Posts tagged Heart Disease

“Ordinary people breathe from their throats, extraordinary people breathe from their heels.” -Chuang Tzu

Breathing is a great way to learn focus and relaxation for the beginner at meditation, and many experts continue to use it as their primary form of meditation for their entire lives. The breathing exercises of meditation not only build incredible focus and deep relaxation, but the increased breathing will begin to bring radiant vitality back to your body as well.

Deep breathing exercises will help reduce risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Also, the lower part of the lungs are much more efficient at processing oxygen than the upper part.

Deep breathing encourages relaxation… which encourages deep breathing… which is a nice feedback loop to be in.

All of these specific breathing exercises are based off a classic breathing meditation called Buddhist Breath, or Baby’s Breath.

Before you start any of these, find a comfortable place where you can sit or stand upright without interruption

Deep breathing: Just as the name implies, begin to breathe a little bit deeper. Notice where you are breathing now (most adults breathe primarily with the chest), and begin to let the breath sink a little deeper. Put your hand on your navel and see if you can stay relaxed and allow every in breath to push your hand forward. Once you are comfortable with that, gradually move it a little bit lower. Place your hand halfway between your navel and your pubic bone. See if you can still remain deeply relaxed and push your hand forward with your belly every time you breathe in. Take your time.

Deeper breathing: This one can be a bit challenging. Once your breathing is nice and deep in your belly, you can take it another step. See if you can remain relaxed and lightly push your perineum downward with your inhale (your perineum is the area between your genitals and your anus). Relax. There is no rush.

Slow breathing: Now that you have established the depth of breath, see how much you can slow your breathing down (for our purposes here, a breath is one complete cycle: inhale and exhale). It become very useful to have a stopwatch or a digital clock that will show you how many seconds have passed. The average adult takes 17-20 breaths per minute. When you focus on it, you can easily slow this down. 10-12 breaths per minute is a good initial goal to shoot for. Once you are comfortable doing that, you can move down to 4-6 breaths per minute. The great masters are said to be able to breathe 1 time per minute, or even 1 time every two minutes. The best I have done so far is 2 breaths per minute. Be sure to keep your focus on relaxation and peacefulness as you slow down your breath. Have fun!