3 breathing exercise videos to create more peace and quiet in your head and body
It is the first thing we do when we enter this beautiful world and it is the last thing we do before leaving. It is the foundation of our life and it is also the most natural thing to do without giving it second thoughts. Let alone doing it consciously; breathing in and out oxygen properly.
Breathing is something we do on autopilot. Besides the fact we know that breathing is essential for living, it appears we are making less and less use of our lung capacity. Alongside that, our way of living nowadays has a serious impact on our quality of breathing. Are you burned out, have sleep deprivation or are you experiencing stress? Your foundation will be interrupted due to a high heartbeat. Breathing experts are all agreeing; when you breathe high and superficially (through your mouth) you will absorb less oxygen, your blood flow will be less and a consequence of that is that all your body processes will be disturbed. Anything but good for your health. But the good news is that we can consciously breathe and our body, our smart system, can work in favor of us.
Living longer
When doing it’s work, we can add time to our existence. Did you know that your heart has a maximum number of beats and by controlling our breathing we can lower that number? So in theory, we can add time to our life. Several Harvard studies show that you live longer with a low heart rate, thus Dutch best-selling author Tabe Ydo in his book ‘One Day’. When you lower your heart rate with 5 beats per minute, a woman can add 2,6 years to her life and a man can add 2,9 years to his life.
3 breathing exercises to create more peace and space
Focus a few times a day on a good breathing pattern by breathing, preferably, through your nose. For example when you wake up, during lunch break and when you go to bed. These next three exercises will help you do so. With every exercise there is a video with an explanation. We advise you to follow the video’s step by step to get the most out of the breathing exercises. Are you in?
‘Equal breathing’
This is a simple but effective technique that can make you feel the difference between feeling rushed and calm within a few minutes. In this video you will be guided to breath in for 4 seconds through your nose and breath out through your mouth.
‘Belly breathing’
This exercise is very effective to relax, for example when you lay in bed but can’t sleep. You will take away the struggles you have going on in your head. Most meditations use belly breathing. It is also called ‘baby breathing’ because the way a baby breathes is a way many adults can learn from. The belly bulges when breathing in and collapses when breathing out. We all need to hold on to this relaxing and natural breathing pattern. Sadly, we all lose track of it during the course of our lives. Luckily for us, it is like riding a bike; you will never forget how to do it, just hop on and go with the flow. In this video it will be explained to a tee.
‘Nadi Shodhana breathing’
This is a classical breathing technique in the world of yoga. It is a bit more complicated than the previous ones. It is developed to create more balance between the left and right side of your brain. A perfect exercise after a busy day of work, right before going to bed. In this video it will be explained from beginning to end.
Sources: SamenGezond.nl , Yogisan.nl