Breathing Techniques for Fitness and Vitality

Ensuring that you are breathing correctly during your workouts and day-to-day living has many beneficial results that you may or may not be aware of. The correct breathing technique will allow you to feel energised by unlocking your energy levels and allow you to perform more repetitions, expand your capacity and also eliminate harmful toxins from your body.

Learning to breathe correctly takes some initial practice, but once you have mastered the technique, you’ll be amazed at how beneficial it in fact is. Yoga classes and pilates classes are very focused on the breathing technique and both of these practices have placed a high emphasis on learning this technique.

Learning to breathe properly can unlock your energy levels and boost your vitality.

Breathing is an automatic human process. However, you can learn to manipulate it and control it to benefit your body. Focusing on the breath can bring about a stimulated metabolism, lowered blood pressure and better digestion, and also release any tension. Think about how many times you’ve had a bad day and just sat back and took a deep breath. Didn’t you feel so much better?

Here are two basic breathing techniques that have been taken from the practice of yoga and can be beneficial to anyone:

Nadi Sodhana
This technique is also known as alternate nostril breathing. It works by blocking one nostril and allowing the other to inhale the air, and then blocking that nostril and releasing the air through the opposite nostril. This form of breathing is believed (by Yogis) to restore brain functioning and balance in the body and mind.

To perform this technique, you should be seated in a comfortable, upright position, preferably with your knees crossed. Take your right hand and use your thumb to push against the right nostril, closing it. Take a deep inhalation through your left nostril and, using your right pinky finger, close the left nostril, holding the breath. Release the thumb from your right nostril and exhale. With your right nostril now open, take a deep breath and repeat the process until you feel energised and rejuvenated.

Savasana
Lie flat on your back, palms at your sides and facing upwards. Take deep, deliberate breaths by inhaling and exhaling in a slow and controlled motion. In this breathing technique you should focus on filling the lungs with air as you breathe and expand the abdomen. On your exhalation, slowly release all the negative energy while your abdomen flattens out.

Author: Dimi Ingle.
Copyright 2009: Remedium. This article may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Remedium.