In Part 1 we talked about the importance of effective breathing and the profound body-wide effect that poor breathing patterns can have. To remind you poor breathing can result in:
- Breathing difficulty
- Increased breathing pattern with chronically blocked nose and dry mouth
- Urination increases (especially at night) to maintain ionic balance
- Muscles becoming tense, tired, sore, possibly twitchy
- Numbness, tingling and coldness in hand and feet
- Increase in illness & infection due to decreased immune response
- Stomach bloating, constipation, belching, diarrhoea, flatulence
- Fast, erratic and pounding heart rate
- Over reactive brain, possible anxiety, poor concentration, nervousness
So how should we breathe? In a relaxed situation we should:
- Breathe in and out through the nose
- Low chest/abdominal pattern (tummy gently rises on breath in)
- 10-14 breaths per minute
- Breath in slightly shorter time than the breath out (in for the count of 3, out for the count of 4)
- Relaxed pause at the end of the breath out
Remember that our breathing is often compromised with poor sitting postures. Imagine sitting at your desk all day… inevitably you will end up slumping in your chair, effectively squashing the abdominal area and making it harder to breathe to here, hence, upper chest, shallow breathing becomes the habit. Poor posture and poor breathing go hand in hand. So, regularly check yourself (every 20 mins), reposition yourself in your chair, open up your chest and shoulders and BREATHE. If you need some assistance, let me know.