7 Breathing Exercises For Better Health

Breathing Exercises

You may raise an eyebrow at the idea of doing breathing exercises because you are breathing all the time. So it may seem odd that there are people recommending that you make breathing exercises part of your daily routine!

However, there are indeed specific breathing techniques for breath control that help you practice mindful breathing in and out to reap certain benefits. Some of these are yoga breathing techniques. This is especially important for when you are feeling nervous, anxious, stressed or upset and you can manipulate your breathing to help control the shallow, fast and short breaths that ensue during such moments.

Check out the Wim Hof Method.

Doing mindful breathing helps in controlling the heart rate and sending calming responses to your brain in stressful moments. It helps in calming down the mind while reducing the shallow breathing and faster heart rate.

Besides you can do mindful breathing at any time of the day and anywhere you are when you need to calm yourself or just incorporating them into your daily routine with the goal of becoming fit and healthy. Here are 7 breathing exercises and their benefits that you can do as part of your daily healthy routine.

Equal Breathing (Sama Vritti)

Start this exercise by inhaling to the count of four and exhaling for the same count through the nose. You can then increase the counts gradually. This calms the nervous system and reduces stressful feelings while also increasing focus. It is most effective before concentrating on work or before bed to help erase distracting thoughts.

Progressive Breathing

This is done by closing the eyes and focusing on the tensing and relaxation of each muscle group such as feet and toes, knees, thighs, glutes, arms and chest, hands, jaw and neck and finally eyes for 2-3 seconds while taking deep slow breaths. This exercise helps in relaxing muscles and achieving a state of calm.

Abdominal Breathing

To do this exercise, place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly then take a deep breath through your nose feeling the diaphragm lower as the belly inflates. Aim for 6 to 10 deep slow breaths every minute for 10 minutes to help reduce the heart rate and blood pressure. This is also great before a stressful event.

Kapalbhati Breathing

This type of breathing involves taking a deep breath and exhaling with force till your abdomen goes deep inside, repeating for at least 5 minutes. This increases lung function, removes toxins, and calms and stabilizes the mind.

Throat Lock Breathing

For this type of breathing, take a deep breath then exhale completely then hold your breath while touching your chin to the chest and pulling in your stomach. Hold this for as long as possible then breathe in deeply as a way of release and repeat. This helps cure constipation and acidity and is beneficial to prostate problems and diabetes.

Bhastrika Breathing

For this exercise, take a deep breath through the nose while seated comfortably and exhale with a hissing sound, repeat for 2 to 5 minutes. This improves blood circulation, provides relaxation, calms the mind, relieves stress and helps strengthen lung function.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Start in a comfortable pose and hold the right thumb over the right nostril then take a deep breath through the left nostril then close off the left nostril and exhale through the right one and continue the pattern. It is a great wake up technique and has the benefit of bringing calm and balance to the mind and body.

[sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faq421bz3rhp” html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”3857″ question=”What are the best breathing exercises to calm down?” img_alt=”calm breathing exercises” css_class=”” ]Best breathing techniques are equal breathing, progressive breathing, abdominal breathing, kapalbhati breathing, throat lock breathing, bhastrika breathing and alternate nostril breathing.[/sc_fs_faq]