THE IMPORTANCE OF BREATHING WELL

BY KYM OLIVER

Our breath is the link that joins body with mind.

Have you noticed what happens to your breathing when you experience a strong emotion like fear or anger? Or even excitement?

It moves up into the top of the chest and for a moment breath can cease completely. Your abdomen contracts preventing you from breathing deeply. This intensifies the emotion and panic and anxiety can result.

If you can breathe more deeply and slowly, relaxing the abdomen, these intense emotions will feel very different.

The best example I can give is one of my own. Being a practitioner and teacher of yoga I have learnt how to breathe abdominally and one day on a plane I decided to experiment with abdominal breathing to relax the sensation of fear when the plane took off and landed. Because I was used to clenching my stomach when fear arose, I had to very consciously breathe deeply into my belly. When I felt my stomach start to clench, I inhaled deeply and the diaphragm pushed my abdomen out, the exhale was just as slow and deep. I was amazed at how immediately the sensation of fear dissipated.

So, the ancient yogis were right; breathing well really does have a positive effect on the body and mind. Every cell in our body, especially the brain relies on oxygen. If we do not breathe deeply enough during the course of the day, we can feel tired and irritable.

Breathing slowly and deeply soothes the entire nervous system and helps calm the mind. As you consciously breathe, you are being present, which also quietens the mind.

The ancient yogis studied nature and observed that animals that breathe slowly live longer than animals that breathe faster. A tortoise as opposed to a rat for example. If we can breathe slowly and deeply we put less pressure on the heart and nervous system and increase not only our energy levels, peace of mind but also our life span.

There is so much evidence to support the practice of breathing well, so let’s look at how we do this:

Place one hand on the abdomen and one on the chest and start to observe yourself breathing. You can do this lying or sitting. Notice how the diaphragm moves down as you inhale, moving the abdomen out, and moves up as you exhale, moving the abdomen in.

Keep breathing in this way finding a rhythm. Take your time with each breath to ensure you breathe more slowly. This is the most natural and efficient way to breathe, but because most of us generally breathe shallow and only with the chest, abdominal breathing may feel awkward at first. You may even feel light headed and tingling sensations, but this will pass the more you breathe abdominally.

Stick with it because abdominal breathing ensures that the lower lobes of the lungs are being used which improves lymphatic drainage in this area. It massages the liver, stomach and intestines, and improves the circulation of oxygen in the blood stream.

Unless you have a blocked nose, breathe with the mouth gently closed. Ideally your breath should remain silent.

If you can make abdominal breathing a habit, then when faced with challenging and traumatic moments in life, you are more likely to remember to breathe deeply and slowly. This will help you not react immediately with strong emotions but rather more from a space of awareness and calm.