3 Steps To Fantastic Health Through Simple Breathing

Do you know how to breathe? It seems like a non-starter. We all know how to breathe! If not we would be dead by now. So why is there so much talk about breathing exercise, and why do we need to learn to breathe? Why does it become a form of exercise and even result in better health?

What are the benefits of deep breathing? Based on a report from Harvard Medical school, deep breathing is our body self-healing mechanisms. You can read more about the story here:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/take-a-deep-breath

From a scientific point, deep breathing encourages full oxygen exchange that allows the better exchange of oxygen with carbon dioxide.

In Chinese Medicine, deep breathing is strongly related to our ‘Qi’ – Lifeforce. And our lung is one of the most crucial organs that regulate the circulation of Qi. It’s connecting our Qi from the lung to other parts of our organs.

Generally, regular practice of deep breathing is said to relax our body, reduce stress, improve heart condition and even strengthen our immunity. Some doctors also go as far as saying deep breath can prevent COVID-19!

Deep breathing exercise is somewhat like meditations. During the training, you will need to focus on your breathing and thus become mindfulness. So how do you practice deep breathing?

Step 1: Find a comfortable and quiet place.

You don’t need any special equipment to practice deep breathing. It would be best if you had a place that is comfortable for you. You can practice eep breath anywhere as long as you can rest comfortably rested. Be it laying on the bed, sitting on the couch or the office chair.

If you have an Apple Watch or a Samsung watch, you can also use the ‘Breathing App’ that already installed on the watch to help you in deep breathing.

Step 2: Use your stomach not your chest to breath

You can rest your hands on your stomach. When you breathe in, you should feel your stomach expanding. You can sense the air filling up your lung. When you breathe out, you can feel your stomach contracting.

You can try out the 4-7-8 breathing method. Takes 4 second to breath in, hold your breath for 7 seconds and lastly take 8 seconds to breath out.

Step 3: Focus on your breathing.

This step is the tricky part. It would help if you focused on your breathing, to feel the air going into your lung and exhale from your body. It would be best if you tried to s the flow of your breath as naturally as possible. Quietly try to notice the flow of your breath in your body. Can you feel the sensations of breath may be on your chest, abdomen or your nostrils? Once you found your spot, stay focus there.

This last step is the most difficult one because it is not easy to focus attention to your breathing. Your mind will be likely to wander away. You may suddenly remember something that you need to do, and you may start thinking of your work. Do not dismay, and there is no need to feel defeated. Just take note of the distraction and gently remind yourselves to go back with your breathing.

Just like any form of skills, to perfect your deep breathing, you need to practice regularly and consistently. One thing to note is that it does not take up much of your time. Deep breathing of just 5 minutes could immediately let you relax and destress.

During this pandemic period, it is essential to build up our immunity. Besides eating healthy and exercise, we should include deep breathing into our routine.