Walking is instinctive to the human species. The act of walking is as natural as breathing. However, proper walking technique requires more than putting one foot in front of the other. Gaining the full benefits from walking requires breathing properly as well. This is true whether you're walking for pleasure, for fitness or to relieve stress.
Walking and Breathing
Practice deep breathing when you perform any type of exercise, including walking, the American Lung Association recommends. Breathe in to a count of two, and breathe out to a count of four. Breathing through your nose filters dust particles from the air and helps to maintain the proper balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, Healthy Place explains.
When you're walking at a moderate pace of 3.5 mph, you should feel slightly breathless but able to speak in full sentences. When walking at a brisk pace of 3.75 mph, you should feel somewhat more breathless with conversation limited to short sentences. Power walking at 4 mph and faster will make you feel quite breathless and able only to speak a few words at a time, according to "Prevention" magazine.
Breathwalk Meditation
Energize your stride with breathwalk meditation. Breathwalk combines synchronized breathing with walking and directed meditation, according to Methodist Healthcare, administered by San Antonio's Health Information Resources. Breathwalk offers many benefits, including weight loss, decreased anxiety and reduced back pain. In a report published by the "World Journal of Gastroenterology" in 2007, M Vazquez-Vandyck and colleagues found that breathwalk techniques had a beneficial effect for patients suffering from hepatitis C, obesity and insulin resistance
Begin a breathwalk meditation session by walking at a normal pace and concentrating on breathing through the diaphragm, "Yoga International" magazine instructs. Coordinate your breathing so that you inhale with four steps, then exhale with four steps. Continue for at least one minute. Inhale through your nose with four short puffs coordinated with four steps, taking in more air each time until your lungs are full. Then exhale using the same process. Continue the cycle for 5 minutes, then take a break for 3 minutes to breathe normally and walk at a regular pace. Repeat the 8 minute pattern again, this time adding the silent mantra "Sa Ta Na Ma" while you inhale and whispering the mantra "Wah Hay Gu Roo" when you exhale.
Pursed Lip Breathing
Practice "pursed lip breathing" to maximize using your diaphragm while breathing, the American Lung Association advises. Relax and drop your shoulders. Breathe in through your nose. Pucker your lips as if you were whistling, then breathe out slowly. The breathing out motion should take approximately twice as long as breathing in. Your abdomen should expand when you inhale and deflate when you exhale with little or no movement in your chest, Healthy Place states. Practice the exercise first lying down, then gradually work your way toward being able to perform pursed lip breathing while you walk.
References
- American Lung Association: Lung Health Guide
- Healthy Place: The Importance of Breathing Through Your Nose
- Prevention: Shrink a Size in 14 Days--the Cardio Plans
- World Institute of Gastroenterology: Effect of Breathwalk on Body Composition Metabolic and Mood State in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Insulin Resistance
- San Antonio's Health Information Resource: Breathe your way to a Revitalized Body, Mind and Spirit with Breathwalking
