So part three of Breathwork, probably the most important and the bit you’ve been waiting for.
What I’m going to cover in this e mail is three basic exercises to get you started and experience the wonderful effects of Breathwork. Anything further or more advanced than this it’s better to get professional help and instruction, something I’d be more than happy to help you with.
So let’s get going.
First Step – How To Breathe:
The majority of people do not breathe correctly, they breathe with their throats and necks and breathe in and out through their mouths. All of this means that you are not maximising each breath and having to breath harder and more often to oxygenate your body.
So firstly just try breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, find somewhere comfortable to sit, make sure you’re sitting upright and just breath slowly and deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth. Nice and simple, nice and easy.
I would recommend that you try this as much as you can throughout the day, just put your attention on your breathing and in through the nose, out through the mouth. Try it. Keep practicing this nice and slowly, nice and easily. Try this first step as much as you can and try and make it that this becomes your new habitual way of breathing.
I would encourage you to really work and this stage this will give you the basic control for all the future sessions and practices.
Further to breathing through their mouths, most people never activate their diaphragm. They throat and neck breath, never fully filling their lungs and only onboarding a fraction of the oxygen from each breath, wasting all that effort.
So now you’ve mastered correct technique: in through the nose, out through the mouth, let’s get as much oxygen into your body as possible.
So sitting nice and relaxed, upright and breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Sit comfortably, with your knees bent and your shoulders, head and neck relaxed.
Place one hand on your upper chest and the other just below your rib cage. This will allow you to feel your diaphragm move as you breathe.
Breathe in slowly through your nose so that your stomach moves out against your hand. The hand on your chest should remain as still as possible.
Tighten your stomach muscles, so that your stomach moves back in, as you exhale. The hand on your upper chest must remain as still as possible.
You may notice it takes an increased effort to use your diaphragm correctly. At first, you'll probably get tired while doing this exercise. But keep at it, because with continued practice diaphragmatic breathing will become automatic. At first, practice this exercise for five to 10 minutes about three to four times per day. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend doing this exercise.
Do not move onto this stage until you have mastered: in through the nose and out through the mouth and have started to activate your diaphragm correctly, I would guess that making the first two stages habitual, will probably take a number of weeks, but as in all things the more you practice the better and quicker the results.
The first stage of the box breathing is to understand the counting, this is crucial to get the correct counts of in, out and hold.
So let’s start with a few basics:
In = breathe in through your nose.
Out = breathe out through your mouth.
Hold = no breath in and no breath out, hold either with lungs full of breath or hold with lungs empty of breath.
Count = the amount of time that you either breath in, out or hold.
The counting is very individual to yourself, don’t worry about the length of the count, each count doesn’t have to be exactly a second, nor too long i.e. three seconds, just count slowly and evenly and make each count about the same time.
When you are doing the counting say each number “outloud” in your mind, this keeps the count even and accurate and it also ensures that you concentrate on the practice and relaxes both your mind and your body.
So if you were doing a count of three it would, in your head, sound like this:
In (this counts as No. 1 in the count), two, three. That’s it very simple and I would just practice the Breathwork count before starting an exercise.
So let’s do a Box Breathwork exercise.
This is a count of three Box Exercise and the basics for everything you do in Breathwork. We’re going to breathe in for a count of three, hold for a count of three, breathe out for a count of three and last stage hold for a count of three. Here’s the exercise:
Breathe in for a count of three: In, Two Three.
Hold for a count of three: Hold, Two, Three.
Breathe out for a count of three: Out, Two, Three.
Hold for a count of three: Hold, Two, Three.
So that’s it a full set of one repetition. At the start I would do this for a minute four times per day, it’s gets the process working and get’s you used to Breathwork. Don’t forget, In through the nose, out through the mouth and place your hands on your chest and stomach to ensure diaphragm activation.
As you master Steps 1, 2 and 3, increase the amount of time that you practice every day.
Now that you understand the importance of Breathwork, you’ll want to find ways to easily incorporate it into your daily routine. Here are some tips to help you easily begin a Breathwork practice and start feeling the benefits:
Schedule a time(s): Plan one or more specific times a day when you want to do your breathing exercises. This will help you establish a commitment.
Start small: Begin your practice with the easiest techniques and breathe for only 1 to 5 minutes per session. You can increase the length of your sessions as you progress.
Set a reminder: It’s easy to forget to do new things, so set a reminder in your calendar for each of your sessions to help you remember.
Take a break: If you’re struggling to get through the exercises or are losing motivation, get up and take a break to do something else. Then come back and finish when you’re ready.
Do what you can: Life can get hectic. If you miss a Breathwork session, it’s okay to stop and do a quick, easy exercise whenever you remember. This will still count as practicing and help you achieve the many Breathwork benefit
So over the last couple of months we’ve learnt about the benefits of Kefir and of Breathwork, both of these are so easy to incorporate into your daily life. The benefits will be enormous, I guarantee if you engage fully you will be amazed how these two small changes will increase your health and change your life.
If you would like to order some Kefir, book a Breathwork session, or require treatment, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And remember, you can always contact me just for some information or advice.
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