Breathing Exercises

Besides food, our other fuel is air – free, available everywhere, air.  Breathing exercises have been shown to help with pain, relaxation and lowering blood pressure.  The Breath of Life also affects our energy circulation.  Our food energy is mixed with oxygen from our breathing and combats fatigue naturally.

Be Careful

Many practitioners in natural health promote various oxygen therapies, such as ozone and hydrogen peroxide.  I strongly discourage these as they are very aging and damaging to tissue.  Oxygen safely enters the bloodstream and tissues via the lungs, NOT the stomach or the veins.  However, oxygen supplied to the lungs via the nose using O2 tanks can be helpful in debility.  Stable oxygen is not dangerous as supplied to the lungs this way.  Ozone and peroxide are unstable forms of oxygen, and are inflammatory.

Some of the following info is taken from the book The IQ Answer: Maximizing Your Child’s Potential by F. Lawlis.  Lawlis reports improved brain activity with various breathing techniques. He recommends that a breathing technique should be practiced for 10 minutes 2X/day but even 5 minutes of practice brings results.  After the technique is mastered, these can be done while driving, walking or going to sleep.  Do it.  It’s free.

Finally, breathing exercises are described by 4 numbers
counts to inhale : counts to hold on inhale : counts to exhale : counts to hold on exhale

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing

When this technique was used during a study of patients undergoing spinal surgery, the group that used this technique had no complications, healed twice as fast, and had significantly lower pain levels than the group not doing this breathing technique. Brain scans showed that the memory area ‘lights up’ when this technique is used indicating improved blood flow and brain activity.

Place the hand on the navel and note the movement as you inhale and exhale. Breathe in and out such that maximum movement of the hand is achieved. Breathe in for 7 counts and exhale for 7 counts.  So this is a 7:0:7:0 breath.

2. Full Chest Breathing

The technique uses the 3 levels of breathing: diaphragm (stomach, as above), chest and shoulders. It is useful for anxiety and to gain emotional control and composure during times of stress.

Practice: Place one hand on the navel and one on the chest. Breathe into the navel making sure the chest (nor any other part of the body) moves, using pattern above.  After 1 minute of breathing this way, switch by breathing into the chest without the navel hand moving (nor any other part of the body).  After a minute of this breathing, breathe into the shoulders raising them slightly and making sure the areas where the hands are placed do not move. This takes practice and body awareness. After 30 seconds of this, begin filling all three areas with breath and practice this for 5 minutes at a comfortable rate.

3. Triangle Breathing

This technique is helpful for sleeping and weight loss. It fosters creativity and helps with problem solving ‘outside the box’.  Brain scans show that this technique ‘lights up’ the back part of the brain and the frontal lobes.  It is based on the ratio 1:4:2:0.   A comfortable breathing rate for most people is 4:16:8:0  or 3:12:6:0. This also takes practice and should be done for about 10 minutes.

4. Alternate Nostril Breathing

This technique helps with stuck thought patterns, repeating thoughts triggering uncomfortable emotions, self-defeating behaviors, thoughts leading to obsessive-compulsive disorders, and obsessive focusing on one thing/person.  Brain scans show that during this breathing technique each area of the brain ‘lights up’ one at a time which appears to clear stuck connections and detox the brain so people can adopt a different way of thinking and get out of the rut.

Hold one nostril closed while inhaling. Then at the top of the breath, close off the other nostril and exhale and then inhale. Switch nostrils again at the top of the breath. So when a nostril is open it begins its sequence with an exhale followed by and inhale and then is closed while the other nostril repeats the exhale followed by and inhale.

5. Box Breathing

This technique is most often used for dealing with fear.
The breathing pattern is 4:4:4:4 inhale:hold:exhale:hold.

6. Fire Breathing

I learned this technique in Quantum Touch but it may originate elsewhere, maybe yoga.  In any event, this technique helps pump lymph and energize our energy circulation (mantle).   It is reminiscent of blowing out candles on a birthday cake.  Quick and forceful inhale and exhale, repeated several times.  I do it until I feel slight hyperventilation feeling in my face and then stop.  This can take from 5 to 8 breaths.  The pattern is 1:0:1:0.