by Lawrence Wilson, MD

BREATHING PROPERLY FOR HEALTH

Proper breathing can greatly benefit your health. This has been known for thousands of years. It is the reason that breathing exercises are included in basic yoga and in the healing systems of many indigenous cultures. This article explores why proper breathing is so important and how to do it.

HOW TO BREATHE PROPERLY

The key to proper breathing is to breathe deeply, mainly, including breathing into your abdomen as well as your chest. Most people breathe in a shallow way, only filling the chest. Women are the worst offenders, often because they do not want their stomachs to move in and out as they breathe. However, this is necessary and normal if one breathe into the abdomen. So most deep breathing exercises should help one to do precisely that by various means.

The three-part breath, and circle or toe breathing. The three-part breath consists of:

1. Breathe into your abdomen. As you do this, your abdomen should move outward.

2. Then breathe into your mid-chest. As you do this, your ribs should move outward to the sides, making your chest area wider.

3. Finally, breathe into your upper chest. As you do this, your breast area should rise a little bit, all the way up to the collarbones.

When you exhale, you may do it in the same order, beginning with pushing your abdomen inward, followed by making your chest more narrow, and finally by releasing the air in your upper chest so the chest falls a little.

Learn to do this to the count of 10 or 12, and keep doing it until you develop a slow, deep, gentle routine. Practice every day while you lie in bed, or are sitting quietly, or even walking slowly on a quiet street. Over time, it will become your new habit, and a very healthful one.

The circle breath or toe breathing. This is similar, but even more powerful. To do this properly, first focus your attention on your toes or beneath the feet. You must keep your attention here and nowhere else all during this type of breathing, which can be done all day long.

As you inhale, imagine pulling air into yourself, upwards from the floor. Let it fill your legs, and then fill up your entire back. As you inhale from the toes or bottom of the feet, separate and open each part of the body like the toes, the feet, the ankles, and each vetebra in the back, the hip joints, and so on.

Now, as you exhale, push the air down the body, from the head into the chest, into the abdomen, and finally down the legs and back into the toes.

Keep doing this until you establish a gentle, deep rhythmic breathing pattern. Practice is every day until it becomes your normal way of breathing. What you are doing is moving energy through the body in a very special way. For more on this, read Downward Energy And Healing on this website. This breath can also be done as you count up to 8 or 12, for example. You can practice both while lying in bed, sitting comfortably or while walking slowly.

BENEFITS OF THESE METHODS OF BREATHING

These are actually hundreds of benefits. Here are some of the main ones:

1. Deep massage of all the organs of the body.

2. Greatly increased oxygenation and circulation of the blood.

3. Relaxation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is partly controlled automatically but also able to be controlled through the breath.

4. Movement of energy through the body.

5. Centering and grounding.

6. A positive and delightful way to tune into yourself.

7. Expands your lung capacity and will often clear mucus and other nasal and bronchial obstructions.

8. Warms the body in a gentle, safe way.

9. Releases tension all over the body, particularly in the spine, and abdomen.

10. Reduces the buildup of carbon dioxide in the body,a nd helps eliminate other toxins as well.

11. For the reason above, it helps alkalinize the body in a powerful way.

12. Helps to decongest all the internal organs and move the blood through them more vigorously.

13. Can assist posture.

14. Increased oxygen often helps clear the mind and allows better thinking.

15. By relaxing the body, deep breathing can help one fall asleep faster at night if you do it just at bedtime or a short time before.

16. Often it is very helpful for enhancing digestion of your food and elimination of wastes and to help end constipation.

17. Often helps clear infections, asthma, colds and many other illness conditions.

For all of these reasons, please practice your deep breathing every day for at least 15 to 30 minutes daily, or more.

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