Most people do not use their lungs to their fullest capacity. Whether someone is stressed, inattentive to their breathing or simply have a bad habit, breathing rarely occurs in the full way that it should. When people fail to breathe and use the full extent of their lungs, it can lead to uncontrolled breathing, higher stress and breathing troubles later on in life. There are ways to take control of your breathing, though, and by doing this, you can increase the amount of oxygen that flows through your body.
Complete Breath
The complete breath is a technique that utilizes the proper way to breathe. For this exercise, fill your lungs as much as you can, then empty them completely. The complete breath is the foundation of many yoga exercises and practices.
Breathing's Resting Stage
What many fail to forget is that, just like physical exercise, much of the benefit occurs due to what you do after the exercise itself. This means that how you breathe during your resting period can affect you just as much as when you are performing a breathing exercise. Improving your breathing rate is very simple. It involves simply allowing more time between every inhale and exhale. Deliberately adding extra time between each breath is crucial to improving your breathing subconsciously. After working on this for enough time, your breathing will naturally slow down and you will find yourself to be much more relaxed.
Mind Control
Another way to control your breathing is to improve your mental state. These go together, because your breathing is controlled by your mind, specifically the unconscious portion of your mind. Essentially, when you work on your breathing, you are training your mind on how to breathe properly. When your mind is distracted, your breathing becomes uneven and you are unable to control it. However, by doing simple mind exercises such as clearing your thoughts and bringing yourself to a relaxed mental state, your mind will teach itself to control your breathing much more efficiently.
Tai chi, which is known as "moving meditation," is a practice the involves simple movements to preoccupy your mind, thereby preventing subconscious thoughts from occurring as often. This allows the mind to focus more on breathing.
Keep it Gentle
Whatever breathing exercise you are utilizing, remember that forcing breath is dangerous. If, when doing an exercise, you begin to feel uncomfortable, dizzy or out of breath, stop immediately and do not resume until you can settle and relax yourself again.
