Breathe Well and Live Better

The best part? It's free and always available to us. When we focus on our breath, we step out of the mind, making it the best tool to oxygenate our body (especially our brain), enhance our overall well-being, and calm us in moments of stress or anxiety.

Learning to breathe correctly, consciously, and fully is essential for maintaining good physical and mental health. When we experience stress or anxiety, our breathing becomes short and fast, accelerating the heart rate, and is localized only in the chest rather than following an upward movement from the abdomen, ribs, chest, and collarbones, and a downward movement in the reverse direction.

In our daily lives, not only are we often disconnected from our breath, but it also tends to be shallow and insufficient. Normalizing breathing is, therefore, the first step to stabilizing the mind and calming the nervous system. That's why psychologists, as well as yoga or meditation instructors, emphasize the importance of breath control.

Benefits of Conscious Breathing for Body and Mind

Achieving a natural (like that of babies), conscious, and deep breath, as used in yoga or mindfulness, has many benefits for our physical and mental health:

1. Helps the Body Eliminate Toxins: Surprisingly, the respiratory system is one of the body's most important purification mechanisms. Exhalation eliminates carbon dioxide, the natural toxic waste from the body's metabolic processes. When our breathing is short and insufficient, the body doesn't cleanse itself effectively. How to counteract this? Dedicate 5 to 10 minutes each day to breathe calmly, simply being aware of our breath.

2. Relieves and Reduces the Sensation of Pain: When we feel pain, whether sudden or chronic, we tend to hold our breath, which doesn't favor the production of endorphins, hormones that act as natural painkillers. To enhance this beneficial effect during a state of pain, you can inhale in four counts, hold your breath for six to eight counts, and exhale slowly for eight to twelve counts. Try to inhale through the nose and exhale through the nose as well.

3. Stimulates the Lymphatic System: Deep breathing helps the lymphatic system eliminate dead cells and other waste. This benefits the immune system, improving the overall health of the body and allowing for effective toxin elimination.

4. Increases Vital Energy: Through inhalation, the body is loaded with oxygen, the cells' food and energy. Enhancing our breathing exponentially increases our sense of energy and vitality. Hence, yoga, where breath is vital, is known as the practice of energy.

5. Improves Cardiac and Digestive Function: Natural and deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen, benefiting both heart and digestive system function. Additionally, natural breathing, involving the expansion and contraction of the abdomen, produces a massaging effect on internal organs and intestines, promoting digestion and intestinal transit.

6. Calms the Nervous System: Adequately oxygenating the body and, especially, the neurons helps control stress and anxiety, promoting better sleep. Tranquil breathing calms the mind and helps us stay present: when we are attentive to our breath, we cannot be lost in thoughts, which also combats the mental noise and looping thinking typical of people with anxiety. Properly oxygenating the body protects us from stress and provides a sense of peace.

Easy-to-Apply Breathing Techniques in Our Daily Lives

There are many simple breathing techniques (known as pranayamas in yoga) that we can do every day to improve our quality of life and in specific moments of stress or anxiety. Here are some:

1. Abdominal Breathing: To make it easier and more enjoyable, lie on your back, place one hand on your abdomen and the other on your chest. Inhale through the nose, feeling the abdomen expand, and exhale gently through the mouth, feeling it contract. Repeat about 10 times.

2. Diaphragmatic Breathing: In a comfortable position, preferably lying down, place your hands on the sides of the ribcage, over the ribs. Inhale through the nose, pushing the ribs outward as much as possible, and close them when exhaling. Try to breathe only through the nose.

3. Anti-Anxiety Breathing: If you experience anxiety, practicing this breathing every night before bed, between 6 and 10 times, can help you control it: simply inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds.

4. Square Breathing: This yoga breathing technique is useful for balancing the nervous system. You can do it sitting on the edge of a chair with a straight back. Inhale through the nose a couple of times and exhale through the mouth, sighing relaxingly. Once you feel comfortable breathing only through the nose, start inhaling for four counts, hold the breath for another four counts, exhale in four counts, and wait another four counts before inhaling again.

Breathing is the most important and crucial vital act for life, but in general, we pay little attention to it. Simply stopping at any time of the day and being aware of our breath can completely change our physical, mental, and emotional state. Breathing consciously connects us with our body, calms us, fills us with energy, vitality, and even happiness.