Bat fit post: About Deep breathing

What many doesn’t know is that lots of us walk around with high shoulders and narrow breathing. This is caused by inner stress.

  You can be stressed even if you move slowly and are resting, why? It’s all about what happens in your mind. Even if you look like a lazy log, your mind is busy with sorting tasks, thoughts that comes and goes, annoying people, a work you’re not satisfied with etc. All those tasks, sorting and negative loops, causing a stress symptom with higher levels of stress hormones in your body and you are ready to flee even if you won’t.

This is an automatic unconscious reflex that your body does, and is crucial when you actually need it. 

  But you don’t need to flee, there is no were to flee and you are captured in your own mind. And when you’re not running, you don’t use your adrenaline for what it should be used for. This can cause symptoms as migraine, pain in the neck, lack of oxygen in your blood and in the long run; heart diseases, depression etc.

Good for: By deep breathing you will lower your levels stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenalin. You will increase your metabolism and if you exercise, receive better results.

  By breathing in an optimal way you’ll get more oxygen in your muscles and cells, your immune system will be stronger, your blood circulation will be faster. You will also give your inner organs a good massage and release blocked emotions. While exhaling you will empty your alveolus of toxins and excess carbon dioxide.

  This is practiced by some philosophical and religious movements, like meditation, yoga, mindfulness. By being aware of how you breathe, you will also be conscious about your emotions.

How to: Always breathe through your nose. The mucous in your nose will filter and warm up the air and you will be more resistant to diseases.

  Lie down or sit comfortly. Try to relax for a moment. Then during one minute, count the breaths you take. How many were they? You should breathe 10-15 times during one minute while completely relaxed. If you did, excellent. If you didn’t, follow these instructions:   

  Close your mouth and put the tip of your tongue in your upper gum behind your front teeth. Inhale through your nose. While inhaling (with your mouth closed) try to make the sound o (without actually making it) it gives a calm hissing sound, by that, you’ll press the air up to the sinuses, you can feel that the air is cold. Put your hand on your belly, it should lower while exhaling and rise while inhaling. Put the other hand on the chest, the chest should rise after the belly, otherwise, your breathing isn’t deep enough. Try to hold your breath a little moment before exhaling. While exhaling try to make the sound m, this relaxes your chest, try to empty your lungs as much as possible by press lightly with your diaphragm. 

 This method (with the hissing sound) is called Ujjayi-breathing and is practiced in yoga. Of course you don’t have to make those sounds with people around unless you will be viewed as weird. Repeat 4 times.

source

 How often:  Try to focus on your breathing in different situations. Take a moment a few times a day.

 If you are really stressed and it doesn’t help you for the moment, this is a signal that you are stressed in an unhealthy way and should try to get rid of the reasons for it.

Some of the information comes from following links. They are in Swedish though except the wikipedia site. You can also watch the corny instructional video on youtube below, it’s in English.

http://www.halsosidorna.se/Andningsovningar.htm

http://wellness-wisdom-wealth.se/halsa/andningen/djupandning/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwlCk9XTz_U#t=214

http://www.morotsliv.com/2012/12/djupandning_12.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing

 Good Luck!