Recently I learned how vital breathing was to our entire mind, body and spirit.

Breathing not only keeps you out of the grave, but also inuences the way you cope with stress, your concentration, and your bodys ability to eliminate toxins and lose weight. Amazingly, it also affects how connected, nurtured and accepted you feel towards yourself and others.

Breathing
for Better Health
by Louise Berg

Correct breathing can help people suffering from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, high blood pressure, poor circulation, asthma and a host of other symptoms your doctor may not be able to alleviate or, in fact, diagnose.
When your body breathes correctly, it moves correctly, reducing tension and stress. Each breath you take will massage your internal organs helping them to ush toxins creating radiant skin, easier weight loss and fewer wrinkles because of the proper release of CO2 . It also aids circulation of the blood and builds your immune system by moving lymph throughout the body. You will have more energy, reduce mental and physical fatigue, and improve emotional stability. Correct breathing opens your chest area, therefore opening yourself to giving and receiving more love, providing a feeling of connectedness, acceptance and a feeling of being nurtured.

Are you convinced yet that correct breathing is vital? One more fact, it will improve your sex life. A tense body inhibits relaxation, pleasure and intimacy. You will become more present in the moment and, as a result, more with your partner, fostering a deeper experience and a better relationship. And for blokes with erectile problems, it can help there too. Breathing is not just an exchange of oxygen within the lungs. It is considerably more important than life-giving, it is also healing or health giving. Ancient yogis from the East were probably the rst to discover the importance of correct breathing, and still advocate its benets today with yoga, tai chi and meditation. Our esoteric friends quietly learned, long
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before modern medical science could prove it, that by altering your learned breathing pattern to one that was slower could improve mental functioning and calm the mind conducive to optimum states of being. And, of course, the opposite was true as well short shallow or irregular breathing creates disturbances within the mind and body. The word breath implies more than the physical act of drawing air in and out of the lungs. Breath is the junction point between mind, body and spirit. Every change of mental state is reected rst in the breath and then in the body. Deepak Chopra The disturbances within the mind and body that the yogis referred to hundreds of years ago are very relevant in todays world, perhaps more so than ever before. We take on too much and relax too little. The stress that this puts on your body is evident most importantly in our breathing pattern, as Deepak Chopra stated. Specically, incorrect breathing can cause chest tightness, constant fatigue, faintness and light-headedness, feelings of panic and anxiety, headaches, heart palpitations, insomnia, muscular aches, twitches or stiffness, and tingling, numb or cold hands and face. When you are relaxed, your breathing is slow, even and gentle. Deliberately relaxing your breathing pattern calms your nervous system and corrects natural carbon dioxide levels. You will naturally utilise your diaphragm as the bodys rst and most important pump. This shift in technique can affect the way our bodies use protein, fat and carbohydrates. It will increase bone repair and growth as well as increase production of cells for your immune system. Lactic acid will be ushed from your system instead of being stored in your muscle tissue. Your blood pressure and heart rate will reduce, because your diaphragm is doing its fair share of the work. And you will experience an increase in physical energy as well as feelings of calmness and wellbeing. Your brain uses 25-40 per cent of your total oxygen supply. It is no wonder then that the way you breathe is imperative. So if your brain is not receiving optimum levels of oxygen, you will feel confused, groggy and depressed.

Re-educating yourself to breathe correctly is not something that you master within a day or a weekend. It takes practice and the practice
itself is highly benecial, even if you feel you have never truly got it. You can do these techniques anywhere, once you feel comfortable and familiar with the routine on the bus, in the ofce, while watching TV, before you nod off to sleep. Until then, the best place is in a quiet room where you wont be disturbed for 10-20 minutes.

After three weeks of these exercises daily, you will notice a difference in your sleep patterns, your stress levels and, probably, some amazing physical differences too.

1. Belly breathing
Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair and put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. l Notice if one hand is moving higher than the other. l You should be breathing more with your stomach and abdominal muscles rather than with your chest. If youre sitting up, a sure sign is if your shoulders are rising with each breath, then you are using your chest and not your belly. l Your rib cage will want to splay out (but not lift up) as you turn your concentration on to your stomach. Thats good. This is often termed belly breathing or abdominal breathing. Concentration is all that is required to master it.

2. Extend your breathing

First, relax your muscles, give your body a shake, and position yourself comfortably so you wont lose concentration by dgeting. Focus on your breath. l Count to two on your inhale. l Then to six on your exhaling breath. l Then let your inhale occur again naturally counting to two. l Then do it again and again. Set an alarm so you can time your sessions and know you are improving your practice.

Test yourself now

Are you breathing too fast?
Time yourself and count the number of complete breaths you take during a one-minute time frame. If you nd yourself too conscious of your breathing, get someone else to time you or average it over, say, a three-minute period. l If your score is less than four per minute, thats excellent. l Up to 10 is good. l Between 10 and 14 is getting up there and needs work. l Over 15 and you are sure to exhibit some of the symptoms mentioned above if not already, then fairly soon. The more times per minute you breathe, the higher the stress and oxygen toll on your body. This high breathing habit can be carried over into your sleep-time too, giving your body little time to recover from your daily stress.
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3. Chanting
If counting is distracting, then try chanting. Instead of counting on your exhale make a sound common sounds or mantras are OM, Me or even Peace. l Say the word loud, low and slowly. Let it out with your breath. Feel the sound vibrate through your body. l Breathe in again naturally as you need it and start the sound again trying to extend the noise longer this time. l By slowing down the sound, you are slowing down your breathing and increasing your health. With practice you will be able to do this on the bus without having to chant, however, there are excellent benets in the vibrations of sound too, so dont give it up at home.
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