“For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.”

Sanskrit proverb

With Easter and Spring in full swing for us in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to take a deep breath to fight what we all hope are the last waves of the Coronavirus. The long and hard road of the past year has gotten us fatigued with the same day to day scenarios, limited social contacts and the groundhog day feeling brought on by the numerous lockdowns. In this article, we consider how the ancient yet effective method of breathing can help us power through. Let’s take a look at how breathing exercises and mental focus can give us that last burst to achieve a healthy future. 

Regardless of your body type, muscles need to be exercised to be stronger, and this goes the same way for our inner organs. Lungs, the key part of the body affected by the Coronavirus, need to be exercised. Experts all agree the best way to achieve this is through good old regular physical activity, the kind that gets your heart rate up.

“Anything that makes you breathe faster is basically a breathing exercise,” says Joshua Denson, a pulmonary and critical care specialist and assistant professor of medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine. “My first advice would not be, ‘Go sit in a chair and breathe deeply.’ I’d say, ‘Get on a bike and ride 20 minutes a day,’ or ‘Go for a brisk walk.'”

Combining this with the ancient arts of breathing from Yoga/Tai chi exercises can help get more out of your cardio sessions. This is a good rhythmic approach to get the mental mind to focus on the positive, which neuroscience advises us can help take a look at the bright side of life. 

What many people do not realize is that the mind, body, and breath are intimately connected and can influence each other. Essentially, your breathing is influenced by your thoughts, and your thoughts and physiology can be influenced by your breath. Learning to breathe consciously and with awareness is a valuable tool in helping to restore balance in the mind and body — something very useful during times of intense stress.

Below, we share 3 breathing exercises to learn Deep Breathing. These exercises are in a progressive order, each one helping you to build up awareness and strength to carry on to the next one.

You might want to start by doing the first one or two for a few sessions, then incorporating one more as you become familiar with the first steps.

1. Breath awareness

The breath awareness exercise is a simple introduction to your breathing pattern, which helps you to slow down and enter a relaxed pace of breathing.

Sitting in an upright position, or lying down on your back, find a comfortable position that you can sustain for a few minutes.

Release any unnecessary tension and gently bring your awareness to your breath. You only need to observe your breath; do not change anything.

Observe the movements and sensations in your body with each inhalation and exhalation. Let your attention travel with the air passing through your nose and throat to your lungs, feeling the expansion of the chest and belly.

Continue doing this for a few minutes.

2. Three steps to deep breathing

To experience deep breathing, first you will have to identify and experience the three types of breathing that comprise it. For this exercise, it is better to lie down on your back if possible.

Place your right hand on top of your navel and left hand on top of your chest. Start by observing the natural flow of your breath for a few cycles.

a. Abdominal breathing

With the next inhalation, think of intentionally sending the air toward your navel by letting your abdomen expand and rise freely. Feel the right hand rising while the left hand remains almost still on top of the chest.

Feel the right hand coming down as you exhale while keeping the abdomen relaxed. Continue to repeat this for a few minutes without straining the abdomen, but rather allowing it to expand and relax freely.

After some repetitions, return to your natural breathing.

b. Thoracic breathing

Without changing your position, you will now shift your attention to your ribcage. With the next inhalation, think of intentionally sending the air toward your ribcage instead of the abdomen.

Let the thorax expand and rise freely, allowing your left hand to move up and down as you keep breathing. Breathe through the chest without engaging your diaphragm, slowly and deeply. Your right hand should remain almost still.

Continue to repeat this breathing pattern for a few minutes.

c. Clavicular breathing

With the next inhalation, repeat the thoracic breathing pattern, and when the ribcage is completely expanded, inhale a bit more, thinking of allowing the air to fill the upper section of your lungs at the base of your neck.

Feel the shoulders and collarbone rise gently to find some space for the extra air to come in. Exhale slowly, letting the collarbone and shoulders drop first and then continue to relax the ribcage.

Continue to repeat this for a few minutes. After some repetitions, return to your natural breathing.

3. Yogic breathing

Start by practicing this meditation technique lying on your back with one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. As you gain more experience, you can try this in a sitting position.

Start by focusing on your natural breath, as practiced in the first exercise. Continue to practice the three stages of deep breathing sequentially. With the next inhalation, think of intentionally sending the air toward the navel by letting your abdomen expand and rise freely.

Continue breathing and thinking of sending the rest of the air into the ribcage, allowing it to expand fully. Continue to inhale the remaining amount of air you can by letting the collarbone and shoulders to rise.

Exhale slowly by first dropping the shoulders and collarbone, then relaxing the ribcage and finally releasing the abdomen. Repeat this for a few minutes.

Draw your attention to your hands as they rise and fall as you breathe. You can start counting as you inhale and exhale, keeping the same ratio. For example, you can count up to four on each inhale, and four on each exhale.

After a few repetitions, return to your natural breathing.

Let’s take a breath and move forward to the summer months ahead

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What we have in store for you

From March 1st and for the next 12 weeks, we take you through 3 challenges. During these challenges, we invite participants to leave daily or weekly messages in our virtual gratitude jar.

Blue tiger Eye Wellness Challenges, starting March 1st:

• March – Skip and Jump into Spring; it’s not too late to join!! 
• April – The Thor Strength Power Challenge
• May – Captain Marvel  “Head and Shoulders Above the Rest”

It’s not too late to join the March challenge – just grab your friends and we will get you going!  

Sources:

https://chopra.com/articles/a-great-addition-to-meditation-conscious-breathing 

https://positivepsychology.com/deep-breathing-techniques-exercises/