Breathing Like A Baby

• Breathing is important, I don’t think anyone out there can deny that. We do it anywhere between 20-30,000 times a day so it makes sense that we do it right. The only other modifiable factor of our lives that we actually do more than this is thinking.

  You probably only train in the gym 2-5 times a week if you’re not overtraining; You eat 3 meals a day; Drink 2-3 litres of water a day; sleep 8 hours a night – but nothing comes close to breathing up to 30,000 times, in and out, every day. The way you breathe can serve two purposes:

  1. It can be used as an assessment tool for your bodies stress levels and balance.
  2. It can radically alter your bodies stress levels, either improving them or by breathing incorrectly you can make them worse.

  I was prompted to write this post because I have known for a long time the benefits of breathing in a certain way, through your diaphragm, and have been teaching this to my clients for a long time. I have also used the analogy that adults breathe incorrectly (unless taught not to) whereas babies breathe naturally and correctly. Now, being a new father I have actually witnessed this as opposed to just spouting off theory to my clients.

  Babies do actually breathe correctly and through their diaphragms.

  The benefits of breathing correctly include using the full surface area of your lungs to breathe and not just the top third; improving your posture through relaxing your chest, neck and accessory muscles in your shoulders; allowing you to relax your mind through parasympathetic nervous system stimulation as opposed to stressful, hyperventilating breaths.

  To breathe correctly I suggest you do the following exercise:

  • Lie on your back, and place one hand on your chest and one hand on your abdomen.
  • Breathe in and notice which hand moves [upwards] first – this will usually be your chest hand.
  • Try to breathe correctly by inhaling (through your nose, ideally) and inflating your abdomen as big as it will go, before lifting your chest for the last part of your movement.
  • When you breathe out, let your chest fall first, and then your abdomen goes in towards your spine very slightly (not forcefully!)
  • Your breaths want to be as slow as you can manage, relaxed, and rhythmic.

  Now whenever you feel stressed, remember to breathe like a baby – spend 5 minutes breathing in this way – and you will feel all your problems disappear!

  Happy breathing!

  
  
  December 1st, 2008 | Brett Sanders | No Comments | Tags: Breathing, diaphragm, diaphragm breathing, improve posture, relaxation, stress relief

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