Understanding Breathing
How we breathe is vital to our physical, emotional, and mental health.
The quality of our breathing has an undeniable impact on the quality of our life. Poor breathing brings higher levels of stress. Good breathing brings higher levels of calm and tranquility.
Because breathing is a natural ongoing activity [let’s face it – if we’re not breathing, then we’re dead!], very few of us give it any thought at all; that is until we have problems with it. Then we realise just how crucial and joyful it is to be able to breathe properly.
What we generally don’t appreciate is that breathing is more than just a bodily function to keep us alive.
The depth and quality of our breathing greatly influences our health, our susceptibility to stress, our ability to relax, our resistance to disease, our mental function, and our emotional stability.
To effectively work with breath awareness and breathing exercises in the context of relaxation, it is probably wise to gain a small understanding of the mechanisms of breathing and some of the terminology we may be using.
You will find all this information, presented in what I hope is a simple and user-friendly way, under The Breathing Process.
Some interesting facts about the breath
# Breathing is the ONLY autonomic function (ie. an internal bodily activity that occurs without our conscious will) that we can also put under our control. In other words, we can leave the breathing alone and it will do its own thing to keep us functioning and alive, OR we can choose to control the breathing to improve its efficiency and the quality of our existence.
# Easy movement of the diaphragm is an important aspect of breathing well. For many of us, the diaphragm has become a lazy and poorly-used muscle and we get by without having to make it work. Proper use of the diaphragm is central to good breathing; in addition, diaphragmatic breathing naturally induces relaxation of mind and body. A great stress buster!
# The normal breath rate during regular activity is about 14-16 breaths per minute. It will rise higher than this after physical exertion, such as running to catch the last bus home! If, however, it is consistently higher than this figure, then it is an indication that your breathing is too rapid and shallow.
# The fewer breaths we take per minute, the more it signifies a calm mind and a relaxed body. By controlling the breathing, we can easily drop the figure down to 4 or 5 breaths per minute, and even down to 2 or 3. The ancient Yogis would say that the length of our lifetime is determined by the number of breaths we take. Fewer breaths per minute means a longer and healthier life!
# The average person uses only a small proportion of their lung capacity. The lungs are never being fully ventilated, which means that stagnant, stale air accumulates in lung tissue – a breeding ground for germs and disease.
# A yawn often indicates the body’s need for oxygen. It doesn’t always mean that it’s time for bed! Rather, a few deep breaths are required!
# A sigh is a natural way to release tension. Feeling anxious or tense often results in holding the breath, usually after the inhalation. The body desperately needs to let the breath out so that a fresh, new breath can be taken in. An involuntary sigh will ensue, along with the accompanying, fleeting release of tension.
# Ideally, the breath should be taken in through the nostrils rather than the mouth. The nose is designed to filter out the dirt and impurities in the air, as well as to warm and moisten the air to make it compatible with the environment in the lungs. Mouth breathing is unhealthy and unkind to the lungs, but has become a bad habit for many.
# The quality of our breathing will affect our emotions OR vice versa, the emotions we are experiencing will affect the quality of the breathing. For instance, if we are feeling anxious or nervous, then the breathing rhythm will become rapid and shallow; conversely, if we are breathing rapidly and shallowly, we will tend to feel anxious or worried even if we have no cause to!
Where it goes wrong
You may be thinking.....
Why should I need to learn how to breathe? Surely, it’s happening on its own and I don’t need to interfere?
As babies, we come into this world breathing just as we should; the body is relaxed, the ribs and diaphragm move easily and effortlessly. As we grow up, of course, life becomes more stressful, so we develop tension and habitual tightness in our structure and our posture becomes less upright and free. Ill health or pain will also cause similar stiffness and rigidity, as we ‘brace’ ourselves against the suffering. Sorrow, depression, lack of confidence etc. result in a drooping, bent posture, which restricts the expansion of the lungs and produces an impoverished breath.
As a consequence, the muscles used for breathing become restricted, underused, and less effective; the breath becomes shallower and shallower. The lungs therefore are not being completely ventilated, air is not being fully recycled, oxygen supply is limited, carbon dioxide balance is compromised, and ill health is knocking at the door.
Stress plays a major role in upsetting our breathing patterns and can easily change good breathing habits into bad breathing habits. For example, under stressful situations, we tend to hold the breath and restrict the exhalation, thus limiting ventilation of the lungs and intake of oxygen.
More insidious, though, is the transition to a breath pattern that is shallow, rapid, and irregular, termed hyperventilation. Hyperventilation can be caused by chronic and overwhelming stress and is no doubt the most frequently encountered breathing problem of all. The combination of high oxygen levels and low carbon dioxide levels in the blood created by hyperventilation results in feelings of anxiety, as well as muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and risk of heart disease.
The poor breathing habits that have developed during prolonged stressful times tend to stay with us because they are just that – habits. It is important, therefore, to break those damaging patterns and re-educate the body to enjoy full, easy, relaxed deep breathing once more.
Putting it right
Changing bad breathing habits to good ones is quite simple; you just need to employ a combination of relaxation training and some easy breathing exercises to re-educate the body to breathe more efficiently and healthily.
Relaxation training teaches all the muscles associated with breathing to release their tense rigidity and establish normal function. The diaphragm and the intercostal muscles begin to let go of their stress and tension so that they can perform as intended: contract to breathe in, relax to breathe out.
The breathing exercises, as you will see, are of two kinds: those that utilise easy movements, co-ordinated with the breath, to free up the ribcage and to release tightness in the body; and those that engage your awareness directly on the act of breathing.
As a result of these practices, two things should happen:
# your awareness improves such that you become more conscious of your breath patterns throughout normal activities. You will immediately register when you are inappropriately holding your breath, or breathing irregularly, etc., and be capable of correcting it.
# the new, and correct breathing rhythms that you have developed through practice, become the subconscious rhythms that your body adopts as its new ‘programme’. In other words, when you are not thinking about your breathing and you are leaving it to its own devices (which is most of the time), it will function in the efficient and beneficial manner to which it has now been trained.
