Abdominal Breathing Techniques in Yoga
Breathing is a natural process, but recent studies reveal a very important fact. People who tend to breath in a better way are able to overcome stress, exhaustion, and even endure asthma attacks. Breathing is all about exchanging carbon dioxide with oxygen.
The amount of oxygen entering the body depends on the depth of the breath. Consequently, a deeper breath supplies your body with more oxygen and this nourishes your muscles and brain.
In cases of stress and fear, the adrenaline secreted tends to constrict the airway passages leading to shorter and shallower breaths. This results in an insufficient amount of oxygen entering the body and the accumulation of carbon dioxide inside your lungs. If you are keen to be able to think better in situations of stress or fear, then you may want to know more about abdominal breathing yoga.
Yoga is a complete way of life and breathing is one of its main pillars. The first lesson you learn when you start practicing yoga is to master the pranayama technique or the breath control technique. In this exercise you have to watch your breath and learn how your body deals with breathing.
Most people experience shallow breath all the time. If you watch your breath for a minute or two you will discover that you are only using half of your total lung capacity. If you want to make sure of this then keep watching your breath but do not change it, allow your body to breathe as it is used to. Then, when you are at the end of the inhalation phase, try to force another phase of inhalation. You will be surprised by the amount of air that you can add.
This is the unused portion of your lungs that you need to make use of.
Yoga exercises teach you how to include this neglected portion of your lung in your normal breathing pattern. Here are some simple breathing exercises for you. Sit in a relaxed position and put your hand on your stomach. Close your eyes and inhale. Try to inhale air until your hand elevates. Hold this breath for five seconds then exhale slowly from your nostrils. Repeat this for several days and after few days you will notice the difference.
When your body gets used to this abdominal breathing, you will find that it executes it unconsciously as well. In other words, with time passing by, your breaths will grow longer and deeper.
