Breathing exercises and your health. The best breathing exercises to calm your nerves

There are several popular systems of breathing exercises in the world, but the legacy that the great Patanjali left us still remains at unattainable heights, and in its uniqueness and multifaceted functionality, no other direction could surpass the developments of the ancient yogic school.

In this article, we will tell you what are the benefits of doing breathing exercises for the body and their beneficial effect on the emotional and mental state of a person. You will learn to manage your emotions through breathing practices.

A set of breathing exercises

A set of breathing exercises will be useful to everyone interested in a healthy way life. Breathing is involved in all life processes of the body. Without it, a person cannot live even a few minutes. Proper breathing will help to normalize work internal organs and glands, improve blood circulation and, together with it, provide oxygen to the cells of the body, which previously lacked a vital element.

Gas exchange in the lungs depends on whether a person breathes correctly. If breathing is shallow and insufficient, then oxygen will not be delivered to those cells that need it. Proper breathing and its effect on blood flow is significant, since it is thanks to the correct gas exchange and the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen that the body will receive nutrients delivered through the blood.

Much more can be said about the importance of breathing and how vital it is to learn how to control it. Yes, breathing can be controlled, and the practice of yoga calls it the art of controlling and distributing prana in the body, or pranayama. Prana is that energy that we do not see with the eye, but it exists. This is not a synonym for the word "oxygen", but much more. Prana is the life-giving energy that is in everything around us: in food, living organisms, air, light, etc. This is what gives the Universe life.

Breathing exercises to calm down

Let's first understand what we mean by such a term as " breathing exercises for reassurance” and what we can mean by reassurance. As practice shows, this is a matter of paramount importance. If you understand calmness as physical calm, relaxation and complete comfort for the body, then in order to achieve such goals, you must perform one set of breathing exercises.

If by calming exercises you understand primarily the psychological aspect, freeing the mind from thought processes, or at least reducing the flow of thoughts and slowing down the internal dialogue, then this will be a different story, because although physical and mental calming can go hand in hand, and usually mental relaxation promotes physical calmness, however, these states can also occur separately from each other, that is, you can be physically active and at the same time mentally calm and relaxed.

The reverse relationship is somewhat more complicated, since psychological tightness or nervousness will affect the physical state, because the psychological and mental levels in terms of the hierarchy of human bodies are higher than the basic physical. Based on this, we understand that the mental and psychological condition plays an important role in controlling the physical body.

Let's remember such a moment when you, having come home from work, are comfortably seated in a chair and generally feel physically relaxed, while the brain still continues to function in the same mode as at work, i.e. it has not switched, not disconnected from old programs. He continues to scroll through the stories of the day, which also does not help him calm down, and this happens every day. The thought process does not leave us for a minute. We cannot talk about calmness in its purest form if the brain is constantly comparing something, reviewing details, analyzing. This machine is always in operation, and most importantly, it is very difficult to stop it.

Stopping the Thought Process with Breathing Exercises

Meditation techniques are used to stop the thought process, thus eventually achieving complete relaxation, not only physical. But in order to enter into meditation, to start meditating, it is best to start with breathing techniques. It is they who will help to concentrate, reduce the flow of mental images, with constant practice it will become possible to completely stop it and, as a result, truly calm down.

Thoughts are what makes us restless almost all the time. Unfortunately, we have no power over them, but it only seems so at first glance. A person can and should be the master of his thoughts in order to own will be able to concentrate on fruitful thought forms, selecting and sifting out unnecessary ones. This is what the practice of dharana teaches - the concentration of thoughts on one thing.

You can also learn not to think at certain times when it is necessary to really calm down. If you understand calmness as a focus on positive emotions and memories, then this is not yet real peace. This is just a way to temporarily avoid negative thoughts, but they will return again, so this approach is, to put it mildly, counterproductive and is just a form of avoidance. For those of you who do not want to return to where you started every time, you need to master meditation techniques, the best of which are associated with yoga breathing exercises -.

Yoga: breathing exercises

Yoga breathing exercises - pranayama - generally have a good preventive and therapeutic effect on the body, not to mention the fact that the sedative effect for the psyche achieved during their implementation is stable and has a beneficial effect on mental processes. If you want to learn in practice what it is to turn off the flow of thoughts for at least a short time, then it is hardly possible to think of something better than pranayama. From the entire list of pranayamas, we will select those that are the best to start with and that will simultaneously allow you to experience meditation.

• Anuloma Viloma;
• Chandra Bhedana pranayama;
• Samavritti pranayama;
• Full yogic breathing.

There are many pranayamas in yoga practice, but it is undesirable to use Bhastrika and Kapalabhati, because these 2 breathing techniques ventilate the lungs very much, and it is better to use them only in combination with other pranayamas, since they will not give a calming effect on their own. While their combination with other types of pranayamas can be effective, but for this you need to have enough great experience practices in order to skillfully compose a complex of breathing techniques that is safe for your body and at the same time leads to the desired result.

Performing pranayamas in which there is kumbhaka, i.e. holding your breath while inhaling or exhaling is possible, but this is worth waiting until you have mastered the basic breathing techniques. Only after that you can practice holding your breath, starting with a very short time: for 3-4 seconds.

Yogic breathing exercises are designed in such a way that when you perform them, you fill the body with that very amazing energy - prana, which we have already talked about. It moves through the inner channels-nadis, there are hundreds and even thousands of them. The three most important of them are located along the spinal column, if we try to explain them in terms of anatomy, to make it clearer. However, these channels are energetic, i.e. they are invisible.

Through Ida - the lunar channel on the left, Pingala - the solar channel on the right, and the central, most important - Sushumna - pranic energy passes and is distributed. Performing full yogic breathing and pranayama, you activate the flow of prana through these channels, filling your body with life.

Breathing exercises in yoga as a preparation for deep meditation

For those who are just starting to take their first steps in the practice of pranayama, it is best to first master the full yogic breathing. It consists of 3 stages: abdominal, thoracic and clavicular. The essence of such breathing lies in the name itself - it is complete. Your breathing calms down and becomes deeper and more measured. Thoughts are concentrated on the breathing process, this alone prevents you from rushing or taking shallow breaths and insufficient exhalations. Gradually, through the breathing process itself, you relax, even if you were physically tense, because when abdominal region, then the body itself smoothly relaxes.

Next comes the removal emotional tension, and with the help of concentration on the processes of inhalation and exhalation, the mind also switches, its work becomes less intense, the thought process slows down, thus having a calming effect on emotions and the psyche in a complex, not only on the body. With the inclusion of full yogic breathing in your daily practice, even with the help of it, you can understand for the first time what the state of thoughtlessness is when the thought process is stopped at least for a while. This is the beginning of real meditation, then it can be deepened, and doing pranayamas and full yoga breathing can be the key for you that will open the door to meditation.

Breathing exercises to calm the nervous system

All yoga exercises in one way or another contribute to calming. nervous system. Some more, others less. In order to put the nerves in order, you can start practicing pranayamas such as:

• Apanasati or otherwise known as Anapanasati pranayama;
• Nadi shodhana or Anuloma Viloma - they are similar, the differences are only in the moment associated with kumbhaka;
• Samavritti pranayama, or "square breathing";
• Shitali pranayama, or "cooling breath". Its essence is not in cooling you, namely in calming;
• Chandra bhedana pranayama also refers to "cooling" in the same sense as described above;
• Full yogic breathing completes this list of breathing exercises for calming the nervous system.

Yogic breathing practices, along with the practice of asanas, have a very organic effect on the psyche, strengthening the nervous system and increasing stress resistance. If you decide to practice breathing exercises regularly, you will notice how your way of thinking changes in a short time. You will begin to pay less attention to trifles, small, annoying moments that just recently annoyed and drove you crazy.

A new outlook on life will be the factor that will help you be more balanced. Thoughts penetrate and guide all spheres of life, therefore, by changing the breath, you can change the very direction of thoughts, and this will help you react less to external stimuli, but more aware of the sequence of events and their significance in your life. In this way, life will not only become more balanced, but you will be able to take control of it and become a co-creator of your life path.

Perhaps there is no need to convince our readers that breathing is the basis of life. Lack of oxygen in the blood leads to metabolic disorders in all body systems, and consequently, to illness and even death. It is most beneficial to health when breathing is combined with physical activity, so the best breathing exercises are aerobic exercises. However, there are also special breathing exercises (systems of yogis, Strelnikova, Buteyko, etc.).

Most untrained people have shallow, shallow breathing. With this breathing "works" only top part lungs and the blood is poorly enriched with oxygen, and since all organs depend on blood for their metabolism, the whole organism suffers. In order to somehow compensate for this, we involuntarily quicken our breathing. According to the teachings of yogis, each person is given a certain amount of breath by nature. The one who breathes often dies earlier, and vice versa, slower, deep breathing lengthens life. Therefore, according to the Yogis, correct breathing should be full (deep and rhythmic). This is how our distant ancestors breathed until the benefits of civilization changed the nature of human life.

Of course, it is impossible to constantly control your breathing, but sometimes, at least once a day (and preferably three times a day), half an hour before eating, taking a full breath is certainly useful. Do this exercise for one minute at first, gradually increasing to five. Most important rule, which must be observed - it is necessary to breathe only through the nose. Nature has supplied the nose with everything necessary, so that neither dust nor too cold air, no odorous poisonous gases entered the body. The mouth is not adapted for these purposes.

Full Yogi Breathing includes:

Upper breathing - carried out by raising the shoulders and collarbones (this is how most women breathe). Air enters only into the upper part of the lungs.

Medium breathing - the middle part of the lungs is filled with air.

Deep or abdominal breathing occurs due to the fact that the diaphragm (the muscular septum that separates abdominal cavity from the chest) goes down, sticking out the stomach. The air enters into lower part lungs. Deep breathing is not possible if the abdomen is tightly tied with a belt.

So, we begin to do a full breath of yogis. Stand or sit straight, exhale calmly and begin to inhale slowly as follows. First, lower your diaphragm and push your stomach out (you can put your hand on your stomach to control the movement of your stomach). As a result, air will fill the lower part of the lungs. Now fill the middle part of your lungs with air. To do this, push the lower ribs and the middle part of the chest. At the end, spread the upper ribs, arching the chest, lift the clavicles and pull the stomach in slightly so that the diaphragm serves as a support for the lungs. This completes the breath. It is important that it is not performed as three separate movements, but that each stage smoothly transitions into another.

Now you can start exhaling. Pull your belly in first, then squeeze chest, at the end, lower your shoulders. Movements should be smooth, without tension.

Deep breathing provides complete ventilation of the lungs, protects against tuberculosis and other pulmonary and colds. To get rid of the chill, breathe according to the method of yogis for several minutes. Full breathing significantly enriches the blood with oxygen, increases the body's resistance, stimulates metabolism and has a beneficial effect on the endocrine glands, thereby strengthening, rejuvenating and toning the entire body. Slow deep breathing is strong weapon against stress and helps the body to relax. When air enters the lower part of the lungs, where oxygen exchange is most intense, the heartbeat slows down, blood pressure decreases, muscles relax, anxiety disappears, and tension subsides. Among other things, with full breathing, the diaphragm and abdominal walls contract and massage the abdominal organs, facilitating blood flow.

To calm the nervous system and restore strength, yogis use breath holding. This exercise is done standing, sitting or lying down. Inhale through the nose, as in a full breath (count up to 8), hold your breath for 8-32 seconds (increase the pause gradually), exhale as in a full breath (count up to 8). Do this exercise two or three times a day.

If you have low blood pressure and have a headache, then you can relieve or reduce pain with the help of the following exercise. Stand up straight, toes and heels together, hands down freely. Exhaling, inhale as in a full yogi breath. Close your ears tightly with your thumbs, pinch the wings of your nose with your middle fingers. Puff out your cheeks, lower your chin to your chest, close your eyes, put your index fingers on your eyelids. Stay in this position for as long as you can. After that, raise your head, remove your fingers from the eyelids and wings of the nose and exhale slowly through the nose as if in a full breath. After that, remove your thumbs from your ears and lower your hands. And you will immediately feel relief.

Comment on the article "Breathing exercises"

Breathing exercises. Girls, tell me, please, how to breathe during contractions? The most annoying thing is that during the first pregnancy she mastered this respiratory Physical exercise during pregnancy: gymnastics and exercises for all trimesters.

Discussion

on fights or on attempts? in fights - one rule: relaxation. Therefore, they usually say: "a relaxed mouth - a relaxed uterus." my husband memorized this as a mantra and made sure that I did the relaxation throughout the birth. the fight must be fully accepted - for this, in the fight you need to relax as much as possible, so breathing should be free and deep, slightly slowed down, inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. you need to exhale completely, "to the bottom." The technique from the courses helped me a lot: when you imagine how with each exhalation you relax so much that you give the child the opportunity to move lower and lower along the birth canal. and with an exhalation, I imagined how gravity helps me to exhale - to release. or imagine yourself in some beautiful place - for me this is the sea, and I imagined how the fight, like a wave, passes through me. this state of detachment and relaxation, which is required in a fight, must be trained.

but really you have to work in an attempt. they breathe differently. intermittently, strongly, holding back attempts when necessary. 2 inhalations - 2 exhalations, abruptly. or 3 stepped sharp breaths - 1 strong sharp exhalation. I remember it was convenient 2x2. and they are already pushing while holding their breath, inhale and push the air inside themselves - you push.

I don't think I missed anything :)

Raising a child from 7 to 10 years old: school, relationships with classmates, parents and teachers, health, extra classes, hobbies. How to stop breathing through your mouth. My daughter, after several years of problems with adenoids, completely switched to mouth breathing.

Discussion

Find out in the clinic or just look for where you can do this - there are BFB "Breathing" devices that correct breathing, the procedure is fun :-) There, the sensors are fixed on the chest, and the correctness of breathing is displayed on the monitor in a cartoon form. My husband went to these procedures.

I have nothing to brag about, I have been fighting with my daughter on this subject for six years. Nothing helped. And they persuaded, and reminded, and frightened that they would have to remove the tonsils because of mouth breathing, and punished ...
BUT. I have a hope that she still breathes through her nose, and her mouth is just open. And if the daughter breathes through her mouth, then this is bad. Look for ways.

"At first, breathing exercises seem to be one of the most difficult for children, but regular training makes a deep and slow child's health, illness and treatment, clinic, hospital, doctor, vaccinations. Does anyone have Buteyko exercise complexes?

Discussion

Thank you all very much! I'll pass it on to them.

Here's what I dug up. I don't really know if this is Buteyko or who.
Breathing exercises

“At first, breathing exercises seem to be one of the most difficult for children, but regular training makes deep and slow breathing natural, regulated at an unconscious level, which over time leads to an increase in lung capacity, improved blood circulation, general health and well-being.

1. Lying on the floor, the child puts his hands on his stomach. Taking a slow deep breath, inflates the stomach, at the same time imagining that the stomach is inflated balloon. Holds breath for 5 seconds. Makes a slow exhalation, the stomach is deflated. Holds breath for 5 seconds. It is performed 5-6 times in a row.

2. Starting position - lying on the floor, legs together, hands at the seams. While inhaling, the arms rise above the head, touching the floor, while exhaling, they slowly return to their original position. Simultaneously with the exhalation, the child says "Come-and-and-s." After the child has mastered this exercise, pronunciation is canceled.

3. Starting position - sitting on the floor, legs crossed (options: sitting on your knees or on your heels, legs together). The back is straight. Raise your arms up above your head with an inhalation and lower them down to the floor in front of you with an exhalation, while bending slightly in the torso.

4. Starting position - the same. The arms are extended above the head. On exhalation, the child bends forward, reaching the floor with his hands and forehead, straightens on inspiration, returning to the starting position.

5. I.p. - too. Straight arms are extended forward or to the sides at shoulder level, palms look down. With inhalation, the left hand rises, the right hand falls down. With an exhalation - the left hand down, the right up.

6. Exercise "swimmer". I.p. - sitting on your knees and on your heels, back straight. The upper body imitates a crawl swimmer. Hands alternately make "strokes", inhale with a turn of the head by 90%, exhale for three strokes of the arms, head straight.

7. The child, sitting in the same position, spreads his arms to the sides, clenching his hands into fists, moving thumb. When inhaling, the thumb rises up, while slowly exhaling, the finger gradually falls down.

8. Breathing only through one (left, then right) nostril.

9. Sitting with arms down, the child takes a quick breath, pulling his hands to his armpits, palms up. Then, slowly exhaling, lowers his hands along the body with palms down.

10. Holding your breath. The child takes a deep breath and holds the breath for as long as it can. In a group correction, you can introduce an element of competition. When all the above exercises are mastered, you can complicate them by introducing additional movements(finger exercises, oculomotor exercises, etc.). On the final stage Correction breathing exercises are performed while standing.

More breathing exercises. Breathing exercises. "Trumpeter". For health, it is most beneficial when breathing is combined with physical activity, so the best breathing exercises are aerobic exercises.

About the benefits morning exercises they talk all the time, but we have never heard that our heart needs regular breathing exercises. We associate this practice exclusively with yoga, although life shows that our heart simply needs such breathing training.

If in the past such training for the body was active physical labor, now, when most people work in offices, they do not receive the necessary loads, and besides long time is not in the most comfortable position, breathing exercises become even more relevant.

Dependence of health on breathing

In order to understand how breathing affects human health, it is necessary to know about some of the features of this process.

So, healthy man takes about fifteen breaths per minute, passing almost 6 liters of air through the lungs during this time. The respiratory cycle, that is, the time from the beginning of inhalation to the end of exhalation, is four seconds (two seconds for inhalation and two seconds for exhalation). With an average heart rate of 70 beats per minute (80 beats on inspiration and 60 on exhalation), the heart manages to contract almost five times in this short period of time (three times on inspiration and two on exhalation).

Slightly different indicators in a sick person. In a minute, he draws in air more than twenty times, and the pulse at the same time increases to 80 beats. in a minute. As for the respiratory cycle, it is reduced to 3 seconds, during which the heart has time to contract no more than four times. Changes in the pulse rate during inhalation and exhalation in this case are almost imperceptible.

If we talk about an athlete, then a trained person is distinguished by rare breathing (only eight breaths per minute), and his pulse is slow and is 60 beats / minute. During this period of time, his lungs pass only three liters of air, which inevitably affects the breathing cycle, the duration of which is 7.5 seconds, while there is a four-second pause between inhalation and exhalation.

Interestingly, there are 2 seconds per breath, during which the pulse rate reaches 90 beats per minute. If we talk about exhalation with a breath hold, which accounts for the remaining 5.5 seconds, then during this period of time the pulse drops to 60, that is, one and a half times.

These figures, which are difficult for the perception of an uninitiated person, are by no means given for nothing. It turns out that the greater the difference between the pulse rate during inhalation and exhalation, the stronger the lungs and heart, the better the vegetative system works, and the healthier a person feels. In a general sense, the state of our health and appearance at one age or another. It is for this reason that people who have been enthusiastically involved in sports throughout their lives, even in old age, look strong and fit, and much younger than their years. It's all thanks to the breath!

What benefit can be derived from all that is written? To stay healthy and look 55 at 70, you need to exercise regularly. If you do not have such an opportunity, breathing exercises will help you.

The benefits of breathing exercises

Practice shows that the technique of correct inhalations and exhalations leads to the following positive changes in the body:

• the volume of the lungs increases;
• increased gas exchange;
• blood and heart cells are better supplied with oxygen;
• coronary vessels and vessels of the brain expand;
• regulated heart rate;
• the movement of the diaphragm is established and the lungs are massaged;
• the heart is released from excessive pressure from the diaphragm and lungs;
• improves blood supply to the heart;
• the nervous system calms down;
• stress is relieved;
• trains the cardiovascular system and in particular the myocardium.

I. Breathing exercises for the heart

And now we will describe in detail a set of breathing exercises that will strengthen the heart and rejuvenate your body, preventing early aging.

1. Stand straight with your legs slightly apart and keeping your back straight. Alternatively, to perform the exercise, you can sit on a chair with a back. right hand take aside. Hold with your left hand left nostril blocking the flow of air through it. With the right nostril, slowly draw air into the lungs, and in parallel move the right hand to the nose, so that as soon as you take a full breath, immediately close the nostril with your right hand. Next, take aside left hand Starting to exhale slowly through the left nostril. At the same time, measure the duration of one breathing cycle with the heart rate, gradually increasing the periods of inhalation and exhalation, starting from four to sixteen heart beats, but only after even number(ideally after 2). Begin the next cycle in the opposite direction, inhaling through the left nostril and exhaling through the right.

For this process, you will need maximum concentration and listening to your own body, and therefore gymnastics should be carried out in absolute silence and with eyes closed. In this case, you need to breathe slowly, and your hands should move smoothly, without tension in the muscles. Such alternate inhalation and exhalation of air should be repeated until satisfaction appears, which will indicate the energy saturation of the body.

2. Stay in the starting position. Make the exercise more difficult. Take a slow breath through the left nostril, holding the right at this moment. And then, changing hands, exhale quickly and vigorously through the right nostril. Take one breath cycle, then repeat it in reverse order (slowly inhaling through the right, and quickly exhaling through the left nostril). Here it is very important to ensure that the respiratory rhythm does not go astray, dizziness and discomfort do not appear. In this case, the execution of the element should be stopped, calmed down and started again.

3. We perform this exercise in the same way as those described above, only inhalations and exhalations become fast, like in athletes during training. Through an open nostril we take a quick breath, and then we change hands and also exhale rapidly through the other. We repeat the actions taken in reverse.

4. Next, we perform the same exercise, but we carry out a rapid inhalation and exhalation with one nostril (let it be the left one). Having achieved uniform breathing, we pass to the other nostril and repeat the actions performed.

5. We perform a slow deep breath and exactly the same exhale, first through the right nostril, and then repeat the cycle of breathing using the left nostril. In this case, the cycle should correspond first to four, then six, eight and, finally, ten heart beats.

6. Now we move on to breathing simultaneously with two nostrils. Slowly draw in the air, then freeze and count half the time of inhalation. Then exhale slowly as well.

7. Slowly drawing in the air with both nostrils, exhale slowly as well, after which you hold your breath for half the respiratory cycle.

8. Now complicate the element. Take a deep breath, hold your breath, and then also slowly exhale and hold your breath again. In the course of daily training, seek to increase the duration of the cycles.

9. Squeezing your lips with a “tube”, draw air into yourself with force, and then exhale in the same way, not forgetting to monitor your heartbeat.

10. Lie down and alternate between deep ascending and descending breathing. In this case, inhalation, breath holding and exhalation must be distributed over 8, 14, and 12 heart beats, maintaining such breathing for ten minutes.

II. Breathing exercises for brain vessels

And here is a set of breathing exercises for people who need to strengthen the vessels of the brain. True, doctors here recommend being careful and immediately stop exercising in case of dizziness or headache.

1. Sit on a chair with a back, straighten your shoulders and slightly raise your chin. Place your hands on your knees and relax.

2. Slightly opening your mouth, reach the tip of your tongue to the upper palate.

3. Begin to breathe evenly, trying to pronounce the sound “so” on the inhale without the help of the tongue, and on the exhale the sound “hum”.

4. Performing breathing exercises, make sure that air enters the lungs evenly through the mouth and through the nose.

To train the vessels of the brain, you will need to perform this exercise daily, preferably in the morning and evening, devoting 10-15 minutes to it.

III. Breathing exercises for the vegetative-vascular system

Here, it should initially be understood that breathing exercises alone will not succeed in getting rid of vegetative-vascular dystonia. However, in combination with other methods of treating this disease, breathing exercises can significantly alleviate well-being.

1. To move on to gymnastics that trains the vegetative-vascular system, initially perform the first element of breathing exercises to strengthen the heart. Close one nostril and inhale slowly, then switch hands and exhale through the other nostril. When the basic element is repeated several times in one and the other direction, we can proceed to the gymnastics we require.

2. Place your right hand on your stomach, and your left hand on your chest.

3. Begin to evenly inhale and exhale air through the nose, with each breath trying to draw the stomach in as much as possible, and exhaling - sticking it out, as if pushing the air out.

4. Continue breathing through your nose, but now keep your stomach still. Only the chest should work: inflate on inhalation, and contract on exhalation.

Spend 5 to 10 minutes each way of breathing, while making sure that the exercise does not cause you discomfort and unpleasant symptoms. The main criterion for the correctness of the exercise will be the feeling of satisfaction from the state in which you are.

IV. Breathing exercises after shunting

Individuals who have undergone heart bypass surgery need proper recovery, which includes special gymnastics. Let's consider it.

1. Lie down on a hard surface with one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach.

2. Breathe in through your nose for three seconds while puffing up your belly. You should feel your hand rise along with your belly. Then exhale slowly through your mouth for 4-5 seconds.

3. Hold your breath for three seconds and then repeat the exercise.

After breathing exercises, go to exercise. Standing straight, begin to take your hands back, while inhaling, and then bend your torso with an exhalation. Repeat 7-10 times.

By the way, it is recommended to perform this gymnastics 1-2 times a day half an hour before a meal or an hour and a half after a meal. And further. For some patients, doctors recommend to inflate every day Balloons. It will also become a kind of gymnastics for the heart and blood vessels.
Take care of your health!

Breathing is an important part of human life. Without it, you can live only a couple of minutes. It can have different rhythms, depending on life situations, and no one seriously thinks about how this happens. In addition, most people have not even heard of the benefits of breathing exercises. And they help to improve health, relieve excess weight to achieve a harmonious combination of body and soul. The organs responsible for breathing include the nose, trachea, bronchi and lungs. Violations in their work lead to a deterioration in respiratory function. To help your body work, you can use various techniques breathing. Yoga is considered to be the most common of them.

AT different situations and at different people, breathing may be different.

• Deep - characterized by falling into Airways the volume of air that completely fills the respiratory system. Usually a person inhales this way in the forest, in nature, or after feeling a pleasant aroma.
• Frequent - may appear, for example, after a run, or with a strong fright.
• Superficial - not enough air enters the respiratory system.
• Rare. It's more of an advanced technique. For example, this is how gymnasts can breathe in synchronized swimming.
• Lower. This is breathing with the help of the diaphragm, in which only the stomach works, without the participation of the chest.
• Medium - the chest is involved.
• Upper - the shoulder girdle is involved.
• Mixed - the most versatile, which involves the diaphragm, chest and shoulders.

Superficial and frequent breathing in a normal and calm state of the body may indicate pathological processes.

Yoga helps bring the spiritual and physical components of your body into harmony. It suggests that for a normal existence and life, a person needs prana (life energy), which can be food and respiratory.

Breathing exercises used in the yoga system allow you to:

• provide the lungs with enough air;
• reduce blood pressure;
• restore normal metabolism and nervous system;
• improve work immune system;
• achieve harmony of mind and body.

You can practice this system at home by doing the following exercise:

• Starting position: lotus position, hands on knees, index and thumb fingers on each hand are connected and form a large ring, and the remaining fingers do not touch. The back is straight, the eyes are closed. Men sit facing north and women face south.
• Fulfillment: release air from the respiratory organs, exhaling properly. Start gradually filling them. Inhaling, you should feel how the air fills the lungs from the bottom up. First, the stomach inflates, filling the bottom, then the chest rises, filling the middle of the lungs, and as a result, they are completely filled. On the last stage the shoulders rise and the stomach deflates. Exhale and repeat at least 3 times.
• Features of the technique: with such breathing in yoga, the air enters smoothly and gradually. There is no tension or discomfort in the body and respiratory organs. The whole body is saturated with life-giving prana.

Not only yoga is popular as a breathing exercise. To do this, there are various methods, including their own set of exercises:

• Breathing exercises. It allows you to cure diseases of the respiratory system, heart, nervous system, blood vessels. This method is based on the complete filling of the respiratory organs with air, involving the whole organism. Such a complex is quite diverse. Let's consider some of them:
• Stand up, relax, bend your arms at the elbows and press them to the ribs, clench your hands into a fist, palms turned away from you. Take 4 quick inhales and exhales in a row. The inhalation should be loud, and the exhalation silent. Inhale to clench your fists, exhale to unclench. Do at least 10 sets with a break of a few seconds.
• Place your hands on your stomach and clench into fists, turn your palms towards you. Take a quick breath in and out 8 times in a row. On inhalation, clench the fists, on exhalation - unclench (at the same time, the arms sharply straighten down). Perform at least 10 approaches.
• Stand up, bend forward a little so that the straight arms are above the knees, the hands are relaxed, the face is lowered down, the back is rounded. On inspiration, the body descends, on exhalation it rises (the amplitude is small), but the back does not fully straighten. Inhale - loud, exhale - silent. Take 8 quick breaths in and out, and rest for a few seconds. Repeat at least 10 times.
• Bodyflex - helps to lose extra pounds and saturate the body with oxygen. Breathing itself looks like this - exhale all the air through your mouth, inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth, draw in your stomach as much as possible and hold your breath, counting to 10. While holding your breath, you can perform any exercise on desired group muscles. Also, during such training, you can just do household chores. Just a quarter of an hour of exercise a day will help you lose weight, thanks to improved metabolism and bowel function.
• Three-phase breathing. Its founder L.Kofler. A set of exercises using this technique helps to cope with respiratory diseases, as well as improve vocal data. Exhale and hold your breath in the middle until you have the strength not to breathe. After that, inhale and exhale completely. Make 6 such approaches, pronouncing different sounds in this order: “pfff”, “ssss”, “pfff”, “zhzhzhzh”, “pfff”, “zzzz”.

There are other programs for training breathing. Some of them (such as rebirthing, the Butenko breathing system, holontropic breathing) cause a lot of controversy and have unproven effectiveness. Others, for example, vayveishn, breathing according to Pershin, are modified methods of already existing exercises.

Regardless of which set of exercises will be preferred, the following recommendations should be followed:

• during the first workouts, you do not need to try to complete all the approaches;
• if dizziness appears, then the interval between sets should be temporarily increased;
• if there are unpleasant sensations during the exercise, then the technique should be reconsidered - perhaps you are doing something wrong;
• train better for fresh air or in a room with open windows;
• Before starting training, you should consult your doctor to rule out contraindications.

The right approach to breathing training and a well-chosen technique will improve the condition of the whole body and find inner harmony.

Something about yoga

The ancient Indian sages developed a whole system that makes extensive use of breathing exercises. Yoga also involves performing meditations, strengthening the body, developing energy and biofields. But in this article we will only touch on

breathing exercises from this system. According to Indian yogis, human life measured not in years. Each person is measured not by the number of years, but by the number of breaths. Such an opinion is clearly not devoid of logic. After all, life is absolutely impossible without breathing. Air consumption is perhaps the most important need human body. Without food, a person can die in one and a half to two months, with a complete lack of water, he will live for a week, and without the ability to breathe in just a few minutes, he will cease to exist. All body systems without exception depend on the supply of oxygen. However, it is not enough just to breathe, consuming air. It's important to know how to do it right. Perhaps the last phrase sounds a little ridiculous, but most people breathe shallowly, which is why the body is not completely freed from carbon dioxide and toxins. And this may well lead to the emergence of a number of diseases.

Some rules

Breathing exercises can give you good health and balance. Thanks to them, your lungs will be properly ventilated, the supply of oxygen to the body will improve and, as a result, brain function and general well-being will improve. Also, breathing exercises will help to get out of negative emotional states. Pay attention to the fact that in the starting position the body should be relaxed. It is strictly not recommended to perform breathing exercises at the time severe fatigue, when your body is overheated or hypothermic. You must be ready for them physically and mentally.

Talasana

So, here are some breathing exercises. Stand straight on your toes, raising your arms in an arc. Taking a slow deep breath, stretch up. You should feel your lungs fill completely with air. At the highest point, join your palms and hold your breath a little. Lower yourself slowly. Exhale slowly. Repeat the entire cycle several times. This exercise is called "Talasana", translated from Hindi - "palm". Strengthens the muscles of the abdomen, neck, lower back.

cleansing breath

This exercise will be found very useful by representatives of a number of professions who often need to strain their lungs (teachers, speakers, singers and actors). It soothes and strengthens certain organs. So, take a deep breath. Air should fill your lungs. Squeeze your lips without puffing out your cheeks, as if you want to whistle. Forcefully exhale some air. Stop for a few seconds. Exhale with force some air again. Stop again for a few seconds. Repeat this until you exhale all the air. Exercise is refreshing and can relieve fatigue. It is worth practicing until you can do it naturally and easily.

Breathing exercises serve many purposes. In particular, some of them help develop the power of the voice. Take a deep breath. Do this as slowly as possible, but with force. Then hold your breath. Stop for a few seconds. Forcefully exhale all the air from your lungs at one time. Do it through an open mouth. Then take a cleansing breath. How to do this, see above.

Types of breathing

Speaking about how a person consumes air, it is impossible not to touch on this topic. There are four main types of breathing: full, lower, middle and upper. The second is typical for men. When they breathe, the stomach seems to pulsate. The latter type is mainly characteristic of women. They breathe through the top of their lungs. Each of these types is worth working out. It is best to do this early in the morning.

Lie down on a hard sofa or floor. Your entire body (head, torso, legs) should be in a straight line. Bending your arms, place one palm on your stomach, the other on your chest. Relax completely. While taking a deep breath, simultaneously stick out your stomach. At this time, the lower sections of the lungs are filled with air. The hand that is on your stomach controls your breathing. The second palm is in a fixed position. Exhale - the stomach goes down.

Take the same starting position. Exhale lightly. Then begin to expand the chest to the sides and forward. In this case, the hand lying on the chest should feel the movement.

The starting position is unchanged. As you inhale, your upper chest rises.

Full breath

You can proceed to it, having mastered all the types listed above. When you inhale, your stomach gradually protrudes, then the middle and upper chest.

Conclusion

How we consume air is important. Your health and longevity depend on it. Do not forget that there is breathing exercises. Perform the exercises listed above every morning, and then you will feel the effect.