Most people breathe shallowly. They hold in their stomachs and fail to engage their diaphragms when breathing. We all want to look slim but pushing that belly out with our breaths is the only way to fill up the lungs and utilize their full capacity.

Since most of us haven´t been abdominal breathers since infancy, we are unfamiliar with what it should look like and feel like.

When you breathe with your full body, your abdomen will push forward, it will expand to the sides and it will reach back towards the spine. You should be able to feel it in your entire torso from your pelvis to your chest.

You may even feel a pressure in your chest as you inhale. This is your lungs expanding against your rib cage. This is good and nothing to panic about. Your lungs were designed to expand and fill completely; we just don´t take advantage of it. 

When breathing with your abdomen your diaphragm is expanding and contracting which causes your abdomen to expand. This expansion will make your belly protrude. For ladies this may seem unattractive or undesirable but your belly will expand and contract with your breathing, it won´t flop over your belt continuously. 

You don´t have to engage this method of breathing all of the time, just when you need relaxation but you will find that as you practice you will want to breathe like this more often and eventually it will become second nature, something you even do in your sleep.

All it takes is practice and the health and energy benefits that you will receive far outweigh any belly protrusion. 

Another abdominal breathing exercise

1. Stand up with your feet close together.

2. Free your mind of negativity.

3. Shake your arms then rub your hands together and place them hand over hand on your abdomen. The correct placement is over your belly button.

4. Exhale while pushing your abdomen in with your hands. Count to 8.

5. Breathe in for a count of 8 feeling your abdomen expand as you inhale.

6. Hold for 2 seconds.

7. Exhale for a count of 8 and then hold for 2 seconds.

8. Repeat your inhales, holds and exhales 10 times.

9. When you have completed your breathing cycles, rub your hands together again, shake your arms out and rub your face, cleansing it of all your anxiety.

Focus on your abdomen and the movement of it going up and down. That´s why your hands are there to help you contract it and ensure you are expanding it on your inhales. Start doing this once a day for a week and then two times a day for another week.

If you feel comfortable, continue to practice this breathing cycle two times a day and feel free to engage it in more often as your anxiety or nerves dictate. Stick with it, practice is the key to success.

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Tagged with: abdominal breathingBreathing Techniques

Filed under: Breathing Techniques

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