Do I breathe properly?
From the first second or our life we breathe. We inhale and exhale automatically, without thinking. We have so many years of experience, but do we breathe properly? If not, why is it vital to learn how to?
Breathing keeps us alive, its our life source. Our lungs are a big machine that expands in all three dimensions. Usually, we breathe through the mouth rather than the nose; large volumes of air quickly. As a result, we only use 20% of our lung capacity.
Now stop reading and observe your breath.
Try the following exercise:
Sit on the floor or on a chair, lengthen your spine and close your eyes.
Try to listen only to your breath. Focus on your chest and rib cage movements keeping the belly in.
Slow down your breath and continue breathing nice and deeply.
Inhale counting to 4, exhale counting to 4
In every inhalation feel the opening of the rib cage (to the front, side and back) and the chest lifting. During the exhalation, feel the closing of the rib cage and the chest lowering.
Practice this every morning before you start your day for at least 5 min.
Learning how to breathe better helps us relieve stress and promotes clearer thinking. It lowers our heart rate and blood pressure and improves circulation. Also, proper deep breathing increases our metabolism and supports detoxification.
Now, take a deep breath!