Breathing and Your Health

Breathing is as you already know a very important action. All of us tend to breath very shallow and during any kind of exertion we will find that our chest gets sore because of a lack of stretching of our chest breathing deeply.

    Breathing is one of the most important and most “instant” of all the vital functions of the body and yet the understanding of it, let alone the correction and therapeutic use of it, in complementary medicine is far from sufficient. The aim of this article is to shed light on some of the confusing issues about respiration.
     The very existence of our physical body in the environment requires several “interactions” and “exchanges”:
•    exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the body through breathing;
•    exchange of organic matters (eating, defecation) provided by the digestive system;
•    exchange of heat (emitting, conserving or absorbing heat mainly through the skin) with the environment is provided by the thermoregulatory system;
•    movement of the body is provided by the locomotor system (bones, joints and muscles);
•    informational, emotional and spiritual exchange is provided by the central nervous system, chakras, and the meridians and channels.

There are many benefits to proper breathing experts say it reduces the effects of stress, a leading cause of physical woes. Slow, deep breathing can lower blood pressure, end heart irregularities, improve poor digestion and decrease anxiety.

Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair, maintaining good posture. Your body should be as relaxed as possible. Close your eyes. Scan your body for tension.

Pay attention to your breathing. Place one hand on the part of your chest or abdomen that seems to rise and fall the most with each breath. If this spot is in your chest you are not utilizing the lower part of your lungs.

Breathe in through your nose.

Notice if your chest is moving in harmony with your abdomen.

Now place one hand on your abdomen and one on your chest.

Inhale deeply and slowly through your nose into your abdomen. You should feel your abdomen rise with this inhalation and your chest should move only a little. Do this inhaling for a count of 2

Hold your breath and hold it for a count of 8

Exhale through your mouth, keeping your mouth, tongue, and jaw relaxed. Let the exhale last for a count of 4.

This method of breathing would be tough to do all day long but you should try to do this breathing method for 10 cycles 3 times per day. Finding the time should not be too tough as the process probably only takes about 2-3 minutes. You can do this while commuting, watching TV or even in a meeting as long as your breathing is not distracting to others

This method of breathing may seem a lot like the breathing that we do for meditation and it is somewhat related. The one thing that is different is that this type of breathing should be a way of retraining ourselves to breathe better all of the time.