Breathing can be more powerful than most people realize. Tennis fans may have noticed that many players grunt as they hit the ball. The grunt ensures an exhale instead of holding in the breath. If people are anxious, slow deep breathing will relax them. In addition, people should breathe from their diaphragm instead of through their chest. By noticing your breathing and working at good breathing, your health can benefit.
Instructions
1. Determine if you are a chest or an abdomen breather. Put one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. Breathe and see which hand rises more. If the hand on your chest does, you are a chest breather. If the one on your abdomen rises more, you are an abdomen breather. Abdominal breathing is better because it leads to more stamina.
2. Train yourself to breathe from your abdomen. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. Inhale, and make sure the hand on the abdomen is rising more. Slowly exhale through your mouth. Be sure to completely get the air out by contracting your abdominal muscles. Do this five times. Exhalation should be twice as long as inhalation.
3. Be aware of your breathing. One breathing exercise that will allow you to live in the present moment, centering you, and may reduce anger or anxiety is simply to be aware that you are breathing. For 10 minutes, three times a day, be aware of when you inhale and when you exhale. This exercise has Buddhist roots.
4. To give yourself more energy, try the Stimulating Breath. The goal is to invigorate you. This may even replace your afternoon coffee. Rapidly inhale and exhale through your nose with your mouth closed and relaxed. This will be noisy. Do three in-and-out breaths per second. Do not do this for more than 15 seconds your first time. Gradually, you can work up to a minute.
5. For relaxation, try the 4-7-8 breathing exercise. Put the tip of your tongue against the back of your front teeth, and keep it there throughout the exercise. With your mouth closed, inhale on a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Open your mouth slightly and slowly exhale to a count of eight. The exhale will be noisy. Do this four times. This breathing exercise will relax you more over time, with repetition and practice. Try to do this exercise twice a day. You can do it more if you like. For the first month, keep with the four breaths. After that, you can gradually increase to eight if you like. This exercise can even help you to fall asleep.
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