Before we consider the topic of inhaling and exhaling, I invite you to consider the placement of your body. Take a few moments to consider the way in which you are sitting or lying down. In Breathing and the breath the transport of oxygen into the body was detailed. In your current position, how can the breath find its way into the body? Are you slumped over? Is your chest caved in? Be honest with yourself! You may want to move some of the muscles in your body to allow openness and sit taller. If poor postural habits have been present for years, the body’s physical structure adapts to the anatomically poor position. It takes time to bring the body into a normal spinal alignment with good posture. For those of you who need more info on posture have a look at the article Posture.
Seated breathing position - The movements of breathing will feel different depending on your body position. Sit tall encouraging the crown of your head upwards to elongate your body. A chair is great or sitting on a couple of bolsters is great too. Remove or adjust anything that will constrict movement of the abdomen or chest. Rest your hands in your lap or place them on the abdomen if that feels good to you. Close the eyes or take a soft steady gaze and allow your awareness to settle upon your inhale and exhale. I know I suggested that you sit tall, but I want there to be movement and a softness in the belly. As well as this, feel into the sides of the ribcage reaching for freedom to all sides as you promote elongation. There is a balance between reaching and softening as you find length. Play around to find what fits for you. Allow your body to support you, let your back muscles engage enough to support your bones and give you space to breathe. When you are comfortable and have settled into yourself a little, I invite you to observe your breath. What do I mean by that? Notice how it feels, give yourself time to observe the pace and its depth.
Lying breathing position – A yoga position called shavasana (yoga contains a lot of Sanskrit, an ancient language and precursor to Hindi and other languages) translates as corpse pose. Begin by lying on your back on a flat surface. Support the head by placing a thin cushion or rolled up blanket behind your head. It may feel good for your body, to roll a blanket and place it behind the knees encouraging comfort in the lower back. Separate the feet, allowing the ankles to move to around hip distance apart and let the toes roll outward away from the body so you are in an open position. Place the hands so that the palms face the sky, as you allow the back of the neck be long i.e. the chin dips slightly toward the chest. There are some people who do not enjoy being in this position due to how it makes them feel. If you are one of these people place the soles of your feet about 30cm apart, knees to the sky and let the knees fall towards each other so you are able to relax whilst enjoying the space around the belly area…Play around until you get settled in. This takes less and less time, the more you get to know what your body enjoys. Bring awareness to the breath and feel your continuous flow of breath entering and leaving the body. Bring your focus and attention to softening the rib cage (whatever that means to you at this time) encouraging movement of the abdomen. Deep breathing should be slow and gentle.
Deep breathing
Breathe in calmly and steadily through the nose filling the belly and chest for 4 seconds then breathe out through the mouth for 4 seconds. Repeat for a few minutes. When breathing out it helps me to imagine I am breathing out through a straw.
Equal breathing
Close the mouth (this helps to ensure you breathe through the nose) Inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of four. Do this for a few minutes. Continue for a cycle you determine or set yourself a number of minutes before you begin. The point is to breathe in a steady manner and not feel the need to gasp for air at any point. It may feel natural and comfortable to hold for a moment after inhaling or exhaling, so the breathing exercise would have another element: Exhale for a count of four and then pause and count to four Inhale for a count of four and then retain the breath (hold it in) for a count of four. Repeat the exhale-hold-inhale-hold for a cycle of four and then release the practice i.e. breathe normally.
A word of caution
Breath retention (holding of breath) should be avoided if pregnant. If suffering from high or low blood pressure, avoid retaining the breath. It is not recommended to retain the breath if suffering from lung, heart, eye or ear problems. For those who have trauma sensitivity, parts of the body such as the diaphragm may feel tight, uncomfortable or a sense of unease may be experienced. Please avoid the practice or adapt it to what you are comfortable with. If you become lightheaded release the practice.
When I do this exercise, I find that my count of four becomes longer and steadier both on the inhalation and exhalation, so it is more like a count of eight or twelve and so on. Breathing practice take time to master and if it is challenging to you, stick to what your body can manage and incrementally increase according to your body. The breath should not be strained or forced. If you are finding that you are running out of puff at the end of a long breath, consider making your count a little shorter. The aim is to have consistency in all aspects of the breath; start, middle and end. If you find that you are easily mastering the ‘equal breath’ perhaps move on to abdominal breathing.
Abdominal breathing (diaphragmatic breathing)
Abdominal breathing (or diaphragmatic breathing) is most easily described as the type of breathing that babies do. Babies have not yet learned about: traffic, time, demands, unanswered emails etc and they breath in a deep, relaxed state of ‘belly breathing’. They do not breath in a shallow manner using the chest and only a fraction of the lungs but breathe using the diaphragm. In this type of breathing there is expansion of the abdomen as opposed to the chest. It is worth stating at this point that in yogic practice, there are those who would say that the abdominal and chest muscles are not involved in diaphragmatic breathing, and should not move. That said however, teaching hospitals of mainstream medical treatment use the terms abdominal and diaphragmatic breathing interchangeably, and do encourage patients to observe the abdomen moving as a sign of deeper relaxation and appropriate technique.
Abdominal breathing technique
Adopt one of the body positions outlined previously. Bring your attention towards your breath, observing the inhalation and exhalation whilst gently placing one palm on the chest and the other on the abdomen. It may help to place one hand under your rib cage and one on your upper chest. As you breathe in, the abdomen should rise with little or no movement in the chest, you may notice a slight flaring in the ribs. Upon exhalation, the abdomen will flatten, again with little or no movement in the chest. Engage the abdominal muscles encouraging them to ‘draw in’ towards you as you exhale through pursed lips. The hand placed on the belly should move. In this breath you are aiming to breathe smoothly, evenly and at a comfortable depth of breath. Once you have become comfortable with this you should aim to lengthen the exhalation to longer than the inhalation. This can take a bit of practice. You can try this for ten breaths or five minutes for example but it will take time to build up the time that you do this. Once you have concluded this practice, take a moment to observe how you feel and slowly roll over on to one side before gently getting up. This exercise will slow and still the mind and body, so allow yourself to gradually arise before continuing with your day… Or perhaps you wish to do this before bed, in which case, sweet dreams.
Closing thoughts…
If you can give your breath your full attention for a few moments, your body will let you know when it wants to breathe in again. If you do this for a few more moments it feels as though everything slows down. For myself, if I focus on my breathing for just a few moments and really pay attention to how my body feels, in a really short time I experience what I can only describe as a glorious sense of space. In between each breath there is space. Your wildly intelligent body will decide when to breathe in next and before that breath there is just … space. Every single body is different and your body is different every day so what you will experience will not be the same as me.
In the positions above, as well as many others, you can explore the breath. When in a straightforward body position you have the opportunity to give your breath your full attention. As you give your body your attention and watch your breath arrive and leave without trying to achieve anything, you may find that your settle into yourself and become ‘present’. If being present is unknown to you at this time never fear, there will be another article covering this…presently. Chuckles with self delight.
