Conscious Breathing

During my years as a meditation teacher I discovered that many people unconsciously develop breathing habits that result in restricted use of the lungs. We all start out breathing normally, and then life intrudes. The two most common restrictive breathing habits are Chest breathing and Reverse breathing.

Chest Breathing is the most common. It occurs when breathing is restricted to the chest using only the top portion of the lungs. The bottom portion of the lungs is not used.

Reverse breathing occurs when the breathing motion is reversed and lungs contract on the In Breath. One woman told me that her father had a loud voice and was angry a lot. When he was around she tried to make herself smaller so that he wouldn’t notice her and be angry with her. This way of breathing made her smaller and it became her normal way of breathing. She was completely unaware of it.

Chest breathing uses only the top of the lungs restricting breath capacity. Reverse breathing contracts the lungs instead of expanding them resulting in even less lung capacity. These breathing irregularities may be your normal way of breathing or they may be the way you breathe when under stress of some kind or when you experience negative emotions like fear or anger. Becoming aware of your breathing patterns is the first step in developing a conscious breathing practice to manage stress. 

·        Place your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your stomach

·        Take a deep breath in.

·        If your right and left hand rise you are breathing correctly.

·        If your left hand rises and your right hand moves in or stays the same then you are a chest breather.

·        If your left and your right hand moves in you are reverse breathing

Try taking a deep breath. Starting from the base of your stomach bring the air up from the stomach into the chest expanding upward and outward. You may be surprised at how much deeper you can breathe. You might want to do this sitting down to avoid lightheadedness from the unfamiliar amount of air.