What is the Right way to Breathe?
What is the Right way to breathe?
Is there a “right” way to breath? As a Yoga Teacher and a Natural Health Practitioner, this is something that I deal with a lot. There seems to be a strong argument for statements such as “most people don’t breathe properly!”. But breathing is fundamental to life, and so if we’re all doing it so wrong, how are we continuing to live?? This poses a useful point about the difference between living ad thriving. An old clapped-out car might shudder and judder along, but if it has a good clean, an oil change, maybe a few parts need refreshing, and bulbs need replacing etc, so that it can then run more efficiently and smoothly and reliably. I’m not calling you a clapped-out old motor!! But perhaps we can all benefit from noticing when we need charging or maintaining and learning what fuel suits us the best.
Your lungs, your digestive system and your skin are the three organs or body systems which are responsible for taking nutrients in from outside and eliminating things from within. (You can find more discussion about the skin and the digestive system in my previous blog post Nourish Your Skin from Within) Yoga philosophy would suggest that around 80% of the energy that you need comes from the Prana – the life force associated with the breath.
Things that can prevent your lungs from functioning efficiently include bacterial or viral infections, allergies, injuries, traumas, emotional challenges, “bad” posture, and unhelpful habitual breathing patterns.
For the purposes of this article, I’m focusing on the act of breathing – what makes it “right” or “wrong” and what can you do to improve your breathing and, as a result, your health?
Breathing right
· Movement of the diaphragm (a large dome-shaped muscle that sits under the lungs) is key. Natural relaxed breath should come predominantly from the diaphragm, moving the belly out as the ribs cage expands out and up. Your shoulders may move slightly.
· Your nose is designed to take air into your lungs, whilst your mouth is there as a secondary airway if required. So breathing should occur through the nose for the most part, where possible.
Breathing that can be improved
· Constriction of movement in the ribs, diaphragm or belly can cause the breath to move the shoulders. This will cause tension in the muscles around the shoulders and can cause back pain, shoulder pain, head aches or even migraines.
· Mouth breathing – this is essential if the nasal passages are blocked or if you are exercising vigorously and need to take deeper breaths, but your mouth should not be the primary passage for your breath.
Useful exercises
Be sure to do these sitting. Go slow. Don’t hyperventilate (breathe too much so you end up feeling dizzy). Contact me directly if you’d like further guidance or would like to book a session to assess what exercises would be best suited for you or if you would like to see what holistic natural therapies can do to help the health of your lungs.
· 2-part breath: Try to exaggerate the movement of your rib cage as you find a steady even flow of breath for a few breaths. Then try to hold your rib cage still whilst you breath down into your belly for a few breaths. Play with breathing into your belly and then into your ribs and then exhale from your ribs and then from your belly.
· Nasal breathing – practice breathing comfortably, evenly (inhale and exhale equal in length without holding your breath) and calmly through your nose, keeping your lips gently together. If this feels easy then you might continue this breathing as you do your regular daily activities such as walking around, doing the gardening, or gently exercising. As you do things that require more physical exertion you may find it becomes harder to keep your breath even and steady and keep your lips together.
