Diaphragmatic breathing  is a powerful breathing exercise that acquaints us with our full lung capacity, induces the relaxation response, and massages internal organs. It is a wonderful practise, and great to teach to kids as they tend to develop poor breathing habits early in life, unless they are involved in an activity where these skills as taught, such as voice training, playing a musical instrument involving the mouth (flute, trumpet, etc), or theatre.

It is helpful to imagine the diaphram as a frown that sits tucked under the ribcage. You can even place your hand, cupped upside down, just touching your lower ribs. As you inhale try to make the frown disappear by pulling your diaphram down, expanding the ribs. Exhale, relax and return to frowning. Both the inhale and exhale are slow and controled – its not a race or a pushing, simple mindfulness will do.

Here is a helpful video which explains some of the benefits and teaches how to perform Diaphragmatic Breathing.

This is also very effective for dealing with stressful situations, such as:

• before taking a test (increases oxygen flow to the brain making you smarter)
• when you feel overwhelmed (induces the relaxation response)
• before public speaking (more terrifying than dying for many people)
• when dealing with pain (gotta love childbirth)
• when someone makes you angry/frustrated and all you want to do is smack ‘em one (use on a moment to moment basis if you have a teen)

It is also recommended as an aid for reducing hot flashes in menopausal women.

More breathing exercise will be coming, so subscribe to my RSS Feed if you enjoyed this post.

Like

Unlike

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.