Breathing your way to health and tranquility.

Breathing your way
to health and tranquility.

Learn these breathing and relaxation techniques to reduce stress and anxiety, boost your energy and improve sleep.
By learning to breathe fully and consciously, you relax your body and calm your mind.

Learn how to breath

and have a better life.

In this article you can find:

The importance of proper breathing.
Different kinds of breathing.
Breathing quotes.
Stress tips.

Healthy breathing.

Why is it so important to learn how to breathe?
We can spend several days without food, water or sleep.
But not without breathing.

Breathing is more than just carrying oxygen to our lungs and eliminating carbon dioxide.

Proper breathing is vital to our physical and mental health.
During inhalation we give oxygen to each cell in our body.
Exhaling helps lymphatic drainage and detoxify our body.

Brain cells start dying after just a few minutes without oxygen.
The heart and kidneys are also affected by lack of oxygen.

Breathing is our primary source of energy.
It increases our physical, psychic and spiritual vitality and helps us reestablish emotional balance.

Stress creates great activity and wear in our body.
Adequate breathing helps us diminish such activity, recover our balance and deal with our emotions.
Breathing to reduce stress is a way to increase our health, while fighting that stress.

We can learn breathing and relaxation techniques to improve the quality of our lije.

Different kind of breathing.

Review the section on preparation for breathing and general recommendations.
Then, choose the kind of breathing you like best.

Preparation for all kinds of breathing.
Breathing while standing up.
Deep breathing exercise.
Calming breathing.
Revitalizing and refreshing breathing.
General recommendations.

Preparation for all kinds of breathing.

Prepare yourself mentally.
Think that this is your moment, but you'll be able to share its benefits with others.
You deserve a moment of tranquility, peace and well-being.

Choose a comfortable place, especially when still learning the technique.
Your posture must be relaxed.
If you're standing or sitting, keep your back straight.

If it is possible, control the light, put on some music, light a candle or incense or simply imagine a beautiful place.
Loosen your belt or any other piece of clothing that's too tight.
Try to avoid interruptions.

If during any exercise you feel dizzy or choking, breathe normally.

Go back to techniques index.

Breathing while standing up.

Put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
Breathe normally.
Observe your hands moving.
Is only one moving?
Both?
Which one moves first?

If the first one to move is the one on the chest, you're breathing is shallow.
This is a chest breathing which doesn't clean, oxygenate or purify properly.
If the hand on your belly moves first, you're breathing properly.
It's known as diaphragmatic breathing.

Allow the air to enter slowly through your nose.
Pause and let it out, even slower, also through the nose.
With practice, this type of breathing can become automatic.

Try to make the exhalation last twice as long as the inhalation.
It's important to take posture into account.

When our shoulders aren't raised and straight, we reduce our chest volume.
Check yourself constantly, but don't be upset or judge yourself for your mistakes.
It may be difficult at first.
Don't forget we're learning to relax.

Remember that a deep, relaxing and stabilizing breathing is different than post exercise breathing.
In this cases, we breathe with our chests to carry a bigger amount of oxygen faster.

Go back to techniques index.

Deep breathing exercise.

Assume a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down.
Remove any piece of clothing that's too uncomfortable, like your belt.

Close your eyes.
Concentrate on your breathing.
Feel the air as you inhale and exhale.
Don't make a change for 4 or 5 breaths.
Just observe them.

Breathe in slowly through the nose and direct the air to the lower part of your abdomen, below the diaphragm.
The lower part of your belly balloons, allowing your thorax to expand.
At this moment, the chest and shoulders shouldn't be moved.

Continue breathing and feel the air passing through your middle and finally in the higher part of your lungs, until the chest expands.
Hold it for an instant, without forcing it and without tension.
Let it out slowly, through the nose.
Allow the higher part of your lungs to empty first, then the middle and finally the abdomen while you tell yourself: "I'm OK, I'm relaxed".

You can help yourself by putting one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
While inhaling, the hand on your chest shouldn't move until your abdomen is filled with air.
While exhaling, the hand on the chest lowers before the hand on your belly.

Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times.
Do it several times a day, every time you remember.
Do it until the rhythm becomes natural, fluent and more relaxed.

Remember, this is how babies breathe.
So we all breathed this way at some point.
So you can do it.

When the air goes in, imagine it's golden or luminous healing energy.
Contemplate your breathing and think about that golden air.
Feel it.
Continue its path.

When it goes out, feel it taking all your tension away.
Loosen your body.
Imagine yourself as a rag doll.

Your body feels warm, light or heavy.
It feels relaxed.
When you feel you can do this in a fluent, easy way, do it with your eyes open in wherever you want, except while driving.

A few breaths, at any moment, will help you decrease your tension and anxiety.

Go back to techniques index.

Calming breathing.

If you need to relax, you're tired or overworked, at any moment of the day do the following exercise:

Breath in through your nose, hold it in for a moment and exhale softly, counting to 4 in each phase.
4 counts to breathe in, 4 holding it and 4 to let it out.
Don't force yourself.
Give yourself the opportunity to learn at your own pace.

Each time you'll do it more naturally.
As your lung capacity improves, increase the count from 4 to 6 and finally to 8 for each phase.
Repeat this exercise several times.

Go back to techniques index.

Revitalizing and refreshing breathing.

You can do this exercise in any position.

Breathe in once slowly and deeply and hold it in comfortable for a few seconds.
Make a little circle with your lips and let the air out slowly, but forcefully.
Stop for a few moments and then exhale the remaining air in the same way.

Go back to techniques index.

General recommendations.

Preferably do this exercises twice a day, at the same time every day and following the same ritual.
Nevertheless, you can do them before, during and after any situation you find stressful and before bedtime.

During the first weeks of practice, you could experience trembling in your muscles, arms or eyelids, palpitations, shivers, nausea or vertigo.
It's normal, they are self discharges that show the slow decrease in stress.
Don't' worry and don't force yourself.
Decrease the amount of breaths to avoid hyperventilating.

Go back to techniques index.

Breathing quotes.

"If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly". Andrew Weil, M.D.
"For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth". Sanskrit Proverb

Stress tips:

Stay connected with your friends.
Spend time with people that help you feel good, talking, “hanging out,” sharing feelings, concerns and having fun together.
Monitor your physical comfort.
Try to make your environment as comfortable as you can.
If your work chair is uncomfortable, change it.
Wear appropriate clothing.
Don't wait until your discomfort turns into a problem.
Know your limits.
There are many circumstances in life beyond your control, don't fight with the situations.
Respect your needs and learn how to say no.
Take care of your body.
Eat right and get enough sleep.
Release your stress through exercise or activity.
Drink lots of water.
Avoid self-medication.
Do something that you love.
Being able to do something that you love will help you tolerate stress, problems and even doing the things that you don't like.
List your hobbies, your skills and everything that you love to do in your spare time and find out what you really want to do.