Abdominal Breathing - The Basis of All Breathing

Be sure you know abdominal breathing before you go any further with breathing exercises. It is a great stress relief technique. It's the natural way to breathe.

Have you ever watched a sleeping infant? See how its stomach goes up and down as it breathes? That's breathing with your abdomen. As adults, most of us have to relearn how to do that.

But once you do, you get in a groove. Five or six deep breaths and your body is on it's way to relaxation. Your diaphragm is being stretched. It's relaxing and sending positive messages to your brain, which in turn sends messages back to your body to go ahead and let go a little. Stress begins to melt away!

When you breathe abdominally, your entire lungs are filled with air. You will breathe less times per minute. You will breathe more efficiently. More oxygen will be delivered to your blood, moving cortisol out of your system more quickly. So here's how it's done:

Abdominal Breathing

1. Begin by lying on your back with your hand on your stomach. Once you get the feel of it you can do this exercise sitting or standing in any position and any time you're feeling stressed.

2. Inhale a slow, deep breath with the goal of filling just your stomach with air. Feel it expanding and pushing your hand up.

3. Then slowly exhale, pressing your abdomen slightly with your hand and feeling it go toward your spine.

4. Repeat several times.

If you were to do just this breathing exercise whenever you felt tension, you would be doing much to improve your well-being.

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Breathe In, Breathe Out, James E. Loehr, Ed.D, Jeffrey A. Migdow, M.D., Time Life, Inc., 1999

The Daily Relaxer, Matthew McKay, PH.D, Patrick Fanning, New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2006

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