Our body needs energy on a grand scale - One can live for two months without food, two weeks without water, but only a few minutes without the life energy we get from our breaths. Our breaths – yes, we take our breath for granted, with quick and shallow breathing as the trademark of our stress. Our bodies then get starved of the life energy and also over-burdened with toxins. There is a good news - by participating actively in our breathing, we can strongly influence our health and quality of life.
Know your breaths first
Close your eyes and simply observe your own breathing ........ Acknowledge your shallow breathing, hardly reaching the middle of the chest............ Now start breathing deeply...........you will realise how much more we can breathe............
Place one palm on the belly and as you continue deep breathing, observe your abdomen or the belly.......On a deep inhalation, is it relaxing or getting pulled inside? At the peak of the deep inhale, if the stomach is getting caved in, instead of relaxing, you are doing reverse breathing. It needs to be corrected first as it is an indicator of stress borne problems coming up!
To correct the reverse breathing -
• Place both hands on the belly region.
• Begin with an exhalation. As you breathe out … press the belly in … and release it with inhalation. The belly should spontaneously get pulled in on exhaling and not while inhaling which will happen eventually as the reverse breathing gets corrected.
• Exhale, press the belly softly with your palms and inhale to relax the abdomen without pushing it to a bulge.
Practising this several times will correct the pattern, and the body, which was fashioned to breathe paradoxically, will fully co-operate. Remember, the primary focus should be on the exhalation and the inhalation will follow correctly.
Deep energising breathing -
Place the right hand on the belly and the left hand on the chest.
1. Begin by exhaling completely through the nose. When the exhalation is complete, the belly, and the right hand placed over it, will move in. At the end of the exhalation the stomach should contract.
2. Begin the inhalation by relaxing the belly and allowing air to fill up the lower part of the lungs, which you can feel with your right hand. Continue to inhale and the upper chest will also fill up slowly.
3. While exhaling, release the air from the upper chest, then the lower chest and finally, the abdomen, one smoothly flowing into the other. Inhale, continuing to expand the abdomen, the lower chest, the middle chest and the upper chest. Continue breathing slowly and deeply for a few minutes, ending with an exhalation.
4. Focus the mind on the breath and the release of tension during breathing. Ensure that breaths are slow, continuous, smooth and flowing, without any interruption. There should be no effort or strain.
Daily practice of this breathing program has been shown to calm the nervous system, regulate heart activity, relax muscles and spasms, oxygenate the blood, reduce blood pressure, stimulate digestion and help to clean the body of toxins.
