Natural Breathing

 

There are two types of breathing. There is natural breathing and there is not breathing the way Nature intended us to breathe.

In natural breathing, our belly first and then our rib cage second (and not as much as our belly) expands out as we breathe in. We relax on exhalation and our belly and rib cage come back toward the center of our body.

Watch a baby breathe. They breathe naturally. And then stress and thinking and doing come in, and we lose our connection to the natural breath. If we want to get rid of extra stress we can enhance natural breathing by inhaling through our nose and exhaling through our mouth.

Longer exhalations than inhalations are more relaxing. Longer inhalations than exhalations will build tension in us. A balance of time with both inhalation and exhalation is usual in natural breathing.

It's been scientifically proven that when we breathe with our abdomen going in and out, we activate the parasympathetic part of our nervous system (which relaxes our body). When we do not engage the abdomen in movement and we just breathe into our chest, we activate the sympathetic nervous system (which tenses our body). We also release cortisol (a stress hormone similar to adrenaline) and this creates even more tension. And we wonder at the end of our work day why we feel stressed!?!

By coming back, time and time again each day, to our natural breath, we come closer to who we really are. When we breathe in a non-natural way, we lose touch with our essential nature. This is why awareness of our breathing is almost always included in a meditation practice.

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