Breathing properly is one of the
simplest and best ways to drain your tension and relieve your stress. Simply by
changing your breathing patterns, you can rapidly induce a state of greater
relaxation. If you control the way you breathe, you have a powerful tool in
reducing bodily tension. Just as important, you have a tool that helps prevent
your body from becoming tense in the first place. This section shows you what
you can do to incorporate a variety of stress-effective breathing techniques
into your life.
Your breath is fine. It’s your breathing that’s bad.
“Bad
breathing” can take a number of forms. You may be a chest and shoulder
breather, bringing air into your lungs by expanding your chest cavity and
raising your shoulders. This description certainly fits if you have more than a
touch of vanity and opt for never sticking out your tummy when you breathe. You
also may be a breath holder, stopping your breathing entirely when you’re
distracted or lost in thought. Both are inefficient, stress-producing forms of
breathing. And when you’re under stress, your breathing patterns deteriorate
even more. To make things worse, once your breathing goes awry, you feel even
more stressed. Quite a nasty cycle.
“Why
change now? I’ve been breathing for years.”
You probably
take your breathing for granted. And why not? You’ve been breathing for most of
your life; you’d think by now you would have figured out how to do it right. No
such luck. When you’re feeling stressed, your breathing becomes faster and
shallower. When you breathe this way, your body reacts:
1. Less oxygen reaches your bloodstream.
2. Your blood vessels constrict.
3. Less oxygen reaches your brain.
4. Your heart rate and your blood pressure go up.
5. You feel light-headed, shaky, and tenser.
Our
primitive ancestors knew how to breathe. They didn’t have to deal with the IRS,
stacks of unpaid bills, or the Boss from Hell. These days only opera singers,
stage actors, musicians who play wind instruments, and a couple of dozen
moonlighting yoga instructors actually breathe effectively. The rest of us mess
it up.
However, for
a period of your life, you did get the whole breathing thing right. As a baby
lying in your crib, you breathed serenely. Your little belly rose and fell in
the most relaxed way. But then you grew up and blew it. Thankfully, all is not
lost. You can re-teach yourself to breathe properly.
You probably
think of breathing as a way of getting air into your lungs. However, in times
past breathing was elevated to a more important status. Many religious groups
and sects believed that a calming breath replenished the soul as well as
soothed the body. In fact, the word ruach in Hebrew and the word pneuma in
Greek have double meanings, connoting both breath and spirit. If you remember
your Bible, the book of Genesis says that when God created Adam, he “breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”
Evaluating your breathing
You may be
one of the few people who actually breathe properly. But before you skip this
section, read a little further. To find out whether the way you breathe is
stress-reducing, take this simple test.
1.Lie on your back.
2.Put
your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your chest.
Try to
become aware of the way you breathe. Check to see whether your breathing is
smooth, slow, and regular. If you’re breathing properly, the hand on your belly
rises and falls rhythmically as you inhale and exhale. The hand on your chest
should move very little, and if that hand does rise, it should follow the rise
in your belly.
Changing the way you breathe, changing the way you feel
Sometimes,
all it takes to make you feel better is one simple change. Changing the way you
breathe can make all the difference in how you feel. The following exercises
present various ways to alter your breathing. Try them and discover whether all
you need is one simple change.
Breathing 101: Breathing for starters
Here is one
of the best and simplest ways of introducing yourself to stress-effective
breathing.
1.Either
lying or sitting comfortably, put one hand on your belly and the other hand on
your chest.
2.Inhale
through your nose, making sure that the hand on your belly rises and the hand
on your chest moves hardly at all.
3.As you
inhale slowly, count silently to three.
4.As you
exhale through your parted lips slowly, count silently to four, feeling the
hand on your belly falling gently.
Pause
slightly before your next breath. Continue to breathe like this until you feel
completely relaxed.
Moving on to something more advanced:
Taking a complete breath
Taking
complete breaths (or doing Zen breathing, as it’s often called) helps you
breathe more deeply and more efficiently and helps you maximize your lung
capacity.
1.Lie comfortably on a bed, in a reclining
chair, or on a rug.
Keep your knees
slightly apart and slightly bent. Close your eyes if you like. You may feel
more comfortable placing a pillow under the small of your back to help relieve
the pressure.
2.Put one hand on your abdomen near your
belly button and the other hand on your chest so that you follow the motion of
your breathing.
Try to
relax. Let go of any tension you may feel in your body.
3.Begin by slowly inhaling through your nose,
first filling the lower part of your lungs, then the middle part of your chest,
and then the upper part of your chest.
As you
inhale, feel your diaphragm pushing down, gently extending your abdomen, making
room for the newly inhaled air. Notice the hand on your abdomen rise slightly.
The hand on your chest should move very little, and when it does, it should
follow your abdomen. Don’t use your shoulders to help you breathe.
4.Exhale slowly through your parted lips,
emptying your lungs from top to bottom.
Make a
whooshing sound as the air passes through your lips, and notice the hand on
your abdomen fall.
5.Pause slightly and take in another breath,
repeating this cycle.
Continue
breathing this way for ten minutes or so — certainly until you feel more
relaxed and peaceful. Practice this technique daily if you can. Try this
exercise while sitting and then while standing.
With a little practice, this form of
breathing comes more naturally and automatically. With some time and some
practice, you may begin to breathe this way much more of the time. Stick with
it.
Trying some “belly-button balloon” breathing
A simpler
way of breathing more deeply and more evenly is to work with a visual image, in
this case a balloon. Here’s what you do:
1.Imagine
that a small balloon — about the size of a grapefruit — is replacing your
stomach, just under your belly button.
2.As you
inhale through your nose, imagine that you’re actually inhaling through your
belly button, inflating this once-empty balloon. This balloon is small, so don’t overinflate it. As the
balloon gets larger, notice how your belly rises.
3.Exhale slowly through your nose or
mouth, again imagining that the air is leaving through your belly button. Your
balloon is now slowly and easily returning to its deflated state.
4.Pause
slightly before the next breath in and then repeat, gently and smoothly
inflating your balloon to a comfortable size.
Repeat
this exercise, as often as you can, whenever you can.
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