Are there things you do daily to help you through your day? This is the second in a short series sharing my favourite daily practices.

Breathing is just something you do, right?

For countless years and across ancient traditions, the breath is sacred. We believe that it is something that we should naturally be able to do brilliantly. Yet somehow in the twenty-first century, humans seem to have forgotten how to breathe well. We breathe on average 22,000 times a day. Not only does breathing well calm nerves, reduce stress and promote healing but 70% of the body’s waste is eliminated out on the exhale breath. Yet, we have lost the art of breathing well. It might be because we spend so much time cramped behind our desks, holding our breath, like chicken licken, should the sky fall in. Here is the root of so many of our daily stresses and anxieties. I believe that breathing well does take a little bit of conscious effort and like all the daily practices, I’m sharing, the benefits are long-term and cumulative. Here are my top-three tips to breathing better daily and two of my favourite breathing practices. To kick off though, it helps to understand a little more about the anatomy of breathing and how to breathe better we need to engage our bodies and our minds.

Our modern stressors are like the ancient sabre-toothed tiger. Whether in the modern world this is now a looming deadline or fear about paying the bills, the effect on our bodies and our breath is the same. When scared, your breath patterns change - short rapid breaths or even breath-holding replace longer breaths. Do this repeatedly and you have formed a habit. James Nestor’s book ‘Breath’ details many other reasons why twenty-first century humans find ourselves in this predicament: from the food we eat to the way we sleep, but what is not in question are the health benefits of breathing well. So, to begin to breathe properly, it helps to understand a little about the anatomy of breathing. When you breathe in, air is drawn into your lungs and when you breathe out air (and waste matter and moisture) are expelled out of your lungs. The lungs do not rely on a pump but on the ‘respiratory’ muscles including the diaphragm, the intercostal muscles (the muscles of the ribcage); the abdominal muscles and the muscles of the neck and chest.

How to breathe better daily:

1. Give your breathing muscles a daily workout! The muscles we use for respiration can often grow tense or be used incorrectly - by releasing and strengthening these muscles, not only do we breathe better but ultimately we are assisting the muscles often linked to tension. The main muscles used for breathing are: the diaphragm; the muscles in the rib cage and chest and the abdominal muscles. The secondary breathing muscles are the muscles around the neck and jaw. Jaw and neck releases; side bends and learning to strengthen and release the abdominal muscles are all helpful to release the muscles that we use for breathing.

2. Spend a few minutes daily taking conscious, diaphragmatic breaths. Either seated or lying down, place one hand on the belly and one on the chest. Inhale through the nose for a count of four feeling the bottom hand moving, pause a moment or two and then exhale through the mouth for a count of six, once again feeling how the bottom hand draws in. Pause for a beat after the exhale before starting the inhale again. Take a few rounds of this breath. Then switch to breathing in and out of the nose. It can help to imagine the belly as a balloon you’re filling up and releasing through your breath. Once you are comfortable with this, you can experiment with lengthening the exhale breath to relax further.

3. Use the power of touch to bring your attention to your breathing muscles. Rubbing the sides of the ribcage, relieving the jaw and the massaging into the side of the neck can all bring ease to our breathing muscles and promote a more relaxing breath.

Two breathing practices to try right now

Alternate-nostril breathing

Alternate-nostril breathing or nadi shodhana has been shown to improve lung-function and lower the heart-rate. In my mid-twenties, I developed asthma triggered by hay-fever. One of the few things that would bring me relief and allow me to sleep was alternate-nostril breathing. For me, this practice also promotes a sense of balance.

Take a few rounds of breath. Lower the index and middle finger of the right hand. Inhale. Gently close the right nostril with the right thumb and exhale out the left nostril. Breathe in through the left, gently close the left nostril with the ring finger and breathe out through the right. Breathe in through the right and repeat. Take a few rounds of this before returning to a normal breath. Remember to breathe through your nose. Practice for whatever length of time feels comfortable but aim for ten minutes.

Embryonic Breathing

This is a version of embryonic breathing from qigong. This practice has a number of different stages and I have found the combination of moving from stage to stage and the use of intention and visualisation very powerful. A number of participants in my classes have also told me that they find this practice extremely supportive. I hope you enjoy this recording and let me know what difference it makes to you.