You Just Have to Breathe
If you don’t breathe, you don’t live. Oxygen is needed to keep our tissues healthy and our brain functioning. The purpose of breathing is to expose the blood in the lung capillaries to air in order to absorb oxygen into the blood and to release carbon dioxide, a waste product, into the air. The most efficient method of breathing is to completely fill the lungs so as much surface area as possible is exposed to oxygen. Diaphragmatic breathing accomplishes this. Infants and children use this method exclusively. Most adults use the intercostal muscles to breath, which only utilizes the upper and middle areas in the lungs.
This exercise will help in practicing how to breath using diaphragmatic breathing. This helps more oxygen get into the blood using less energy. If practiced daily, it will become natural and helps reduce daily stress.
Sit upright in a chair with both feet on the floor.
Place hands palm side down on legs
Take three deep breaths with mouth slightly open and relax - feeling the stress exit your body as you breathe out.
Inhale completely through nostrils with mouth closed pushing out lower abdomen/stomach area as the air moves in. (contraction of diaphragm).
Exhale completely through nostrils forcing the air out and sucking abdomen in under ribs and relaxing the diaphragm.
Do this Procedure in a series of 7 breaths. Rest for 2 minutes, then repeat the process two more times.