A few weeks ago I attended a stress management course and, in addition to discovering that we Westerners are bad at it, I learned that we are not even able to breathe properly and there are different ways to do it. Did you know that?

Breathing is a natural gesture. Instinctive. The first painful effort that a newborn baby learns as soon as it is born. But when we grow up we no longer do it correctly. The hectic life, giving importance to futile things, no longer knowing how to listen to our body has made us forget how to do well one of the most important foundations for our being (and well-being).

I too realize that in moments of greater stress and tiredness my breath is shorter and I often wake up agitated, gritting my teeth. Now I’m young, my body still bears these hardships but for how long? Maybe it’s best not to push too hard and start sticking to it.

Why do we have to breathe well?

For an adenoid problem, I had to have my eldest daughter operated on and now I’m realizing how much it is not obvious to be able to breathe well through the nose.

She has always breathed through her mouth and now she has a hard time breaking this habit to reactivate her nose.
But breathing through the month is dangerous and unnatural. Western medicine is very lacking in this aspect and only recently with the advent of the pandemic has focused on breathing. It is very important to breathe with the nose and not with the mouth and today many studies supporting this concept speaking of the importance of the nose and the structures present inside it. Nasal breathing is in fact essential because it allows air to enter the body warmer and cleaner, but not only: the benefits also concern digestion, blood pressure, the menstrual cycle, erectile dysfunction, mood and all functions related to breathing.

Most people don’t know how to inhale and exhale well. They do it quickly, almost abruptly as if the air were something annoying and harmful. Unfortunately in the city, the quality of what enters and leaves our body is low, but without it we wouldn’t be here to write and read and therefore we must learn to do it correctly.

Being aware of the air that passes from the nose to the lungs, regaining breath is good for the heart, blood pressure, concentration and reduces many problems such as high blood pressure, overweight, auto-immune diseases or attention disorders. Learning to control your breathing can in fact decrease the number of heartbeats, improve mood, reduce stress and make us feel more energetic and concentrated.

How to do?

We should train ourselves to slow down and focus on what’s really important, chasing away anxieties and worries. Easy? No, of course but I’ve often found that problems resolve themselves no matter how bad we feel and we’re the ones who magnify them more than necessary.

There is no need to embrace yoga or the Mindfulness meditation technique, if one does not have time although they are very useful (I recently took Mindfullness lessons from the very good Gloria Pigino which I absolutely recommend!!! You can find her on FB and IG)..
It would be enough to dedicate a couple of minutes every day to targeted exercises through deep breathing, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Not gasping works against hypertension and stress, without unnecessarily activating the body’s sympathetic system, leading to internal imbalances.

If we don’t learn how to breathe well and keep our body in balance right away, a stressed day can turn into a stressful week into a stressful month, and so on. The harmful circuit must be fixed as soon as possible. We can do it.

Engaging in gaseous exchange filled with oxygen and carbon dioxide can activate the parasympathetic system which acts in moments of relaxation bringing calm. Even the proper functioning of our heart depends on good breathing.

What to do?

We understood that we need to improve our breathing and we are the only species that forgets how to do it correctly when we grow up. But if by now we’ve been breathing badly for a lifetime and we’ve gotten used to doing this, won’t we improve anymore? Wrong. Everything can be done and achieved if we want. The biggest limitation is just us. If we don’t want to or can’t take courses on purpose, I’ve found some useful exercises to help you exercise as a first step.

A simple first exercise, indicated in the guides of many medical institutions, can be done wherever you want. In a minute or so you can repeat five or six times:

inhalation through the nose, counting from 1001 to 1005, with the air entering through the nostrils, followed by a long exhalation. The inspiration is slow and the invitation is to be aware of what is happening in the body.
The air enters through the nostrils, passes through the larynx, pharynx and trachea, descends towards the lower part of the lungs, so that the abdomen inflates gently, relaxing the belly and the walls expand well. Expiration takes place through the nose or mouth, whichever is more convenient: the lungs empty starting from the bottom, with the abdominal muscles contracting slightly. You need to be aware of the movements of your body (especially the diaphragm) and feel the flow of air that enters, crosses and leaves us. You can imagine it as a colored cloud and follow its path with your mind.

Let’s go back to breathe

Let’s go back to listening to the wise advice of the oldest and most ancient and, in this case, of our oriental cousins. Let’s get back to breathing properly!!! Ancient and traditional cultures, such as those of Tibetan monks, Indian mystics, Taoists and sages of the most ancient populations, had understood that breathing consciously and correctly meant living healthily and for a long time. For Hindus spirit and breath merge as if they were one, for Buddhists the breath is used to access higher levels of awareness. Even in some American Indian tribes they taught their children how to breathe to get stronger.

They are all cultures less tech-savvy and more savvy about body and soul, so why not trust their advice?
And you? Have you ever noticed how you breathe?

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