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Healing and Alternative Health:
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Conscious Breathing for Health
and Self Transformation:
Abdominal Breathing
by Dennis Lewis |
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Our overall health depends on many factors, but one of the most important is how we breathe. Because of the increasing stress in our lives, our unhealthy sedentary life styles, and the prevailing image of the hard, flat belly that we find in fashion magazines and health clubs across America, our breathing has become extremely superficial. Most of us have little understanding of either diaphragmatic breathing or deep, abdominal breathing. Our diaphragm moves very little, and we seldom use our abdomen and belly to help us breathe. Though most of us engaged in abdominal breathing as babies and young children, we have gradually become upper chest breathers. The end result of our poor breathing habits is not only insufficient oxygen to our brain and the other cells of our body, but also insufficient movement in our internal organs and in the fluids upon which our health depends. Without this oxygen and movement we quickly become susceptible to illness and disease.
The Mechanics of Diaphragmatic and Abdominal Breathing
A glimpse into the mechanics of diaphragmatic breathing and abdominal breathing shows why this is so. The first thing to understand is that the diaphragm is a dome-shaped structure that not only assists in breathing, but also acts as a natural partition between our heart and lungs on the one hand, and our stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidneys, bladder, and small and large intestines on the other. The top of the diaphragm actually supports the heart, while the bottom of the diaphragm is attached all the way around our lower ribs and connects also to our lower lumbar vertebrae. When we are breathing fully and deeply, our diaphragm moves downward as we inhale and upward as we exhale. The more the diaphragm can move, the more our lungs are able to expand, which means that more oxygen can be taken in and more carbon dioxide released with each breath.
The Impact of Diaphragmatic and Abdominal Breathing on Our Health
How does diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing help the diaphragm move more and thus improve our health? Remember that the diaphragm is attached all around the lower ribcage and has strands going down to the lumbar vertebrae. When we breathe fully and deeply, the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back all expand on inhalation, thus drawing the diaphragm down deeper into the abdomen, and retract on exhalation. In deep, abdominal breathing, the upward and downward movement of the diaphragm, combined with the outward and inward movement of the belly, ribcage, and lower back, helps to detoxify our inner organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and pump the lymph more efficiently through our lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, of course, is an important part of our immune system and has a great impact on our health.
Abdominal and Diaphragmatic Breathing for Relaxation
Many of us breathe too fast for the conditions in which we find ourselves, that is, we actually hyperventilate. This kind of breathing has many bad effects on our physical and emotional health. When our breath is full and deep, however, involving not only the respiratory muscles of the chest but also the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back, we begin to breathe more slowly, since each breath takes in more oxygen and releases more carbon dioxide. This slower breathing, combined with the rhythmical pumping influence of our diaphragm, abdomen, and belly, helps turn on our parasympathetic nervous system--our "relaxation response." Such breathing helps to harmonize our nervous system and reduce the amount of stress in our lives. And this, of course, has a positive impact on our overall health.
Breathing Exercises Can Be Harmful to Your Health
Everyday we see more and more books being published outlining various advanced yoga breathing exercises. But until we learn how to integrate natural, abdominal breathing into our lives, many of these advanced yoga breathing (pranayama) exercises can be harmful to our physical and psychological health. (Such exercises include alternate nostril breathing, reverse breathing, and breath retention.) The key to natural, diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing is to begin to learn to sense unnecessary tension in our bodies and to learn how to release this tension. This requires great inner attention and awareness. It requires learning the art of self-sensing and self-observation. An authentic, beneficial work with our breath begins with increasing our awareness. Without sufficient awareness, without great sensitivity to what is happening inside our bodies, any efforts to change our breathing will at best have no effect whatsoever (we'll quickly stop making any efforts at all), and at worst will create more tension and stress in our lives and thus undermine our health and well-being even further.
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Dennis Lewis,
Teacher of meditation |
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Dennis Lewis, a longtime student of the Gurdjieff Work, Taoism, and Advaita, teaches the transformative power of presence through natural breathing, qigong, and meditation.
He is the author of the acclaimed book The Tao of Natural Breathing and the audio program from Sounds True Breathing as a Metaphor for Living.
His new book, "Free Your Breath, Free Your Life: How Conscious Breathing Can Relieve Stress, Increase Vitality, and Help You Live More Fully" was published by Shambhala Publications in May 2004.
http://www.freeyourbreath.
com
He can be reached through his website at:
www.authentic-
breathing.com
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