By Alex Van Tol
Breathing is the basis of meditation, yoga, tai chi and, well, life. Get it right, and it can improve every experience you have. Here’s how to do it.
You take 20,000 breaths a day. The tough news is, you’re probably doing them wrong.
Check yourself right now: Where are you breathing? Up in your chest? Or was your belly loose and soft just then, open to literal inspiration?
If you’re like most people, your stomach muscles stay locked throughout the day. This is called shallow breathing, and it signals a state of stress to our brains and bodies. “When our belly is pulled tight, that’s part of the fight-or-flight response,” says Michele Yasuda, director of programs for the Hendricks Institute in California, which trains therapists and coaches in somatic processes. Yasuda has studied breathing for the better part of a decade alongside Dr. Gay Hendricks, pioneering psychotherapist and author of Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery, who began his lifelong affair with the breath by studying both traumatized and contented newborns to discern how to unravel life-disrupting breathing patterns in his clients.
Learning how to breathe with easy, connected breaths can change your mood, improve your circulation and your orgasms, reduce pain and stabilize your emotions. Only trouble is, because of the hurry and stress we carry, our near-constant state of overwhelm locks us into shallow, fight-or-flight breathing most of the time — whether there’s tangible danger or not.
Bringing in the Belly
When we’re in a relaxed state, our bodies soften and our breath deepens. You might notice you breathe with slow, deep belly breaths — what Hendricks calls “happy baby breathing” — when you’re drifting off to sleep or just waking up, before your head gets a hold of the day. “When we’re in an aware space, we will actually do a natural, diaphragmatic breath,” says Katyanna Ryan, an acupuncturist, yogi and cofounder of MĀ Wellness and Yoga in Dragon Alley. “But what happens is we get really up into our minds and we start spinning, and then we start to notice the body will tighten.”
Proper breathing can counteract all that tension. Drawing a “belly breath” activates the diaphragm, a thin muscle that sits below your lungs and spreads across your chest cavity like a parachute. This little parachute relaxes as you exhale, “billowing” skyward, and contracts on the inhale as it pulls downward to draw the breath in.
Activating your diaphragm sends breath into the lower third of your lungs, where the majority of their vasculature resides. This feeds more oxygen into your bloodstream. If you’ve ever had a few hits of pure oxygen, you’ve felt its power.
“It calms the nervous system to be breathing into a soft belly,” says Yasuda. “I’m letting my whole system know I’m safe. I’m OK in this moment. I’m not in danger right here and right now.”
Morning Breath
Breathing practice doesn’t need to take much time; after all, you’re already doing it. “The best time for practice is early in the morning, like 4 to 6 a.m.,” says acupuncturist and tai chi teacher Lin Chen, of Lumina Wellbeing. “Sunrise and the hour before sunrise, according to the yogic tradition.”
When you wake, try not to busy yourself right away, but instead take five minutes to focus on your breathing. The key is consistently offering your body this small practice every day. And tune in throughout your day, in those moments when you become aware that you’re aware. Just check in and see where you’re breathing.
With continued discipline, you’ll begin noticing overall improvements in your life. There isn’t a realm of your existence — emotional, spiritual, sexual, intellectual or physical — that won’t be improved by easy, connected breathing.
“It’s everything,” says Chen. “It regulates our mood, calms our mind. It brings more clarity. Breath is life force. Be able to breathe properly so the life force can circulate properly.”
The Elusive Belly Breath: A How-To
If you can voluntarily loosen the muscles where your belt typically goes, do so. Close your eyes to let yourself focus. Now imagine drawing breath into your belly button. (Of course you can’t breathe through your belly button — but if you can imagine feeling like your body is doing so, you’re all set.)
You don’t have to exaggerate or be big about it. “In the Taoist tradition,” says acupuncturist, tai chi teacher and Lumina Wellbeing owner Lin Chen, “[the breath] needs to be deep and quiet, thin and long. It’s so subtle that we’re not feeling much.”
Breathwork comes in many forms, but today our work isn’t about achieving near-psychedelic states of consciousness like you can in holotropic breathwork (think Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete Wim Hof). When it comes to everyday breathing, we’re looking for easy, continuous breaths.
While you’re at it, keep the in-breath and out-breath circulating through your nose. If your purpose is to let go or cleanse, then exhaling through your mouth is appropriate. “But if we are trying to invite the energy in the body to circulate properly,” says Chen, “we should breathe in and out of the nose.”
If you can’t yet loosen your belly muscles, this is just fine. You’ve grown up in a world that values being in a hurry — and literally holding it in. A surprising number of people can’t relax their stomachs. Try lying on the floor to take the pressure off your muscles. That’ll help you focus on your abs.
Watch your stomach. See if you can invite it to rise with a full soft breath. If you can’t, put a book on your tummy. Keep watching. Keep inviting the breath in through your belly button. “Once you get that feeling,” Chen says, “then it’s easier to do it seated or walking or in just everyday life.”