ATTENTION: Efficient breathing is required for yoga practice, workouts, stress and pain management.
Have you ever felt like you needed more air? Your heart rate is crazy high, your heart is pounding heavily in your chest, you are feeling nauseous and your hands are tingling?
Or you feel hyperventilated and dizzy? Or you are holding your breath when you do something and you end up gasping for more air?
It's all not a fun experience, right?
But did you know that the reason for that could be a wrong breathing?
We breathe all the time! Thank God!
It is subconscious and it doesn't require effort!
But it requires attention if it gets inefficient!
And it requires practice to get back to normal in order to benefit from everything we do and our body to function with full capacity.
Let's talk about some basics.
Normal breathing is relaxed, rhythmical, calm. The breathing starts from the diaphragm and goes up to the neck as a wave. It supplies the organs and tissues with oxygen needed for the body to function and be alive.
What affects normal breathing?
emotions
pain
stress, anxiety
muscle tension
personality type
posture
What happens when the body does not get enough oxygen?
brain works slower
heart pumps inefficiently
vessels get constricted
the blood circulation becomes poor
body PH becomes acidic
nervous system does not responses properly
the muscles get stiff and loose their elasticity
fascia tone increases, motor control decreases
lower back pain
lower energy, activity levels
mood and appearance - grumpy and not welcoming
The whole body has to work harder and breathe faster.
Signs of insufficient breathing:
fish out of water
chapped lips
frequent yawning
frequent sighing
neck and shoulders tightness
hip tension
And most importantly - our movements, our productivity and energy levels drop down significantly.
We can't receive the full benefits of our work outs, yoga practice, walks - all our activities - mental and physical.
I am one of these that love to push through.
And I am doing a challenge with 2 other clients!
I am thinking how to get more fitted into 15 min, how to do it faster and obsessed with shortening time and getting more out of it. I forgot to breathe properly!
Omg!
While doing one of the hardest exercises on the 3rd day, I was getting very fatigued by the 24th rep!
I told myself: “C’mon, girl! You can do it!”
And as soon I said that I realized that I was holding my breath!
Why??? It was very simple.
My body was not ready to do these 3X10 reps for this particular muscle!
I had to back up on the amount of reps monitoring only my breathing. I could keep going with the muscle but couldn’t with the normal breathing! Not a healthy approach. And I had to be smart.
Here was the plan:
I will work up to my goal without pushing, slowly and gradually because I know what I want - not to achieve my goal at any price but smart and most beneficial!
I knew I would get where I wanted, I already committed to this but had to be patient and consistent!
Not good! And if we breathe inefficiently for a long time, all those above become our " normal ".
How to maintain normal, bring the insufficient back to normal and maintain it?
There is an answer and a solution!
First we need to test and observe ourselves.
Do we have any signs of lack of air?
test for normal breathing
test our lung capacity
test the breathing patterns with walking, exercising
work on core muscles and hips
improve the chest movement
relax the upper body tight muscles
relax techniques - baths, breaks, hike, music, friends
work on mindset and mind
Don't we all want a healthy body, healthy mind and to maximize our body's potential?
I believe It's worth it for everyone to recheck their breathing patterns and if needed - work on improving them for a healthier body, greater workout results and deeper meditation stage!