Take a deep breath for an awesome life

Do you know why a weightlifter takes a deep breath just a moment before he lifts his heavyweight? Because, he knows that it provides an instant stimulation of energy that is required for lifting the weights. Do you know why we unconsciously sigh ‘Aha’, a long exhalation when we are in the midst of our stressed out time? Because, that makes us feel relaxed. So, inhale is a stimulation that energizes and oxygenates the body where as exhalation is the process of ‘let go’ and relaxes us.

At a physiological level our cardio vascular system is optimized due to the good oxygenation of deep breathing that in turn regulates metabolism. In a way, this aids in developing our endurance and stamina level. At a psychological level, it slows down our brain frequency and calms down our mind. So, deep breathing is a process that connects our heart and head.

Yoga is nothing but a repeated flow of stimulation and relaxation done in a rhythmic way. In a way, we are all doing Yoga on a day to day basis every second of our life since our breathing follows the same rhythmic pattern.

Breathing happens involuntarily and hence many of us have taken this process for granted and do not give it due consideration. Anyways, breathing happens automatically all the time and hence why should we bother to become aware? First, one can optimize the respiratory engine if one becomes aware of the breathing. Do you know that our lungs capacity is 5000ml and we operate on just 500ml? That is staggering 1/10^th and is complete under utilization of our lungs. Why do you want to limit this vital life giving force when there is a way to enhance it?

Body is a complete chemical factory that operates by itself most of the time. But, when we start to utilize the true potential of the lungs, oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange happens more optimally. Do you know the fact that cancer and many other diseases cannot survive when our body is alkaline?  Our body becomes more alkaline with good oxygenation by means of inspiration. With depletion of oxygen, the body becomes acidic. When pH drops to less than seven, our body becomes acidic. So, just with deep breathing, one can change the body to alkaline and can get rid of many of the diseases. This alkaline ambiance is not conducive for the diseases to thrive.

 Some of my clients but not all have lost weight just by doing deep breathing regularly for 15 minutes in a day. Is it difficult to buy this idea and does this sound like a joke to you? Don’t worry. You are not alone. There are many others who think the same way. How can we get rid of those extra pounds with simple deep breathing?

Let me explain to you how this works. Metabolism has direct impact on our body weight. Highly activated metabolism keeps our weight down and poorly activated metabolism keeps up our weight. In simple terms, metabolism is nothing but energy in and energy out from our body. The basic energy currency to every cell of the body is called ATP. ATP is derived from two major components, glucose from our diet and oxygen from our respiration. When one of the components is not optimally supplied then our metabolism is deregulated. So, simply by deep breathing, one can regulate metabolism which in turn regulates body weight. For some people, this does not work simply because of the fact that the energy distribution is not perfect within them. When it comes to metabolism, both energy generation and energy distribution should happen correctly to regulate the metabolism. When there is no physical movement of body, blood circulation is not effective and hence a simple deep breathing does not provide the required results. In this case, energy generation is good but energy distribution is not good. Hence, some form of physical exercise is required in this particular case to keep the energy distribution effective.

If you want to learn deep breathing then you should know how to operate the diaphragm muscle which is a dome shaped muscle below the rib cage and above the abdomen. When this muscle is activated properly, it makes an up down piston movement. Lungs are triangular in shape with bigger area at the base of the triangle. Piston movement of the diaphragm inflates the bottom part of the lungs and hence enhances the lung capacity.

Here is the empirical formula of deep breathing. Breathe 5 to 6 times per minute. This means, breath duration is 12 seconds. Inhale for 4 to 5 seconds and exhale for 7 to 8 seconds.

Those species which breathe slower live longer. Longevity is directly related to the breathing rate. For this reason some animals like elephant and tortoise live longer than human beings. Some animals like cat and dog live shorter because of the faster breathing rate. We live roughly 90 years and our breathing rate is 16 to 18/minute. When you practice deep breathing exercise on regular basis, a time will come when your automatic breathing rate changes from 16 to less than 10 that keeps you in a peak state of your life. Go for it!

WATCH OUT for this MAGICAL SPACE, the space below the rib cage and above the abdomen. TOUCH UPON IT!! You will become awesome.