Happy Breathing

We take about 20 000 breaths per day.  Without breath there is no life.  We can live without food for 20-40 days and without water 3-5 days, but not without breathing for just a few minutes.

It is recommended to spend 10 minutes a day doing some form of conscious breathing.  Conscious breathing is where we are controlling the breath instead of the body breathing on its own.  It can make a huge difference to our wellbeing.

How to do: One of the simplest ways is to do abdominal breathing, where the tummy moves up and down with the breath without any pause between inhalation and exhalation.  The easiest to do this pattern of breathing is to lie flat on you back.  As you breathe in, push your abdomen up and feel as if your tummy is touching the ceiling.  As you breathe out, your tummy sinks back into the spine.

What is does: When you breathe like this, you are forcing the diaphragm (the largest muscle in your body) to move up and down and this movement helps it to relax.  As we activate it, we massage our abdominal organs, like the lungs and the lymph system.

For a deeper process you can lie flat on your back, with your knees bend up and your feet pressed down on the floor.  Angle of the knees should be 45 degrees.  Tuck your chin slightly in, so that your neck and spine is in a straight line, this will straighten the energetic spine.  When you breathe like this for 10 minutes every day, it will bring great joy and enthusiasm.

Courtesy Allison Slater