I know, this one sounds silly. We’re all breathing all the time, so it’s something we tend to take for granted.
But here’s the thing – as with so many other aspects of the human body living in the modern world, our ability to breathe effectively has been hindered.
I know, really, ridiculous right? But the truth is that we can breathe in all sorts of ways that negatively impact the health of our bodies and our ability to take on the challenges of our day!
The good news is that breathing is a fairly simple and straightforward problem to address. It’s one of those low-hanging fruit that you can put in just a little bit of effort and potentially receive some significant improvement.
Personally, as someone who has a full plate and is always stoked to take on more to reach new heights, something that is so simple yet could help me move forward sounds like a fantastic place to put my attention.
If you’re on board, I’m keeping this post real simple.
How to breathe
Step 1: Find your breath
Before we can improve our breathing, we need to make sure we know how to find it and tune into it. There are two locations that I find useful to tap into to best feel the breath.
First things first, wherever you are, I encourage you to disengage with what’s happening around you and, if you’re able, find a seat with your feet planted on the floor. If you’re unable to do this, then come to a stable standing position.
Now, tune into your nose as you inhale a breath. Feel the sensations as the air enters in. Where do you feel it most intensely? What does it feel like? Simply notice the sensations.
Then, release that breath and feel into the release out your mouth. Once again, just notice the sensations.
Feel free to take a few breaths here, just noticing it enter in the the nose and out through the mouth.
Now, as you breathe in and out, turn your attention to your chest. Feel the inhale expand your rib cage. Then, feel the release as you exhale it out.
Just feel. Notice. Be with your breath.
Once you’re comfortable with these sensations it’s time to move on.
Step 2: Engage your breath
Now that you know what your breath feels like, I’d like to turn your attention to a few key points that you can engage with to improve the efficiency of your breathing.
The first is the inhale that is filling us up as our chest expands. Along with that chest expansion is filling up of the abdomen.
Expansion. That’s what the inhale is about.
Now, what we don’t want to do is try to force any expansion. The breath is a gentle thing. We want to allow it in as it expands us, not the other way.
That is, we aren’t trying to engage any muscles to force the breath in. We aren’t forcing the rib cage nor abdomen to expand. The breath is entering passively, filling as up, and that leads to this natural expansion.
To help you out, you can use some visualization to guide the breath. Imagine breathing into your belly (or even breathing into your feet), allowing that breath to enter in expanding the chest and abdominal cavity.
One more thing about the inhale. What’s happening, anatomically, is that your diaphragm, a large and flat muscle at the base of your lungs, is descending down into your abdominal area. As you inhale, your lungs expand and the diaphragm moves downward.
This leads to that rib cage expansion as the lungs within expand, as well as the abdominal expansion.
Once again, just note that this is a gentle and passive process. All that needs to happen is that downward movement of the diaphragm, and from there it’s all about allowing your chest and abdomen to expand. I find it useful to simply tune into this expansive sensation. Visualize it. Feel it. Allow it to happen.
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And now, that exhale. This one is relatively straightforward.
Once you’ve been filled up by the inhale, exhale out your mouth and simply feel into that release. Let it all out – the whole thing – feeling the rib cage release and the abdomen contract.
Again, you aren’t forcing any muscle contraction here. This isn’t about flexing your abs. Rather, this is just about releasing your breath fully, finding the end of that full exhale coinciding with that gentle core contraction.
Step 3: Fine tuning
The mechanics of breathing go deeper from here, but I’ve found that it’s best that we don’t dive in too deep too quickly.
Instead, you are likely to find the most benefit from spending some time with your own breath.
That’s what I strongly encourage you to do now over the next few days. Simply find some time to pause in your day and tune into your breath.
Be mindful of how it enters in (through the nose) and how it expands your chest. If your breath needs some assitance, visualize yourself breathing into your abdomen or feet as your breath fills up your abdominal cavity.
Then, simply let it all out through your mouth.
And repeat as long as you’d like.