Huh, breathing. Who would say that most people do a wrong thing every two seconds. It is true! Breathing is screwing most of the patterns and functions of the body if it’s not done correctly.
How so?
Well, Without knowing it you might be screwing up your sleep, mood, digestion, heart, nervous system, muscles, brain and even the development of your teeth and face structure. But, just around the corner are all the benefits to be gained from learning a few simple regulations for proper breathing.
These would be more energy, improved health, greater harmony, less anxiety, less fear, better relationships and just a happier life in general.
Sounds pretty good to me!
Proper breathing means breathing in a way that is optimal for you and your body. It’s the way you’re designed to breathe, only you were never taught.
Incorrect breathing patterns are very stressful for the body and lead to a shortage of oxygen and energy.
The solution to these issues is to become highly conscious of the way you breathe and reshape your habitual way of breathing.
Here’s how to make more relaxed and harmonic breathes while reducing inhales that are stressed or tense. It’s quite easy once you get the routine.
1. Breathe through the nose
The breath should go in and out through the nose. Your nose is kind of like a factory that refines and prepares the air coming in to be used by the body as effectively as possible.
When you breathe through your mouth the lungs get a lot more “unfiltered” air that is raw, cold, dry and full of viruses and bacteria. Be kind to your lungs and breathe through your nose, for change!
If you feel like your nose is way to stuffy to close your mouth that’s most likely because you’ve been breathing through your mouth for so long that your nose has adapted.
Usually it won’t take more than a couple of days of nose breathing to open up your nostrils again.
2. Breathe with the diaphragm
The air you breath in through your nose should go all the way down to your stomach. Your breathing muscles consist of the diaphragm and muscles in the abdomen, chest, neck and shoulders.
70-80% of the inhaling should be done by the diaphragm so that your breathing is nice and deep. This has a couple of advantages:
– It helps your lungs with the gas exchange which is much more effective way down in the lungs.
– The diaphragm massages your liver, stomach and intestines and gives these organs a rhythmical balance.
– The lymphatic system, which is important for our immune system, gets the help it needs to get rid of the waste products from the bowels.
– The pressure in the chest and belly is decreased so that the heart won’t have to work as hard.
– More effective muscle work as the wrong breathing muscles won’t have to do unnecessary work.
– As the chest gets more relaxed so does the neck and shoulders and a s a result the likelihood of pain in these areas go down.
3. Breathe relaxed
No matter what we want to do, we do it better if we are relaxed. Since our breathing reflect our thoughts, feelings and physical body it means that situations that have us feeling tense also lead to tense and stressed breathing. This way of breathing then leads to a lack of oxygen which makes the body and brain even more stressed.
By taking control of our breathing and making it more relaxed, our body tunes in and becomes relaxed as well which leads to better functioning in general.
When the body is relaxed, health is good, energy is high and it becomes easier to be happy and loving toward yourself and others.
4. Breathe in your natural vibe
Everything has a natural vibe – the ocean waves, the seasons, the moon. Your body is no different. The rhythm of the heart is measured in EKG and the brain in EEG.
The hormones in the body follows our natural rhythm. One example the melatonin that is released when we’re going to sleep.
Optimal breathing is no different, it’s in the rhythm we find well-being. When everything is in tune the body functions at it’s very best.
5. Breathe silently
Coughing, snoring, sniffling and so on are suboptimal breaths in disguise.
It’s easy to neglect all these sounds we are making but a breathing pattern that contain a lot of these elements is a huge strain to the body. The natural breath falls out of its rhythm and we mess up principle number 4.
Before we sigh or cough we usually take a big breath which leads to irregular breathing. Snoring means we have to compensate through breathing faster.
A lot of us breathe quickly and even loudly when we talk. All these noises and talking lead to incorrect breathing.
Courtesy of: Selfication
Image sources: Getty Images
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