Breathing exercises and your health. Proper breathing and a set of breathing exercises

Special exercises for the treatment of hypertension and arrhythmias

Breathing exercises are an excellent method of dealing with high blood pressure and arrhythmia. Properly selected set of breathing exercises helps to calm the nervous system, restore normal functioning of cardio-vascular system, and in some cases even help in the fight against chronic insomnia.

Such treatment will not take much of your time. For all 3 therapeutic exercises you will need no more than 5-10 minutes a day.

I just want to warn those readers who expect instant miracles from classes: not all at once! You must understand that you are unlikely to be able to cure a neglected arrhythmia or hypertension in a few days with the help of breathing exercises alone.
It will take time and some diligence - these exercises well reduce high blood pressure and restore heart rate only with regular exercise.

Observation of Dr. Evdokimenko.
At first, my patients manage to reduce pressure with these exercises only 10-20 units (mm Hg) per set. But after two to three weeks of training, the results become better. Many of my patients manage to reduce pressure by 30-40 units in one session.
In general, if you show patience and do these exercises every day, your nervous system will become much more stable, the pressure will stabilize and stop jumping. Up and down pressure fluctuations will be much weaker. The rhythm of the heart gradually also stabilizes.

To achieve the desired result, it is necessary to do special breath holding exercises. Below is a detailed description of them.

Video: Breathing exercises for pressure and arrhythmia

Breathing Exercise #1: Deep Abdominal Breathing

It can be performed at any time - morning, afternoon or evening. But not earlier than 2 hours after eating!

Benefits of this exercise: after it, breathing normalizes and the nervous system calms down. The diaphragm is trained. Stimulates the intestines, liver and pancreas. Constipation is eliminated. The ribs straighten and the vital capacity of the lungs increases.

Performing the exercise:

Performed sitting or standing. The back is straight! The palms of the hands lie on the stomach (for control), but do not press on the stomach.

Take (strictly through the nose!) A very slow deep breath with your stomach - that is, stick out your stomach when you inhale. After filling the stomach with air, "breathe" the air into chest, straighten it - that is, give your chest a little forward and up.
If you can, intensify the exercise by bringing the shoulder blades together - that is, pull your shoulders back and bring your shoulder blades together.

After that, start a slow exhalation (strictly through the nose!). First, exhale the air from the abdomen - "deflate the stomach", draw it in.

Then continue exhaling, blowing the air out of the lungs - slightly tilt your head down and move your shoulders forward to “squeeze out” the maximum amount of air remaining in them from the lungs.

Exhaling completely, hold your breath for about 5-10 seconds as you exhale. Then rest - breathe normally for about a minute.

Then repeat the exercise. Do it (with minute breaks) 3 times - but no more!

Important: when performing the exercise, learn to perform it smoothly and without breaks - when you inhale, immediately after filling the abdomen with air, there should be a smooth transition of the respiratory movement to the chest (that is, filling the lungs with air).

On exhalation, the same thing - immediately after squeezing air out of the abdomen, there should be a smooth transition to squeezing air out of the lungs (compression of the chest).

At first, it will be difficult for you to make such smooth transitions from the abdomen to the chest, but after a few days you will learn to perform all this movement “without a hitch”, and you will do it automatically.

By the way, for men, abdominal breathing (belly breathing) is given very simply - since men initially breathe due to the abdominal muscles.
But at first, women will have to suffer, because by nature women have a chest type of breathing. And the inclusion of the abdominal muscles in the respiratory movement in women usually takes from three days to 2 weeks. Do not worry, dear ladies - it will be much easier for you, you will learn how to perform this exercise no worse than men!

Keep in mind that in the first few days after doing the exercise, you will feel dizzy - this is normal. This effect of performing abdominal breathing will soon disappear. And in a week or two, your dizziness will stop.

Strengthened version of exercise number 1: About a week after the start of classes, when you learn how to correctly and smoothly perform deep abdominal breathing, you can try to do the same exercise in an enhanced version: immediately before doing the exercise, press your tongue against the palate. And then do everything as you did before in exercise No. 1, but with your tongue pressed to the palate.

After that, compare the result of the enhanced version of the exercise with its original version: check blood pressure and heart rate, listen to your feelings and evaluate your well-being.

After weighing all this, choose which of the two options suits you best - simple breathing exercise number 1, or the option with the tongue pressed against the palate.

Breathing Exercise #2: Slow Exhalation

After about 10 days from the start of classes, add an exercise to slow the exhalation to deep abdominal breathing.

Benefits of exercise: the same as from the first exercise. But there are also special bonuses. By slowing down exhalation, blood pressure is better stabilized. The heart is trained. Improves blood supply to the brain. The nervous system calms down faster.

Performance:

The exercise is performed in much the same way as the first, but with three differences:

The first difference is that when you take a full deep breath, do not hold your breath, but immediately start exhaling.
Second. Try to slow your exhalation - try to make the exhalation be about 2 times longer than the inhalation.
Third. After doing the exercise (that is, after the end of the exhalation), do not pause for a minute "for breathing rest", but immediately repeat the exercise again. Once again. That is a total of 3 times.

Breathing exercise number 3: slowing down the breath on exhalation

After another week, you can add an exercise to hold your breath to the first two exercises.

Benefits of exercise: enhances the effect of the first two exercises.

Performance:

The exercise is performed in almost the same way as exercise number 1. Take (strictly through the nose!) A very slow deep breath into the stomach - that is, sticking out the stomach when inhaling.

Having filled the stomach with air, “breathe in” the air into the chest - straighten the chest (that is, push the chest slightly forward and up). Strengthen the exercise by bringing the shoulder blades together - take your shoulders back and bring your shoulder blades together.

Now, inhaling as deeply as you can, hold your breath for 5-7 seconds.

After that, start a slow exhalation (strictly through the nose!). First, exhale the air from the abdomen - "deflate the stomach", draw it in. Then continue to exhale, blowing the air out of the lungs - slightly tilt your head down and slightly forward your shoulders to "squeeze" the remaining air out of the lungs.

And now attention! Here begins the difference from the first exercise.

After exhaling, when you have removed almost all the air from the lungs, lower your chin to your chest and hold your breath (as you exhale). Don't breathe as much as you can. Ideally, at least 20-30 seconds. But not longer than 40 seconds.
Then give yourself a rest - breathe normally for about a minute. Then repeat the exercise again. Do not repeat the exercise for the third time - two approaches are enough.

It is important! If you suffer from hypertension, after doing breathing exercises, be sure to measure the pressure! But not immediately, but after 10-15 minutes.
Track your pressure response to breathing exercises. For most people, the pressure from them normalizes - normal pressure remains the same, but high blood pressure gradually decreases to normal.

However, a small percentage of people (about 10%) have an abnormal reaction to these breathing exercises - on the contrary, the pressure rises. If you fall into these 10%, do not tempt fate, do not wait for the result to appear later, and immediately stop exercising.

There is nothing wrong with that - one method of treating hypertension did not fit, another will do. Go back to the chapters on treating hypertension and find some other way to deal with high blood pressure.

Proper breathing works wonders. But for right choice a set of breathing exercises just for you, it is best to consult with a professional. No need to be skeptical about breathing exercises. The benefits of breathing exercises have been known since ancient times, it helps to recover from mental and physical ailments. The main thing is a competent approach.

The exercises described below are simple, but the benefits are great. These exercises are basic in yoga and they are suitable for any unprepared person.

Holding your breath

It is an important exercise that promotes the development of the respiratory muscles. If you do the exercise regularly, it will expand the chest. According to yoga, this temporary holding of the breath will benefit nervous system, circulatory system, digestive organs, respiratory organs.

An exercise:

• Let's get straight.
• Let's take a breath.
• Hold the air in the chest as soon as possible.
• Forcefully exhale air through the mouth

For beginners long time it is difficult to hold your breath, but with practice you can significantly increase your capabilities.

Lung activation

The exercise is designed to activate the oxygen-absorbing cells. Do not abuse this exercise and you need to do it with great care. Even if there is a slight dizziness, it is better to interrupt the exercise and rest.

An exercise:

• We stand straight, stretch our arms along the body.
• Let's take a very deep and slow breath.
• When the lungs are filled with air, hold your breath and slowly hit the chest with your palms.
• Exhale slowly and slowly strike the chest with your fingertips.
• Let's do a cleansing breath.

This exercise activates the absorption of oxygen by the lung cells and increases the tone of the body.

Rib stretch

Ribs are important for proper breathing, so doing special exercises You can make them more flexible.

An exercise:

• Let's get straight.
• Press the hands to the sides of the chest high under the armpits so that the thumbs are directed to the back, the palms are on the sides and the remaining fingers are turned to the front of the chest. We seem to squeeze the chest with our hands from the sides, but not much.
• Let's take a full breath.
• Let's hold on little time air in the lungs.
• Slowly squeeze the ribs with your hands, and slowly exhale the air.
• Perform cleansing breath.

Chest expansion

From a lack of physical activity and hypodynamia, the volume of the chest decreases. This exercise helps to restore the normal volume of the chest.

An exercise:

• Let's get straight.
• Let's take a full breath.
• Let's hold the air.
• Extend both arms forward and clench two fists at shoulder level.
• We sharply take our hands back.
• Let's move our hands back and forth and quickly clench our fists several times and strain the muscles of the hands.
• Exhale sharply through the mouth.
• Let's do a cleansing breath.

Breathing exercise on the go

We perform it at any suitable time and during a walk.

An exercise:

• On a walk, we walk with our heads held high, with our chin slightly extended forward and our shoulders back, and the steps should be the same length.
• Let's take a breath, slowly count to 8 and take 8 steps during this time so that the count is equal to the steps, stretch the breath for 8 steps.
• Exhale slowly through the nostrils, count to eight and take eight steps.
• Hold your breath, keep walking and count to eight.
• We repeat the exercise until we feel that we are tired. We repeat several times a day.

If it is difficult to perform this exercise, then we will reduce the time of exhalation and inhalation, and hold the breath to 4 steps.

cleansing breath

It will help you quickly clear Airways. It is performed when breathing is lost or very frequent, when you need to restore breathing.

An exercise:

• Starting position - let's lower our arms along the body, legs shoulder-width apart.
• We perform a full breath, and without holding our breath, we begin an intense exhalation through tightly closed lips in small portions. Stretch your lips into a smile. We do not puff out our cheeks. The body is tense on exhalation - we clench our hands into fists, stretch our arms down along the body, straighten our legs, squeeze the buttocks tightly and pull them up. Breathe while you have something to breathe. Again, take a full breath and repeat until you fully restore your breath.

These exercises are performed under the supervision of a doctor and only after consultation with a specialist.

Breathing exercises for diseases

Cardiovascular diseases

When the heart hurts or there is an attack of shortness of breath, you can do the exercises breathing exercises to improve health.

An exercise:

• Sit on the edge of a bed or chair and place your palms on your knees.
• Lower your head slightly (look at the floor), leaning forward a little, take loud and short breaths.
• When inhaling, bend, straighten up - exhale.
• Repeat several times. Exhalation happens by itself, without your efforts. Don't strain your back.
• When performing the exercise, do not lean back.

These exercises can be done for up to 30 minutes. Cardio breathing exercises are an integral part of a comprehensive breathing workout that strengthens the cardiovascular system as well as the lungs, increasing body endurance and calorie burning.

Bronchitis Exercises

Inflammatory disease of the bronchi is accompanied by swelling of the mucous membrane and is protracted. In chronic bronchitis, it is recommended to carry out breathing exercises, due to which the accumulation of mucus is eliminated and breathing is facilitated.

A set of breathing exercises should be carried out twice a day (morning and evening) for 2-3 weeks. It is very useful to do the exercises "Pump" and "Hug shoulders".

Exercises:

• Alternating inhalations and exhalations through the mouth and nose, we take 16 breaths through the nose, then immediately without stopping 16 breaths through the mouth. A total of 32 breaths will be performed.
• Inhalation through the mouth is done quietly, almost inaudibly, as if they are saying: "Ah, ah, ah."
• Exhalation leaves after each breath independently, passively through the mouth too.

Scoliosis Exercises

Scoliosis is one of the diseases that causes curvature of the spine and pain in the back, as well as twisting of the body and a decrease in the heart and lungs. In addition to exercises to correct the spine, a doctor may recommend breathing exercises to treat this condition. One of them is deep breathing. The exercise can be performed lying down or sitting.

An exercise:

• Start by imagining that your body is divided into three parts: the abdomen, Bottom part chest and top part chest.
• Take a deep breath, then exhale, imagining that you are releasing your breath from each part.
• Inhale and repeat three to five deep breaths.
• After doing this exercise several times, exhale more evenly, bringing all three parts of the body together in one breath.

Exercises for the Lungs

Try some easy breathing exercises for your lungs. This will help in breathing and ensure a good condition in general. After doing these breathing exercises, you will feel more confident.

Breathing exercises increase lung function. Running or walking are considered light exercise and can greatly increase lung function, allowing them to be stronger and cleaner. By doing light exercise every day, or at least three times a week, you can greatly improve your quality of life as well as your health. Easy breathing let you enjoy life to the fullest.

Thanks to breathing exercises, a person quickly calms down, learns to control his emotional state. A set of breathing exercises should be combined with morning exercises Or do it at night before bed. Breathing exercises should be done with pleasure and good mood. Practice breathing exercises in comfortable clothing and in a well-ventilated area.

If you want to live long healthy life you should have clean and healthy lungs.

Exercises for Asthma

Breathing exercises for the treatment of asthma are aimed at eliminating the incoordination of breathing. Due to the fact that a person has the ability to arbitrarily change the rate of breathing and the amplitude of respiratory movements.

Exercises:

1. Attention is fixed only on inhalation through the nose. Inhale - loud, sharp and short.
2. Exhalation is carried out after each breath independently (preferably through the mouth). The scheme is as follows: extremely active inhalation through the nose and absolutely passive exhalation through the mouth. It is very important to control the exhalation, it should not be sharp or loud.
3. Inhalation must be done simultaneously with a set of movements. In Strelnikova's breathing exercises, breathing and movement are inseparable from each other.

Paradoxical breathing for the treatment of asthma gives a complex therapeutic effect on the human body:

1. improves metabolic processes, which play an important role in blood supply, including lung tissue;
2. helps the body in restoring disturbed nervous regulation by the central nervous system;
3. positively affects the drainage function of the bronchi;
4. disturbed nasal breathing is restored;
5. helps to eliminate some morphological changes in the bronchopulmonary system;
6. helps the body cope with inflammatory formations, straightening wrinkled areas of the lung tissue, restoring normal blood supply, and eliminating local congestion.

It should be noted that in the rehabilitation of a person suffering from bronchial asthma, the leading role is played by physical factors.
Respiratory gymnastics is a kind of powerful healing effect on the patient's body. Lessons different types respiratory gymnastics help to adapt the patient's body, his cardiovascular system and respiratory organs to physical activity, increase immunity. Active breathing exercises lead to optimization of the processes of excitation and inhibition of the central nervous system, contribute to the elimination of its functional disorders. All this strengthens the respiratory muscles, helping to eliminate disturbances in neuroendocrine regulation, reduces the increased lability of the bronchi, restores the normal breathing mechanism, and normalizes the activity of others. internal organs.
If there was a seizure bronchial asthma, it is advisable to use breathing exercises to stop it.
The main tasks of respiratory gymnastics in the treatment of bronchial asthma:

1. elimination of bronchospasm;
2. normalization of the respiratory mechanism;
3. restoration of balance in the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex;
4. oppression of tholamic cortico-visceral reflexes;
5. increase in the strength of the respiratory muscles;
6. counteracting the development of emphysema;
7. activation of trophic processes in tissues;
8. improvement of lung ventilation;
9. normalization of the function of external respiration;
10. promote the removal of sputum from the respiratory tract;
11. increase the body's resistance to external environment.

When doing breathing exercises, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. The total load for the patient's body when performing therapeutic gymnastics should rise and fall gradually.
2. Physical exercises with the greatest load significantly increase the work of the patient's cardiovascular system; it is necessary to put in the middle of the lesson.
3. After exercise, which cause an increase in the frequency of breathing and heart contractions in patients, it is imperative to use breathing exercises that have a calming effect on breathing, blood circulation and the nervous system.
4. Physical exercises in the main period of the lesson should involve all the muscles in the work.
5. As you study some exercises, it is recommended to periodically update and complicate them, remembering that the positive effect of training is achieved as a result of the constant development of new conditioned reflex connections and only through systematic exercises.

Breathing exercises in combination with drug treatment speed up recovery.

In 1952, Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko proposed a unique physiotherapy method that reduces the manifestations of asthma. The method is based on nasal breathing and a decrease in the depth of breathing. Scientists put forward the idea of ​​alveolar hyperventilation, the so-called deep breathing. K.P. Buteyko suggested that from the depth of breathing, there will be no more oxygen in the blood, but the amount of carbon dioxide will decrease. It is believed that the Buteyko method can cure or alleviate the course of 98% of human diseases, which is approximately 152 common diseases. This technique has been in demand for 40 years in various clinics of the USSR, and in 1986 it received a patent and official approval from the USSR Ministry of Health.

The method of voluntary control of breathing according to Buteyko is used for the purpose of rational restructuring of the act of breathing. But learning to control breathing is possible only under the condition of systematic training, when the correct type of breathing is learned and fixed at the level of reflexes.
Improving the coordination of the work of the respiratory muscles increases the speed of inhalation and exhalation, which facilitates breathing with a narrowed bronchial opening, and the effect of bronchial drainage increases.

A set of exercises

• It is necessary to sit on a chair, relax, stop looking a little above the line of the eyes.
• Try to relax the diaphragm, the breath will become shallow, there should be a lack of air in the chest.
• You should stay in this state for 10-15 minutes.
• With an increased desire to breathe, you can slightly increase the depth of breathing.
• Try to breathe through the tops of your lungs.

If everything is done correctly, at first a feeling of warmth will appear, then it will be a little hot, after 5-7 minutes perspiration will appear and great desire take a breath. Fight this desire only through the relaxation of the diaphragm. Remember that the exercises must be performed without noise, breathing through the nose.

Breathing exercises K.P. Buteyko are aimed at training proper breathing, at developing a person’s ability to hold their breath on exhalation and on inhalation, while physical activity and at rest.

Breathing in the upper lungs: inhale 5 s, exhale 5 s, while the chest muscles are in a relaxed state; pause 5 s, do not breathe, relax as much as possible. Repeat 10 times, about 2.5 minutes.

Full breath. Thoracic and diaphragmatic breathing at the same time. Inhale for 7.5 s, start with diaphragmatic breathing - finish with chest; exhale 7.5 s, start from the upper sections of the lungs - finish with the lower sections of the lungs, namely the diaphragm; pause 5 s. Repeat 10 times, about 3.5 min.

Nose point massage on pause. Executed 1 time. Breathe through the right, then the left halves of the nose (10 times each).

Abdominal contraction exercise. Take a full breath for 7.5 seconds, a maximum exhalation of 7.5 seconds, followed by a pause (5 seconds) with the abdominal muscles drawn in. Repeat 10 times, within 3.5 minutes.

Maximum ventilation of the lungs. The exercise consists of 12 quick maximum exhalations and inhalations for 1 minute: inhale 2.5 s, exhale 2.5 s. Then make the maximum pause on the exhale. Enough 1 time.

Rare breath by levels:

• Level 1: inhale 1-5 s, exhale 5 s, pause 5 s, i.e. 4 breaths per minute. Do only 1 minute and without stopping breathing go to the next level.
• Level 2: inhale for 2-5 seconds, after inhalation, hold the breath for 5 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, then pause for 5 seconds, that is, 3 breaths per minute. The duration of the level is 2 minutes.
• Level 3: inhale 3-7.5 s, hold breath 7.5 s, exhale 7.5 s, pause 5 s, i.e. 2 breaths per minute. Perform 3 min.
• Level 4: inhale for 4-10 seconds, hold your breath for 10 seconds, exhale for 10 seconds, pause for 10 seconds, that is, 1.5 breaths per minute. Perform within 4 minutes. Continue as long as possible. Ideally, reach 1 breath per minute.

Double breath hold. Make the maximum pause on the exhale, and then the maximum delay on the inhale. Perform once. Further: in a sitting position - a maximum pause of 3-10 times, running in place - 3-10 times, walking in place - 3-10 times, crouching - a maximum pause of 3-10 times.

Shallow breathing. Sit in a comfortable position, relax and do chest breathing. Then reduce the volume of exhalation and inhalation until the breath becomes invisible (breathing at the level of the nasopharynx). At first, there is a slight lack of air, then medium and even strong. This speaks of correct execution exercises. Do shallow breathing for 3-10 minutes.

Remember that all exercises must be performed without noise, breathing through the nose.

Alexandra Nikolaevna Strelnikova invented this technique together with her mother back in the forties of the last century to quickly restore the voice of singers. And already in 1972 she was presented as the official author of a method for treating diseases accompanied by loss of voice. In addition, it turned out that this gymnastics helps with other peculiar diseases.

How does Strelnikova's gymnastics work?

The method of gymnastics itself is based on the production of short noisy breaths through the nose, in which attention is not focused on exhalations (they are done arbitrarily), along with certain body movements aimed at compressing the chest. And if these exercises are performed correctly, then the brain, as a result of pulmonary ventilation, is saturated with oxygen. At the same time, it passes headache and restore vascular tone.

Both children, starting from the age of three, as well as adults and the elderly, can do breathing exercises according to the Strelnikova method. All that is needed for this is the very desire of a person to engage. Strelnikova's technique alleviates bronchial asthma, chronic rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, normalizes weight, reduces addiction (of any kind), and relieves stress. It promotes healing diabetes, hypertension and many others.

Fundamentals of breathing exercises

You need to take a noisy breath through your nose (about 60 breaths per minute). Of course, on the first try, you will not be able to give out such a number of breaths per minute, since it is not very easy, so you should start with two correct short breaths.

Exercise should be done with a slightly open mouth. Try to reproduce a breath that lasts one second and immediately, without thinking about exhaling, take a second breath. If you manage to take two breaths in a row, then try to take four and so on up to eight breaths. It is worth considering that you must definitely take an even number of breaths, or a multiple of eight.

Gymnastics is done while standing, but if the condition does not allow you to stand, then you can sit.

Initial breathing exercises

If you have learned to take eight short breaths in a row, you can try the initial breathing exercises.

Exercise "Palms"

In a standing position, open palms are held at shoulder level. During inhalation, our palms are clenched into fists, and with an arbitrary exhalation they immediately open, then inhale again - clenching the palms into fists, and exhaling - squeezing the fists.

Exercise "Ears"

In a standing position, we tilt from one side to the other, touching the shoulders with the ears (the right shoulder with the right ear, the left, respectively, with the left). Inhale at the lowest point of the slope. This exercise helps in the treatment, but people with such a disease need to do it with caution.

Exercise "Pump"

Perform the exercise while standing, leaning forward. We take a quick breath, while slightly raising our hands up and immediately lowering them.

On the initial stage you need to take eight breaths for each exercise, gradually increasing their number to ninety-six. Then you need to try to make the exercises more difficult, increasing the frequency of approaches. Gymnastics should be done for about 30 minutes, twice a day.

This complex will allow you to master the correct and natural breathing, as well as get rid of many manifestations of VVD (headache, heart palpitations, feeling of a "breathing corset", etc.)

It is advisable to perform breathing exercises 2 times a day so that proper breathing becomes a habit. They can also be included in daily morning exercises.

Most prefer to do breathing exercises while lying down, but you can do the exercises while sitting or standing. It is important to follow the sequence of exercises - their complexity increases from one to another.

Exercise 1

Breathe rhythmically through your nose, with your mouth closed, at your usual pace. (Repeat 3-6 times)

If at the same time there is no need to open your mouth, “help” them, try to master the rhythmic breathing of one nostril (while holding the other with your finger). In this case, you should have enough air coming through one nostril. In the future, it is possible to complicate uniform nasal breathing by inhaling jerkily, in 2-3 steps, with exhalation through the mouth.

Exercise 2

Abdominal breathing exercise. (Repeat 8-12 times)

Trying to keep the chest motionless, while inhaling, try to stick out the stomach as much as possible. Breathe through your nose. As you exhale, pull in your belly vigorously. To control the correctness of movements, keep your hands on your chest and stomach.

Exercise 3

chest breathing exercise. (Repeat 8-12 times)

Trying to keep the front wall of the abdomen motionless, while inhaling, expand the chest as much as possible in all directions. Exhalation occurs due to vigorous compression of the chest. Breathe only through your nose. To control the correctness of movements, keep your hands on your waist.

Exercise 4

Full breath. (Repeat 8-12 times)

You can start this exercise if you have mastered the previous three exercises well. While inhaling, expand the chest and at the same time protrude the front wall of the abdomen. Begin exhalation by gently drawing in the abdominal wall, followed by chest compressions. Breathe only through your nose. To control the correctness of movements, for the first time, hold one hand on the chest, the other on the stomach.

Exercise 5

Counter breathing. (Repeat up to 12 times)

Develops coordination of respiratory movements. During inhalation, the chest expands, and the stomach retracts, while exhaling vice versa. This is an excellent diaphragm training, due to which abdominal breathing is carried out. Perform the exercise rhythmically, without tension and silently. Breathe through your nose.

Exercise 6

Breath control training. (Perform continuously no more than 2 minutes)

Smoothly slow down the rhythm of your breathing, and having reached a certain limit (as soon as you feel discomfort), without disturbing the smoothness, gradually speed it up until you return to the original rhythm. Separately, train in a smooth deepening of breathing without changing the rhythm. In this exercise, you do not need to set records, it is important just to study your capabilities in order to expand them over time. Breathe through your nose.

Exercise 7

Rhythmic nasal breathing with prolonged exhalation. (Maximum - 12 breaths)

Inhale for 2 seconds, and exhale for 4, then inhale - 3 seconds - exhale 6 seconds, etc. Gradually lengthen the exhalation to 10 seconds.

Exercise 8

The combination of uniform nasal breathing with walking at a slow pace. (Perform within 2-3 minutes)

Focus all attention on the rhythm and synchronization of walking and breathing. Choose the optimal, familiar pace for yourself. When performing this exercise, the inhalation should be somewhat longer than the exhalation or equal to it.

Exercise 9

Starting position - arms lowered, legs together. Raise your arms through the sides up - inhale, return to the starting position - exhale. Repeat the exercise 3-6 times.

Exercise 10

Arbitrary breathing simultaneously with the rotation of the arms in the shoulder joints forward and backward, alternately 4 times in each direction.

Repeat the exercise 4-6 times.

Exercise 11

"Ragged" breath. . (Repeat 4-8 times for each sequence)

Take a slow breath in through your nose. Exhale in one quick movement through your mouth, then hold your breath for 3-5 seconds. Then change the sequence: a quick deep breath through the mouth, a slow exhalation through the nose.

Exercise 12

Synchronization of leg movements with breathing. (Repeat 6-10 times each side)

Starting position - legs together, hands on the belt. Take the straight leg to the side and return to the starting position - inhale; pause - exhale.

You can do this exercise as well. Put your straight legs together, lower your arms. Alternately bend your knees. When lying down, it is like riding a bicycle; in a standing position - running in place: a raised leg - exhale, lowered - inhale.

Exercise 13

This exercise allows you to increase your breathing by bending over. (Repeat 6-10 times).

Starting position - feet shoulder width apart, arms along the body. Start tilting to a horizontal position and below. Tilt - exhale, straighten - inhale. Notice how this facilitates the work of the diaphragm.

The complication of this exercise is tilting to the side. Starting position - legs together, arms to the side. Tilt your body to the sides. Tilt - exhale, return to the starting position - inhale.

You can make the task even more difficult. Perform torso twists to the sides. Turn - exhale, return to the starting position - inhale.

Breathing is directly related to the work and condition of the nervous system. This is why breathing exercises to calm the nerves are so common and effective. Many of them form the basis of yoga breathing practices. But you don't have to have special knowledge to learn how to breathe correctly, getting rid of, and overexertion.

What is Breathing for Relaxation?

The basis of any breathing exercises will be a strictly defined rhythm. You need to know that the effect of exercises on the body also changes from the frequency and speed, the depth of breaths, the duration of periods of holding the breath. Starting to breathe rapidly, shallowly, inhaling small doses of oxygen, you will not achieve calmness. On the contrary, the nervous system will receive a stimulus for enhanced work.
Any method of breathing exercises designed to help calm down is based on deep, measured breathing. With the help of it, not only the absolute filling of the lungs with air occurs, but also the enrichment with oxygen of all tissues and cells of the body. It contributes to the normalization of blood pressure, relieves muscle tension, stimulates the proper functioning of the brain, helps the nervous system to relax.

The correct rhythm when performing breathing exercises for calming is achieved by certain intervals of holding the breath both before exhalation and after it. It is important to give the body the opportunity to adapt between the exercises performed, which are different in their techniques and require some skill.

Breathing exercises are divided into four options:

• filling the upper part of the lungs with oxygen, inhalations are carried out due to the movement of the clavicles;
• chest breathing, when the "opening" and "compression" of the ribs occurs;
• breaths with the help of the abdomen - "abdominal breathing"; thanks to such inhalations and exhalations, the diaphragm moves, massages the internal organs, and oxygen saturation of the blood increases;
• wave-like breathing when all three of these areas are involved.

Based on these variants of inhalations and exhalations, additional breathing techniques are built to calm the nerves and strengthen the nervous system.

Rules for performing exercises to calm the nerves

When choosing simple breathing exercises for yourself to calm down, it is worth remembering the basic rules that are involved in any technique. Failure to follow these rules will result in the absence of the desired result.

• Any breathing exercises should be performed either standing or lying down so that the back is absolutely straight.
• Breathing is better with eyes closed, resorting to the technique of meditation, presenting pleasant images, landscapes.
• It is important to fully concentrate on the process of inhalation and exhalation, which at first will need to be consciously controlled. Gradually, conscious control will cease to be necessary, however, the concentration should still be on the respiratory process.
• It is necessary not only to clear the mind of negative thoughts, but also to completely relax all the muscles. Relaxation should flow smoothly from the tips of the toes up. Particular attention should be paid to the shoulders, neck and face. In these places, the muscles experience significant tension.
• You need to do exercises to calm the nerves 5-10 times. You shouldn't overstress. Before moving on to the next technique, it is worth waiting for some time to allow the body to adapt.
• In the process of inhaling, you need to imagine how the whole body, along with oxygen, is filled with new energy. clean energy and calmness. On exhalation, it is necessary to “push out” the tension accumulated inside.
• In some cases, it will be useful to repeat to yourself in the process of breathing exercises the settings: “I am calm”, “I am calming down”, “I am relaxing”, “I am calm” and so on. The particle “not” and the generally negative context should be avoided in the wording, as well as the future tense, for example, “I am not anxious”, “I will calm down soon”.

Simple breathing exercises

The first complex of techniques is based on breathing through the nose. Begin the exercises with a full exhalation.

Complex breathing

• Belly breathing. With a deep breath, the stomach “inflates”, and falls off with a slow exhalation. Inhalation is carried out for 3-4 seconds, then you need to hold your breath for 2 seconds, exhale - 4-5 seconds. The interval between breaths is 2-3 seconds.
• Breathing in the chest. On inhalation, the ribs “open”, on exhalation, they “compress”. The execution time is the same as in the first stage.
• Breathing with collarbones. When you inhale, the collarbones rise, when you exhale, they fall. The intervals and execution times are the same.
• Wavy breathing. Inhalation goes from bottom to top: stomach, chest, collarbones. Exhale - from top to bottom: collarbones, chest, stomach. The final stage should be carried out especially measuredly.

Breathing to activate the cerebral hemispheres

The technique is carried out by alternately clamping the nostrils. Only the right hand is involved. Thumb applied to the right nostril, the little finger to the left. Calm breaths and full exhalations are made alternately by one side of the nose and the other. When the right nostril is closed, the left hemisphere is stimulated; when the left nostril is closed, the right hemisphere is stimulated.

Sleepy breathing

It allows not only to relax, but also to overcome insomnia.

The technique for performing the exercise to calm the nerves is very simple: unhurried, light inhalations and exhalations are performed for 5 minutes, with concentration on the breathing process, listening to internal sensations. For greater effectiveness of this exercise, place your palms in the solar plexus area. Breathing is required both in the stomach and in the chest.

For stress relief

You need to take a short, relatively deep breath. Then hold your breath for 4 seconds and perform a full, deep and long exhalation. This is followed by a break of 5 seconds before the next filling of the lungs with oxygen.

Relaxing and mind-clearing breath

In this breathing exercise technique, the hands are again involved. It is necessary to attach one palm to the forehead, and the second to the back of the head. This position will help increase blood flow in these lobes of the head, helping to clear the mind and the mind of anxiety, tension, opening up new ways to deal with stress. Without taking away the palms, measured inhalations and exhalations are made with a short breath delay between them.

The second complex is based on inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. It also needs to be started with a full exhalation.

First exercise

After taking a full breath, you need to make an enhanced, deep exhalation through tightly compressed lips. In this case, the exhalation is done, as it were, in portions, the air is “pushed out” from the inside.

Exercise two

Here you will need to cause an "artificial" yawn.

Opening your mouth as wide as possible, so that you feel tension in the lower jaw, you should take a smooth breath, feeling how the lungs fill with air. Hold your breath for 2 seconds, and then exhale slowly and measuredly.

Third exercise

Taking a full breath, without holding your breath, the air is released through the open mouth. In this case, the lips are folded in a circle. Exhalation is done in portions, in jerks. initial stage exhalation - the longest, the air gradually leaving the lungs should become less and less. After completion, you should wait 5-10 seconds and repeat the breathing exercise again.

The videos below demonstrate two additional and effective exercises to help get rid of negative emotions and nervous tension

The simplest set of breathing exercises can be mastered in a few lessons. Depending on the degree of preparation of the body, the assimilation of the technique of proper breathing will take different people one to three weeks. A set of exercises for breathing exercises includes several basic techniques - start with them. Below is a description of what breathing exercises are and recommendations for their correct implementation.

Thanks to the work of the respiratory organs, our body is enriched with oxygen, cleansed and functions normally. Functions respiratory system: respiration and gas exchange, thermoregulation, air humidification, protection from environmental influences. Lung tissue is involved in water-salt and lipid metabolism, in the synthesis of hormones, it stores the reserve part of the blood.

What are the types of breathing exercises

A set of breathing exercises helps to strengthen the respiratory apparatus, intensify the process of cleansing and metabolism, increase the vital capacity of the lungs, and increase flexibility. thoracic spine. If you learn how to do breathing exercises, you can ease the course of fasting and reduce the symptoms of acidosis.

Most famous species breathing exercises are described in the methodology of K. P. Buteyko, A. N. Strelnikova, as well as in the bodyflex, oxysize systems, etc.

With proper breathing, a person breathes through the nose, calmly and rhythmically, the exhalation is slightly longer than the inhalation. People with cardiovascular pathology, asthma, obesity, and the elderly are especially affected by improper breathing.

A set of exercises for diseases of the respiratory system

Below is a set of breathing exercises with a description of exercises according to the Chinese method:

Wave exercise. Take a position lying on your back, bend your legs at the knees, put your feet straight. Take a slow deep breath, while drawing in the stomach and lifting the chest. Hold your breath for a few seconds, exhale. As you exhale, draw in the chest, stick out the stomach. Breathe smoothly, at a normal rate. Repeat the inhale-exhale cycle several times. The exercise can be done sitting or standing.

Exercise "Frog". Sit on a low chair, feet shoulder-width apart. The lower leg and thigh form a right angle. Put your elbows on your knees, clench into a fist left hand(men - right), clasp him right hand. Rest your forehead on your fist, close your eyes. Fill your belly completely with air, alternating inhalations and exhalations through your nose and mouth. Hold your breath for 2-5 seconds.

Exercise "Lotus". Starting position, as in the previous exercise. You can do the exercise by taking the lotus position (sitting with knees bent and legs crossed). The back is straightened, the chin is slightly lowered, the eyes are closed. Place your hands in front of your belly with your palms up. Women put their left hand on top of their right in front of them, men - vice versa. The exercise consists of 3 parts.

1 part. Conscious breathing. Concentrate on breathing, breathe deeply, but do not raise your chest and stomach too high.

2 part. Focus on getting a quiet, silent, deep breathing fully relaxing as you exhale.

Perform parts 1 and 2 of the exercise up to 5 minutes.

3 part. Up to 10 minutes to breathe at a normal pace, in a relaxed, peaceful state, displacing extraneous thoughts. Can be combined with meditation.

Exercises regulate metabolism, improve blood circulation, help relieve nervous tension, lose weight, and strengthen the muscular corset.

If dizziness appears during exercise, you need to pause, rest. Resuming the lesson, reduce the depth and rhythm of breaths. You can not do breathing exercises for people with organic heart disease, blood diseases, increased intracranial and ocular pressure, retinal detachment, pneumonia, chronic otitis media, gallstone and urolithiasis, pregnant women, with multiple sclerosis, parkinsonism. With caution, you need to treat breathing exercises in childhood and old age, the exercises should be selected by a specialist.

Breathing exercises of yogis: a description of a set of yoga exercises

Speaking about what breathing exercises are, one cannot help but recall the exercises of yoga breathing exercises - many consider this complex the most progressive. According to the teachings of yogis, there are four types of breathing: clavicular (upper), chest (middle), abdominal (lower) and full, combining the three previous types. Performing a set of exercises in case of a disease of the respiratory system, all lobes of the lungs are involved: lower, middle and upper, the lungs are completely filled with air.

Pranayama- yoga breathing exercises normalize blood pressure, the work of the respiratory system, digestion. A set of exercises for the respiratory system can be done standing, sitting. Each exercise begins with inhalation through the nose and ends with exhalation through the nose or mouth.

abdominal breathing. Inhale, shoulders and chest remain motionless, the abdomen inflates, the diaphragm goes down. Air fills the lower parts of the lungs. The exhalation is free, the stomach is retracted.

chest breathing. Inhale, the abdomen and shoulders are motionless, the chest expands. Air fills mainly the middle of the lungs. The exhalation is free, the chest is compressed.

clavicular breathing. Inhale, the stomach and chest are motionless, the shoulders rise, the head deviates slightly back. Air fills mainly the upper sections of the lungs. Exhale with head tilted forward and shoulders lowered.

Full breath. On inspiration, we stick out the stomach, the diaphragm goes down, then we expand the chest, raise our shoulders and tilt our head back a little. Exhaling, first we draw in the stomach, the diaphragm rises, we compress the chest, lower the head and shoulders.