What is Belly Breathing

Take a deep Breath...

You will read and hear that when you do any physical fitness training, yoga or meditation practice it is suggested that breathing into your belly is very helpful in providing you with multiple benefits. You will have increased energy/prana, and become more self-aware, prevent fatigue, just to name a few. This belly breathing is often called diaphragmatic breathing because you engage your diaphragm instead of your neck or chest. Sometimes when we breathe using our neck and chest we simply don’t get enough oxygen into our lungs and may get light-headed, feel dizzy, fatigued, anxiety, headache and even hyper-ventilate.

When we practice belly breathing (the lower in the belly, the better), we get more oxygen into our lungs and start on the way to what we have referred to as PRANAYAMA—conscious breath control. This is practiced for various reasons including meditation, stress management, general health, as part of yoga practice and for spiritual centeredness.

So here is a simple way to begin belly breathing. Sit or lie down comfortably. First just notice your breath without trying to control it. You will realize that with inhalation your belly lifts and rises while your rib cage expands. Now consciously breathe in directly into your belly deeply but softly filling your lungs. Without holding your breath, gently releasing your breath back out. Do this as often as you can but it helps to do it on the regular basis as in when you first awaken or before bed. Start with a 1 to 5 minutes and work our way up when you are ready.

Here is are reminders of what your breath tells you on the regular basis:

Feeling relaxed, like when you are sleeping, your exhalation is twice as long as your inhalation.

Anger, your breathing is shallow. Imagine how little oxygen your brain is getting during this time.

Feeling frightened or anxious you tend to hold your breath. No oxygen = no good. So as I always say, breathe…