How To Breathe Deeply

A bad habit is often simple, but not easy, to break.  For example, it is very simple to stop smoking.  It merely requires stopping the process of putting a cigarette in the mouth and smoking it.  Viewed from an emotional distance, stopping the habit of smoking is a very simple process.  But smoking, or any habit, cannot be viewed from an emotional distance.  It is part of our emotional wardrobe.  It may make us look sick and ugly but we’re deeply attached to it.  Breaking any long-term habit is far from easy.

Shallow breathing is possibly the most widespread and destructive bad habit of all bad habits.  Our bodies and minds require a full lung load of oxygen with every in breath to maintain full optimum health.  Our bodies and minds are meant to release a full lung load of toxins with every out breath to maintain full optimum health.

Shallow breathing is the same as any other bad habit.  It needs commitment and determination to toss it away.  It requires patience and persistence to resist our desire to breathe with as little depth as possible.  We have spent a lifetime teaching ourselves that shallow breathing is "safe" breathing.  We have become comfortable with it.  It feels natural to us.  We have become addicted.

To break this addiction, daily observation and daily practise are needed.  We also benefit if we have some sort of replacement therapy in place for ourselves.  It is similar to reaching for a piece of gum instead of reaching for a cigarette.  Reach for a Breathing Deeply exercise from your mind, or from your CD player, and concentrate on consuming several lungfuls of deep, cleansing air.

Most people fill only the top third of their lungs, and most people breathe with their focus on their chests.  They have visualised their lungs filling up in this top area and forgotten how deep and wide our lungs really are!  This loss of awareness and proper focus is the "tobacco" of the shallow breathing bad habit.  Run your hands around the base of your ribs to discover how far down your torso your lungs really go!

How to Return to Healthy Deep Breathing.

• Sit up straight, or lie in a relaxed position.

• Uncross all limbs.

• Purposely relax your entire body. 

• Do not strain at any time.  If you find yourself straining, you are breathing incorrectly or beyond your present capacity.  Immediately relax yourself completely and focus on staying relaxed.

• Place one hand lightly on the area between your groin and your navel.

• Place your other hand lightly on the area just above your navel.

• Breathe in deeply to the area beneath your lower hand. 

• Feel your stomach muscles slightly raise your lower hand.

• Breathe out completely.  Always take longer to breathe out than the time taken to breathe in.

• Now breathe deeply to the area above your navel.  Feel your hand gently rise as your diaphragmatic muscles move to accommodate the increased size of your lungs.

• Breathe out completely.  Always take longer to breathe out than the time taken to breathe in.

• Practise for at least five minutes, always bringing your mind back to your intention of breathing, every time it wanders off and returns you to your shallow breathing bad habit.
  

If your shoulders lift with your in breath, you are breathing incorrectly.

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