Breathing exercises

Very few of us spend even a few minutes a day breathing deeply and fully. When you think about it, it’s absolutely crazy – breathing is of such great importance, and if it’s not done right it can lead to all kinds of physical problems. On the other hand, if you pay attention to your breathing, even if for just a few minutes a day, you can tip the balance the other way entirely, creating better health and overcoming various physical shortcomings.

Here’s a couple of breathing exercises you might like to try. Just spend a few minutes a day on them, and at a time to suit yourself (but it makes sense to try to do them at roughly the same time of day … for example, if you find it’s relaxing to do the exercises just before bed, then try to do them at that time of day regularly).

Belly breathing

To really get the feel of this breathing exercise you should lie flat on your back, with your hands, palm down, on your stomach down at the bottom of your ribcage. You can put a small pillow under your neck and under your knees if you feel it’s necessary (to alleviate any back strain and to create a comfortable situation).

Take a few long, slow, deep breaths, and as you do you should feel your stomach expanding as you breathe in, causing your fingers to separate and spread a little. This is what you’re after … this shows the lungs are being fully used, filling and emptying from top to bottom, rather than just using the top and mid portions of the lungs as in ‘normal’ breathing. If you ask someone to take a deep breath they will usually puff out their chest like a sergeant major, thinking they’re filling their lungs completely, but that’s not really the case. If you watch a young child breathing you’ll see they naturally do the breathing correctly, expanding the belly as they breathe in, and using much more of the lungs. It’s as we get older we tend to learn a less efficient breathing method.

To really benefit from this practice, breathe like this for a few minutes. Five minutes is great, but even a couple of minutes is a big improvement on the way we usually breathe.

The complete breath

• Sit up straight and exhale.
• Now inhale, and feel the belly muscles relaxing as though the belly is filling with air.
• When the belly feels full, continue breathing in, feeling the mid chest filling, then the upper part of the chest.
• Hold the breath for a few moments, then start slowly exhaling. Try to exhale really slowly, controlling it all the way. As the air is expelled, feel the chest relaxing.
• Now feel the belly pulling in towards your spine as you force the breath out.
• Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
• Relax the muscles in your face and neck. Quiet the mind.
• Repeat the breathing, slowly, and continue for a few minutes.

There are other breathing methods you might like to experiment with, but these two should improve your breathing quite a lot.

A breathing exercise to calm the mind

If you feel stressed, or you feel you’re having a panic attack, try this breathing exercise: Sit quietly and breathe in s-l-o-w-l-y. Focus on your breathing. Hold the breath in for a few seconds. Then breathe out, again slowly, taking several seconds. You can breathe out through your mouth, making a sort of whistling sound as you do so.

If you repeat this for about 8 or 10 full breaths you’ll feel much calmer and more in control. Also, as you’re focusing on your breathing, make sure you don’t allow your attention to drift back to the cause of the problem. The best way to ensure that is to focus very carefully on your breathing, visualising the breath as smoke, or coloured fumes, and ‘seeing’ it as it enters your lungs and then as it is expelled. The more carefully you focus on your breathing and the more vividly you can visualise it, the less chance there is of slipping back into thinking about the cause of the anxiety.

Another method that can sometimes help in a stressful situation is to cup your hands in front of your mouth and breathe slowly (you can breathe into a small paper bag if you have one to hand). This stops the carbon dioxide escaping totally and allows you to re-breathe it. This helps because in stressful situations you often ‘overdose’ on oxygen through inefficient breathing, even though you might feel as though you’re starved of oxygen. This method helps you regain your oxygen/carbon dioxide balance and results in a calming effect.

It will also help if you repeat something calming to yourself as you breathe. You might want to ‘say’ to yourself “Calm … and in control … calm … and in control … calm …  [etc]”,  or some such mantra. It will help you focus your thoughts away from the cause of the problem and help you regain control.