Breathing is a vital element for us humans. We do it automatically, without considering too much the way we do it. Babies are natural deep breathers; they use almost the entire breathing capacity of their lungs. Unfortunately adults seem to loose this ability in time, and they only use one third or one half of their breathing capacity. I say unfortunately because a lot of our metabolic affections are caused by shallow breathing.

Daily stress and our body’s posture alter our natural deep breathing. Elder people are more exposed to shallow breathing as they suffer of spinal scrunching and osteoporosis. Fortunately, we can all learn how to breathe deep once again by adopting a few relaxation techniques used in alternative health therapies.

Here is one example:

Lie down in a quiet place where you can feel safe and relaxed. You can even sit if you don’t feel comfortable lying down. Place one had on your chest and the other one on your abdomen just above the belly button. Watch how they move while breathing. If you are a man you will see that the hand placed on your abdomen will rise higher than the hand placed on your chest. For women the situation is opposite.

Breathe in slowly, and then breathe out on your mouth. Think as if you wanted to breathe in all the air from the room. But do it slowly. Before breathing out try to hold your breath until you count to 7. At the beginning you might not be able to get to 7, but in time you will succeed.

Repeat this type of breathing for 5 times twice a day and then relax for a few minutes.

Deep breathing is very important. It will bring more oxygen to your lungs and then to the entire body. It is good for your nervous system as it helps you relax in stressful situations. It also seems to reduce pain and discomfort. This is due to the fact that endorphins will be released through this breathing technique, and the pain will diminish or even disappear. Deep breathing is also good for reducing anxiety.

Deep breathing is easy to practice and in time you will discover you will be able to apply it in crisis situations, keeping stress and anxiety far away from you.

At the beginning it is best to talk with a yoga teacher so that he can guide you on how to maintain a good posture while practicing deep breathing. It is essential to do this exercise in a correct way so that you maintain a balance between the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood.