Breathing exercises calm the mind and relax the body. For many people, taking deep breaths requires practice and will be difficult to do while relaxing because of the concentration needed to learn a new skill. Practice breathing every day, starting with a basic abdominal exercise and working up to incorporating breathing with relaxing the whole body.
Benefits of Breathing Exercises
Breathing exercises produce a number of healthy and calming benefits. They slow the heart rate, lower stress and oxygen consumption, increase lung capacity and produce relaxation. When you become stressed or scared, your body releases a hormone called cortisol as you enter a flight-or-fright mode. To stop this response and instead calm down, employ breathing exercises whenever you feel nervous, anxious, worried, angry or tense. The ability to breathe into your abdomen using your diaphragm is necessary for practicing breathing exercises, though this is unnatural and takes time to learn.
Abdominal Breathing
The diaphragm is a dome-like muscle that rests above the abdomen. When you inhale into your abdomen, you are actually pulling the diaphragm down as you inhale. The diaphragm lowers into the abdomen, causing the belly to expand. This type of breathing does not involve the chest. Most people breathe into their upper chest, but to truly relax you need to use your diaphragm instead. The lower ribs and abdomen move during abdominal breathing, not the chest. There should be no tension or movement in the upper body except in the belly and rib cage. Sit quietly and practice making the abdomen swell as you inhale and then contract the abs to push the air out as you exhale. Breathe only through your nose for this exercise.
Breathing With the Whole Body
Breathing with the whole body is what you naturally do when completely relaxed. It's still abdominal breathing, but the chest, shoulders, spine and hips participate, too. Do not skip learning abdominal breathing first; this should be something you are comfortable with and skilled; otherwise, as you attempt whole-body breathing, you might slip back into shallow, chest breathing and become tense without realizing it. To breathe with the whole body, sit comfortably and first practice abdominal breathing to relax. Then, breathe even deeper, allowing your chest to expand outward and up as your shoulders rise. Do not shrug your shoulders. Let the air push them up slightly. Breathe into your back, too, letting your spine move gently like a wave.
Whole-Body Relaxation Exercises
Once you are easily able to breathe deeply with your whole body, you can use a visualization exercise to progressively relax your muscles. As you sit and breathe deeply with your eyes closed, imagine your feet relaxing completely. Work your way slowly up your body to relax the muscles of each part of you one at a time until you reach your face and head. Move slowly, taking 10 to 20 minutes to complete the exercise.
