Breathing is a basic life function, without which there is no life. It supplies our bodies with oxygen, necessary for the functioning of our cells, while at the same time removes many toxins from the body. By breathing we do not only receive the necessary oxygen, but also vital life energy, also known as prana or qi. People obtain this life energy with food, sleep, piece of mind and breathing.

Let ‘s breathe deeply and open ourselves up to life

Despite the fact that breathing is a vital life function, the majority of us is not aware of that, as it is done automatically. Usually we lose the proper breathing pattern while growing up, which, of course, is later negatively reflected on our health. Healthy children breathe deeply. We can see how the infant’s or young child’s belly extends itself while inhaling and releases while exhaling. And if you have not yet noticed that you just take a look. I say that children are the real small Buddhas and we can learn a lot from them. Over the years, our breathing becomes shallower, therefore the vast majority of adult breathes only with a small part of their lungs, known as shallow breathing. This is reflected in various ways: we feel more tired, listless, often reacting negatively to various stimuli from the environment.

Let’s spread our hands, raise them above our head, take a deep breath and open up to life!

Conscious, deep breathing strengthens your health and increases the calmness of mind

Probably many of you don’t even realize how much breathing is connected to our emotional and mental states.

Breathing exerts a very strong influence on our mood and vice versa, our emotions affect the way we breathe. We can notice the shallow, rough and interrupted breathing of a person who is angry, while the breathing of a person who is sad is shallow and slow. In a relaxed state of mind a man breathes deeply, slowly and connected.

During usual breathing, when we are not aware of it, all our attention is turned outwards, or we are completely taken over by our thoughts and feelings. The benefits of such a breathing barely reach 20% of the effects of conscious breathing.

That is why it is so important that people start learning the benefits of a conscious, deeper breathing.

 

The effects of breathing on our health

The studies to date have demonstrated many positive effects of certain breathing techniques (eg. deep abdominal breathing, yogic breaths…) on human health.

These include:

  • improvement of the immune system
  • reduction of high blood pressure and control of blood sugar
  • improvement of memory and concentration
  • improvement of the overall performance and vitality
  • reduction or elimination of insomnia
  • cholesterol and LDL cholesterol lowering
  • improvement of the functioning of the central nervous system
  • reduction of the concentration of stress indicators (cortisol, lactate)
  • increase of the concentration of antioxidants (substances that protect us from the negative effects of free radicals in the body)
  • improvement in lung function
  • reduction of anxiety (tension)
  • alleviation of depressive states
  • improvement of muscle growth