pattern. How quickly are you breathing? How deeply?
Just after birth if you observe a newborn baby you will notice that he or she is breathing at a slow pace. As the baby draws in breath his or her stomach is extending. Intuitively the baby is breathing in the optimum manner. This method of deep breathing, which I’ll get onto in more detail below, is soon lost however as the baby grows and his or her body gets more and more used to being upright until, by the time of adulthood, he or she is breathing far more rapidly and more shallow.
For most adults, this is how they ‘naturally’ breathe.
Changing your breathing pattern through deep breathing exercises to make it longer, deeper and slower can bring about certain health benefits.
The first is that by bringing in more oxygen into your body you are stimulating and strengthening your lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system serves you by removing toxic waste and excessive fluid from your cells which would otherwise become clogged with this material causing the cells to lessen their ability to absorb oxygen from blood. Obviously this would become increasingly detrimental to your health. Disruption to the lymphatic system also causes problems for our immune system as lymph nodes produce substances to destroy bacteria, viruses and abnormal cells (such as cancerous cells).
It is at lymph nodes that the toxins are destroyed or neutralized. The nodes act as filters, ‘washing’ the pale liquid lymph that circulates your body.
As the lymph circulates it finally ends up at the thoracic duct from where the lymph is once again released. By breathing deeply you are stimulating the thoracic duct, thereby ensuring the smooth flow of lymph around your body.
These deep breathing exercises can also aid you in overcoming anxiety and hyperventilation (over- or rapid-breathing that causes a drop in carbon dioxide in the your blood), as well as lowering your blood pressure, relaxing your muscles and slowing your heart rate, thereby helping to combat stress.
There are a lot of good reasons to begin changing your breathing pattern, or at least to spend a few minutes a day deep breathing. Try these three exercises starting with the basic one first.
Deep Breathing Exercises: Basic
Lie down or sit upright. Intertwine your fingers and place them lightly below your navel.
Breathe in deeply through your nose. Continue breathing in for a count of 4. As the breath enters your body extend your abdomen outwards. Try to concentrate on feeling the breath in the area below your fingers.
Hold this position for a count of 6.
Breathe out slowly through your mouth. As you breathe out allow your abdomen to relax and retract. Breathe out for a count of 8.
Repeat the process three times. On the fourth inhalation change the count as follows.
Breath in for a count of 8.
Hold for a count of 6.
Breathe out for a count of 4.
Then repeat the entire cycle again, returning to an in-4, hold-6, out-8 pattern for three inhalations before changing the fourth inhalation again as outlined.
Deep Breathing Exercises: Intermediate
Repeat exactly the same process as above of three inhalations but after every out breath hold that position for a count of 4 before inhaling once again. Every fourth breath should reverse the amount of time you inhale and exhale for.
The new pattern would be in-4, hold-6, out-8, hold-4 repeated three times then on the fourth in-8, hold-6, out-4, hold-4.
Deep Breathing Exercises: Advanced
Repeat the Intermediate Breathing Exercise as above but as you hold your position after the exhalation for a count of 4 consciously relax your entire body allowing it to sink deeper into the floor or into your chair. Then exhale once again for a count of 4.
This new pattern would be in-4, hold-6, out-8, hold-4 (and relax), out-4 repeated three times then on the fourth in-8, hold-6, out-4, hold-4 (and relax), out-4.
When trying these exercises you should always feel comfortable. You should never feel short of breath. Changing the pattern on the fourth exhalation will assist you in this, but nevertheless there is no rule that says you can’t change the count to make it more comfortable for yourself. The important thing to focus on is taking deeper breaths into and from your abdomen at a slower pace, and preferably with a longer exhale count than inhale count.
