Let's learn how to breathe
‘What on earth are you talking about’ I hear you cry ‘of course we know how to breathe, we wouldn’t be sitting here reading this if we didn’t know how to breathe.’ You’re right, breathing happens unconsciously, it’s natural, it’s essential to our survival. We take about 20,000 breaths a day.
However, the majority of us no longer breathe correctly or to our full capacity. We’re not taking the full, rejuvenating breaths that we’re capable of. Next time you’re around a tiny newborn look at the way they breathe. Their whole body moves with every inhale and exhale, their little belly inflating and deflating. We are born breathing perfectly, our life starts with a huge inhale.
What happens along the course of our life to hinder our breathing and what can we do to get it back?
Why have we stopped breathing?
One of the biggest culprits is poor posture. Most of us spend hours on end sitting at a desk or hunched over our iPhones. This means our intercostal muscles and diaphragm can’t contract well to create a good vacuum, therefore, we don’t take in nearly as much air as our lungs can actually hold.
How many of us spend our days rushing from place to place? As humans we feel like we need to be constantly on the go and being productive. This mindset of ‘rushing’ means that we hurry to breathe also, almost as if each breath is something we need to quickly cross off of our to-do lists. In rushing our breath we breathe more shallowly and don’t fill our lungs with air.
Ah, then there’s stress! Unfortunately, up to 75% of adults in the UK report feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope. We tend to carry stress physically as well as emotionally and parts of our bodies tense up when we feel stressed. For example our shoulders can rise up towards our ears, our chest can curl inwards, protectively, and our jaw line can become locked. All of these reactions to stress have a negative effect on our breathing.
Why is it important to breathe properly
Without enough oxygen we can:
Feel fatigued
Elevate cortisol which in turn can cause weight gain, mood swings and trouble sleeping
Find it hard to focus
Lower the strength of our immune system
Find it hard to relax and wind down
Be at a higher risk of respiratory illness
Be at risk of lung disease
Breath training
Scientists are discovering what ancient yogis have known for thousands of years. Yoga movements and breathing techniques can increase lung capacity and efficiency (often better than vigorous exercise). Yoga postures can change the dimensions of the rib cage allowing more air into the lungs and strengthen our diaphragm which allows for a more complete exhale and therefore a deeper inhale.
There are SO many things that you can do to help re-train yourself to breathe, and be patient it will take time. I’ll offer you a breathing technique here - try and do this 5-10 minutes everyday and you’ll feel some of the positive effects and slowly start to re-train your self to breathe.
Lie down on your back
Let your chest open naturally, feel your shoulder blades in contact with the floor, place one hand on your abdomen just below your rib cage. Place the other hand on your chest.
Inhale slowly. Focus on your abdomen inflating up and pressing against your hand. The other hand on your chest should stay still.
Exhale smoothly and feel the pressure on the hand over your abdomen decrease, your belly deflates.
Take a deep breath now
Breathing deeply is the best medicine for so many things - energy levels, sleep patterns, relaxation, pain relief, detoxification and overall wellness. And the best thing is our lungs are completely, 100% free - you don’t need to buy any fancy equipment you can just use your precious breath to heal.
There are so many ways to get breath fit again! If you’re interested in learning more feel free to contact me, I’d be happy to share some guided breath meditations with you all.