Breathing Lessons
Today there are dozens of different therapeutic breathing techniques. Most of them are actually just versions of basic diaphragmatic, or belly, breathing. Here are a couple of simple but powerful exercises to get your breath going.
- Relaxation response – A teqnique was developed at the Harvard Medical School after reaserch into meditation and its benefits: find a quiet, comfortable place (so you don’t fall asleep), focus your attention to the feeling of the breath as it enters at the edge of your nostrils, breathe in and as you breathe out, repeat a one syllable word such as love, God, One. When distracting thoughts appear (which are likely to especially when you first start practicing) , say no passively and go back to repeating the word. Repeat this exercise for 20 minutes to one hour daily.
- Breathing Coordination (from Carl Stough, founder of the Carl Stough Institute of Breathing Coordination in New York City). Start practicing this exercise lying down, although when it becomes easy, you can do it sitting or standing. Keeping the jaw loose, inhale deeply but comfortably through the mouth. As you exhale, begin to audibly count (a soft whisper is fine). Concentrate on opening the throat muscles as wide as possible as you do this so you can extend the exhale without any pressure or effort, getting rid of as much carbon dioxide as possible. At the end of the exhale, the inhale will come automatically because of the vacuum created by your empty lungs. Continue for about 10 minutes.
- Stough believes repeatedly practicing this simple exercise is the key to retraining your diaphragm to breathe properly and therefore increase your oxygen intake. He suggests doing it first thing in the morning and before you go to bed at night, although you can do it at other times as well.
- The Work-Station Breaking Break (from Jeffrey A. Migdow, M.D., holistic physician in private practice in Lennox, Mass., and coauthor of Breathe In, Breathe Out: Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress by Guiding and Controlling Your Breathing [Time Life Books, 1986, 1999]). Sit up straight, legs uncrossed. As you begin taking slow deep breaths, allow your abdomen to fill completely. Exhale as far as possible. Repeat for a minute or two.
- Then, mentally scan your body from head to toe, concentrating on each body part and noting spots that are tense. As you inhale, visualize these areas relaxing as they open and fill with air; as you exhale, feel the aches, pains and tension being released. Feel free to physically move those tense areas, such as shrugging your shoulders or wiggling your toes.
- Continue the exercise for two minutes. For optimal effect, you can repeat this exercise every hour, or whenever necessary. Because it’s fairly subtle, quick and easy, Migdow suggests it’s a perfect stress-buster to use at work or in any other public place.
Breathwork Glossary
Breathwork is an umbrella term covering a wide variety of techniques. Here are three of the most common ones.
- Alternate Nostril Breathing originated with yogic practices but now enjoys wider applications for such things as stress reduction and fighting fatigue. It involves closing one nostril as you forcibly breath through the other, then switching nostrils. Alternating between the two nostrils reputedly stimulates both hemispheres of the brain: Breathing through the right nostril stimulates your left brain, used for logical, linear thinking, while breathing through the left stimulates your right brain, the seat of your creativity and emotions.
- Holotropic Breathing, developed by Stanislav Grof, M.D., combines elements from aboriginal traditions. Eastern spirituality and Western psychology to help people release trapped emotions. Employed in a workshop setting, the method relies on continuous, fast, deep breathing and evocative music to help people attain altered states of consciousness.
- Transform Breathing (also called Full Wave Breathing), developed by Thomas Goode of the International Breath Institute, focuses not just on the diaphragm but on the lower abdomen, solar plexus and chest. It envisions breath as a metaphor for life–with full and open breathing facilitating a full and open life.