Shallow breathing can increase anxiety, depression, fatigue, and stress. Mouth breathing exacerbates many medical problems. Yoga breathing exercise can help.
1. Shallow Breathing
Your breathing is naturally shallow and short. To check for this, take a moment and notice how deep in the body your breath goes. Place one hand on your chest, and the other just above the navel. If the hand on the chest moves when you inhale, then shallow chest breathing is your normal breathing pattern. The body could be constantly receiving the signal that there is a threat.
Shallow breathing, also called paradoxical breathing, creates tension in the shoulders, neck and thoracic spine. We breathe 22,000 breaths a day. Shallow breathing increases heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension and metabolism.
Yoga Breathing: To correct shallow breathing, practice the following exercise 10 - 20 minutes daily for several weeks until breathing from the diaphragm becomes natural and easy.
• Lie on your back with you knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
• Place a hard cover book or 10-15 lb sandbag on your abdomen around the area of the navel.
• As you inhale through the nose, lift the book. As you exhale through the nose, the book lowers.
How tight are your clothes? Learn to relax the abdomen. This will create space for the diaphragm to move downwards on the inhalation.
2. Rough Breathing
Your breath is jerky. Sit comfortably with the spine lengthened. Hands rest comfortably on your lap, palms up. Notice your outgoing breath. Is it smooth? Then notice the inhalation? Is that smooth?
Yoga Breathing: Place one hand about 4 inches away from your body. With one or two fingers, slowly move the fingers from navel to chin as you inhale, then from chin to navel as you exhale. Be aware of the breath. Practice at least 1 minute daily until the breath becomes smooth. Make less effort any time you notice your exhalation is rough.
3. Mouth Breathing
You breathe through the mouth. Mouth breathing exacerbates high blood pressure, asthma, heart disease, dry cough and many other medical problems. Children should be encouraged to breathe through the nose if they are mouth breathing. Nasal breathing warms and filters the breath.
Yoga Breathing: Sit comfortably for 3-5 minutes and practice breath awareness, breathing through the nose. You can also press one nostril closed with a finger or thumb and breathe slowly through the other nostril. Then change sides.
Yoga breathing exercises should not be forced in any way.
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By Heather Greaves
