Some specific breathing exercises
FIRST note: Breathing is an involuntary mechanism and it should not be ‘played with’ too much. The exercises above should be practised in the short time frames, unless otherwise advised. Practised daily these exercises will help re-establish a healthy breathing pattern.
1. The preliminaries. Breathe ordinarily for not more than 20/30 secs, but several times a day. The only differences to introduce is conscious attention to breathing through your nose. Also, breathe for marginally longer than normal, e.g. to around to count of a slow 4 or 5. There is no need to hold the breathe; keep it as normal as possible, but slow and gentle.
2. Before going to sleep or when you wake up, put your right hand on your upper abdomen, with the little finger directly above the navel and the fingers spread so that the thumb is almost touching the chest. Place the left hand on the upper chest. As you breathe through your nose concentrate on the air moving down into the upper abdomen (as if you are filling your stomach with breath). Feel your right hand rising with every inhalation and falling with every exhalation. You should feel a slight motion in the lower part of your chest, but your upper chest should remain still. Allow the breathing to be gentle and effortless and notice how even after a short while your thoughts start to quieten, you have more inner space, you feel more relaxed.
3. Calming breath (up to one or two minutes per practice). To start with no more than twice a day. Sit comfortably and upright. Make sure your back is straight, your shoulders are relaxed and both your feet are flat on the ground. Now become aware of your natural breathing rhythm, breathing through the nose and concentrating on the inhalations and exhalations, noticing the pauses at either end of the breath, feeling the difference in quality between the in breath and the out breath. Do this for a minute or two. Now, without changing the rhythm, start counting the length of your in-breath … and the length of your out-breath. Are they of equal length or is one longer than the other? Also notice which, if either, feels more comfortable, do you have a preference for breathing in or out. Again do this for a minute or two.
4. Calming breathing at night. All the exercises, as listed, can be used when you want to sleep. It wil hel, further, to use the outbreath to count down from one thousand. Bear in mind the numbers are not important. The rhythm, as discussed in session, is.
5. Consciously influence the length of your out-breath. Make it longer than the in-breath. Start with making it just one count longer.. .then see whether you can make it two counts longer. See if you can establish a rhythm where the exhalation is two counts longer than the inhalation. Finally see if you can breathe at the back of the throat, rather than just in the nostrils. This breathing practice, where you make a gentle snoring sound, mirrors the rhythm of deep sleep. Again see if you can make the out out breath longer than the in-breath. Just a few minutes practice of this calming breath is sufficient.
6. Alternate nostril breathing (once a day for up to two minutes)
Sit comfortably and upright. Make sure your back is straight, your shoulders are relaxed and both your feet are flat on the ground. Alternatively lie with your back flat on the ground and your arms by your side, palms facing down. Become aware of the natural rhythm of your breath and gently deepen the breathing. Now, imagine that you are breathing in through your left nostril and breathing out through your right – then breathe in through your right and out through your left. Finally count to five as you inhale and exhale through both nostrils. Then keep repeating the sequence. Now add counting. As you breathe in through your left nostril count to five. And on the exhalation through your right nostril count to five. Again count to five as you inhale through your right nostril and count to five as you exhale through your left. Finally count to five as you inhale and exhale through both nostrils. Repeat the sequence.
7. One minute exercise
Sit in front of a clock or watch that you can use to time the passing of one minute. Your task is to focus your entire attention on the passing time. Notice what happens when you focus your mind on the clock or watch. You might find your mind wandering. When this happens just gently draw your attention back to watching the clock.
6A. You can also do this exercise with watching a candle flame, with watching your breath or even with watching a plant grow. What matters is that you teach your mind to `be’ in the present. Being in the present calms the mind.
7. Mindfulness foundation
Sit comfortably and upright. Make sure your back is straight, your shoulders relaxed and your feet are on the ground. Become aware of how you are experiencing your body right now. Scan your body. Start with your toes and feet and move slowly upward through the different parts of your body. Notice any areas you feel tension and where you feel relaxed. Notice different temperatures in different parts of your body. Notice those areas of your body which move when you breathe. Is there any tension in your body that you don’t need to hold on to? See if you can breathe into those areas, letting go of any tension on the exhalation.
Pause.
Now become aware of any feelings that are present for you right now. Explore these feelings. Are they related to something in the past or something which you anticipate might happen. Become aware that there is nothing you have to do about these feelings right now, just observe them and let them be.
Pause.
Now become aware of the thoughts going through your mind right now. Just watch these thoughts without trying to hold on to them or push them away. Just notice these thoughts and let them be.
Pause.
Now become aware of any images which might be in your mind. Again try not to change them or hold onto them, just observe them and let them be.
Pause.
When you find your mind drifting just bring your awareness back to what you are experiencing right now, your sensations, thoughts, feelings and images.
Doing this for a few minutes at a time is enough to begin with. The more you can focus on who you are right now the more it enables you to observe your experience and to keep some perspective on your symptoms, feelings and thoughts.
This practice is also a foundation exercise for pain management.
8. For people experiencing discomfort
Become fully aware of your area of discomfort and focus on it. Try to be curious about it. Where exactly is it located in you body? How intense is it on a scale of 0-10? How large is it – what area of your body does it cover? If the discomfort was a shape, what would it look like? Has it got colour? How hot/cold is it? If the pain was sound what sound would it be? If the pain was an object or entity what would it be? Ask it why it is there and what it might need.
Note: When we experience discomfort or pain our first response is to resist it or to fight it. Typically this is often not helpful. Instead, I would ask you to experiment with accepting what is so, that is, accepting that there is discomfort and give it our full attention. Observe it. As soon as we are able to observe that discomfort we can become an observer of it. As a person who observes and experiences, so we can come to influence our pain.