“Breath is a rhythm, and we breathe in and out thousands of times a day. Breathing involves an intimate relationship between our bodies and the ocean of air within which we suspire. A dozen senses inform us of the rhythm, texture and qualities of the breath, with the pulsing of our hearts and emotions.” - The Radiance Sutras
The breath is intimately connected to your life force and state of being. Yogic breathing can increase your energy and vitality, and facilitate an experience of peacefulness and clarity. The following techniques can be done either sitting or lying down on your back.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
This is sometimes called Abdominal Breathing or Belly Breathing. It reverses the unnatural way of breathing many people unconsciously adopt, which is to take shorter shallower breaths into the upper chest.
Put one hand on your abdomen and close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose; as you do, feel your stomach expand. Then breathe out slowly and completely through your mouth. Notice the flattening of your abdomen.
Continue to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, feeling your abdomen expand and contract. The outbreath is longer than the inbreath, and is done with a sensation of releasing or letting go.
It may help to imagine a balloon is inflating in your belly when you breathe in and deflating when you breathe out. Another way is to count backwards from ten to one, with one number on each outbreath. By the time you get to one, you will notice your breath is slower and more regular and that your mind and body are more relaxed.
Notice your body’s resistance to changing your habitual breathing patterns. Continue breathing in this way for five minutes and then breathe naturally. Do you notice any differences? Do your abdominal muscles feel more relaxed? Are you breathing more deeply than before? Do you feel more energized or calm?
Yogic Breathing
Begin with Diaphragmatic / Abdominal Breathing as above. Do this for about 2 minutes.
Then do Thoracic Breathing for 2 minutes, breathing only into the middle / upper-middle part of the chest. It can help to raise the shoulders slightly to complete the inhalation. On the exhalation, let the shoulders drop first, then let the chest deflate. Fill the chest from the bottom up, and empty it from the top down. Try not to let the abdomen rise and fall while doing this phase. Do this for about 2 minutes.
Now combine both Abdominal Breathing and Thoracic Breathing — this is Yogic Breathing. On the inhalation, first let the air fill your abdomen, then move upwards into your chest, and finally fill out your upper chest with the slight rise of the shoulders. Then on the exhalation, let the chest empty first, then your abdomen, and lastly pull your stomach in towards your spine to fully expel all the air. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes and see how wonderful you feel.
A variation to this is to simultaneously expand the abdomen and the chest on the inhalation, and simultaneously contract both regions on the exhalation. As you inhale, let the diaphragm push down and stomach expand out, while at the same time let the chest and shoulders rise. Then allow them to both fall and contract on the exhalation. There is no gap between exhalation and inhalation.
As you practise, aim to let the whole process become smooth and effortless — done not in segments but as an integration whole. Like a gentle wave rising and falling.
Learning and practising these techniques will help you regain your natural breathing pattern and along with it the many associated benefits. With regular practice, you can form the habit of breathing this way most of the time.