5 Breathing Exercises to help make you Conquer the world

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ILLUMINATION

9 min readSep 13, 2020

Benefits you get from Deep Breathing

Deep breathing exercises give the muscles energy during exercise and physical stress. Oxygen use during stable-state exercise cycles is known as aerobic respiration. This cycle uses energy that is easily accessible in the form of ATP, a compound that powers our muscles and many other essential physical functions. Deep breathing is an underestimated practice that plays an enormous role in ineffective training. Learning to control your breathing is a game-changer, from increasing self-confidence to building resilience. Here are some of the Deep Breathing benefits:

Cuts down on stress
Strengthen endurance
Helps treat shortness of breath
Improves recovery speed;
Builds Stamina
Gains muscle strength
Helps to ensure digestion
Helps to ensure blood pressure

1. Learning to breathe correctly

Breathing deeply doesn’t always mean that you breathe properly. You need to concentrate on breathing in a rhythmic way that includes the diaphragms at the heart. Slow down the process of breathing, and try to concentrate on your rhythm. Here are some fast steps for proper abdominal respiration:

Part One: Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose until the lungs are full; use your abdomen to fully inhale. You may note an expansion of the lower rib cage and belly, rather than a rotation of the upper chest upwards or inwards. We want to breathe from the abdomen, not from the chest.

Part Two: Hold your breath 3–7 seconds after you have fully inhaled. This is built to allow proper oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanges. You should feel full of air, from your stomach muscles to your rib cage. It should draw your shoulders back and hold your head high to keep a clear airway.

Part three: Suck out all of the air with a whooshing sound through your mouth. Try visualizing your cells releasing waste and storing energy when you exhale. This is a method of mindful breathing that will help you relieve any muscle tension you feel which soothe any fluctuations in heart rate.

If performed properly, engaging the lower diaphragms in proper diaphragm breathing exercises will offer various health benefits, such as lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, increased metabolism, and improved blood circulation. It will help your mind and body relax too.

Especially advantageous is the improved circulation of the blood, as it brings oxygen to muscles weakened during training efforts. This impact will aid recovery and regeneration post-workout while preventing delayed muscle soreness from the beginning.

2. Balanced Breathing Exercise Technique

This exercise is very useful to increase lung capacity and to reduce shortness of breath. This exercise of conscious breathing is best done before sleep. It calms your mind, enhances your sleep, decreases anxiety, and ultimately relaxes the whole body. You can sense the air rushing through the chest when it is performed correctly.

To practice the technique of controlled breathing, take a soothing breath while counting from one to four by inhaling through your nose. Exhale now through the nose, and count down from four to one. Use the abdominal and pelvic diaphragms to ensure the force for breathing is produced by breathing the belly.

If you learn the fundamentals of this technique, try counting at each breath for 6–8 counts. This exercise relaxes the body, increases concentration, decreases tension in the muscle, and reduces stress.

3. Deep Breathing Excercise

The majority of people take shallow, quick breaths into their mouth. It can cause you anxiety and zap your energy. You’ll learn how to take bigger breaths, all the way into your belly with this technique.

Step One: Come feels relaxed. You can lie in bed on your back or on the floor with a pillow under your head and knees. Or you may sit in a chair supported against the back of the chair with your elbows, head, and neck.

Stage Two: Breathe in through your nose. Let the air fill your belly.

Stage Three: Breathe out through your nose.

Stage Four: Place one hand on the chest. Place your other hand over your stomach.

Stage Five: Feel your belly rising as you breathe in. Feel your belly lower as you breathe out. The hand on your stomach should be more moving than the one on your chest.

Stage Six: Then take in three more full deep breaths. Breathe in fully to your belly as it rises and falls with your breath.

3. Japanese long-breathing exercise (easy weight loss technique)

About a quicker way of losing weight? This two-minute long-breathing Japanese diet will help you lose 12-15 kg in just a few weeks. This approach helps to inhale more oxygen, and thus burn more fat.

Typically, when we think about going on a diet, we say we have to cut down on fat-enriched food. But have you ever heard of the long-breathing Japanese diet? Actually this is a kind of breathing technique that has nothing to do with what you eat.

This procedure includes three-second inhalation and seven-second exhalation. As fat contains oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, Ryosuke says, as we breathe, the oxygen enters fat cells and splits them into other components — “the more oxygen your body uses the more fat you consume.” Japanese actor Miki Ryosuke was the one who made this technique popular. While performing the exercise, not only did he know it helps to relieve back pain, it also helped him to lose approximately 13 kg in just a few weeks.

So how do you do it?:

Step One: Stand still first then with one leg put forward, and one leg backward with the other.

Step Two: Strain your butt and move your weight back to your foot.

Step Three: Raise your arms above your head and launch a three-second slow inhalation.

Step Four: The final move is to vigorously exhale all of your body muscles for seven seconds.

Repeat the exercise for 2 to 10 minutes per day. This workout, besides weight loss, also helps strengthen body muscles and improve metabolism.

4. Alternate Nostril Breathing Excercise

This shift between the two nostrils helps to maintain the equilibrium in our body, according to yoga. Linked to the left-brain, the right nostril is thought to hold the energy of the sun; the masculine energy. Attached to the right-brain, the left nostril harnesses the moon energy; the feminine energy.

When we breathe a long time through a single nostril, an imbalance is produced and we begin to feel either more nervous and angry (if the right nostril is dominant), or more anxious and scared (if the left nostril is dominant).

This exercise is like preventive medicine since it helps keep the two nostrils functioning consistently and harmoniously.

How to do the full exercise?:

Step One: Sit up straight, and cover your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale from your left nostril, slowly and profoundly.

Step Two: Use your right thumb and index finger to close each of the nostrils and hold your breath for a few seconds or as long as it is convenient.

Step Three: Open your right nostril with your index finger, leaving your left nostril closed, and exhale slowly and fully.

Step Four: Inhale it slowly and profoundly from your right nostril.

Step Five: Close both nostrils, and keep your breath as quiet as long as possible.

Step Six: Open the left nostril, hold the right nostril closed to the thumb, and exhale slowly. This is round one.

Step Seven: Do 3–5 rounds of practice. If it’s too difficult for the children to hold the breath, skip Stages 2 and 5.

5. Relaxation Breathing Technique

Often known as the 4–7–8 breathing exercise, it is one of the simplest stress calming exercises. Practically anywhere you can do this, but it is best to do it straight with your back.

Place your tongue right behind your front teeth before beginning the exercise, touching the roof of your mouth. When following the steps below breathe around it:

Part One: Breathe out through your mouth, through your tongue and make a whoosh sound.

Part Two: Inhale softly through the nose in four counts with the mouth closed.

Part Three: Then count to seven as you hold your breath.

Part Four: In eight counts, then, breathe out through the mouth.

Part Five: For a total of four cycles, repeat the whole process 3 more times.

If at first, you find respiration profoundly uncomfortable, it could be because you are used to breathing with your chest. Deep respiration is a safe and free way to regulate your mood and health. It will help to improve your stamina, resilience, concentration, and self-confidence by practicing deep breathing every day and making it a part of your routine.

Bonus Info*Breathing Exercises Helps get rid of Covid-19***

Although anybody may benefit from deep breathing exercises, they play a particularly important role in the recovery phase of COVID-19. During self-isolation, the exercises can be started at home and easily integrated into your daily routine.

Precautions for Covid-19

Do not begin exercises, and contact your doctor, if:

If you have a fever
If you have shortness of breath or difficulty breathing while resting
If you have chest pain
If you have swelling in your legs

STOP these exercises ASAP if you develop any of the following symptoms:

Shortness of breath more than normal
Dizziness
Chest pain
Excessive fatigue
Irregular heartbeat
Cool or clammy skin

Call 911 immediately if these symptoms don’t stop.

reference/source link: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-recovery-breathing-exercises

Diaphragmatic Breathing (Belly Breathing)

Deep respiration recovers the function of the lung by using the diaphragm. Breathing through the nose strengthens the diaphragm and facilitates relaxation and recuperation of the nervous system.

It‘s crucial not to hurry recovery while recovering from respiratory disease like COVID-19. This deep breathing exercise is broken down into phases to take individual capability into account. Start with Phase 1, and only increase repetition or transfer to the next step when you are able to complete the exercise without feeling too breathless.

Phase 1: Deep breathing exercise while on your back

Lie on your back and bend your knees so that the bottom of your feet are resting on the bed.
Place your hands on top of your stomach or wrap them around the sides of your stomach.
Close your lips and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Breathe in through the nose and pull air down into your stomach where your hands are. Try to spread your fingers apart with your breath.
Slowly exhale your breath through the nose.
Repeat deep breaths for one minute.

Phase 2: Deep breathing while on your stomach

Lie on your stomach and rest your head on your hands to allow room to breathe.
Close your lips and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Breathe in through your nose and pull air down into your stomach. Try to focus on your stomach pushing into the mattress as you breathe.
Slowly exhale your breath through your nose.
Repeat deep breaths for one minute.

Phase 3: Deep breathing while sitting

Sit upright on the edge of a bed or in a sturdy chair.
Place your hands around the sides of your stomach.
Close lips and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Breathe in through your nose and pull air down into your stomach where your hands are. Try to spread your fingers apart with your breath.
Slowly exhale your breath through your nose.
Repeat deep breaths for one minute.

Phase 4: Deep breathing while standing

Stand upright and place your hands around the sides of your stomach.
Close your lips and place your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Breathe in through your nose and pull air down into your stomach where your hands are. Try to spread your fingers apart with your breath.
Slowly exhale your breath* through your nose.
Repeat deep breaths for one minute.

You may practice humming exhalation here if desired.