DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING (DEEP BREATHING)

Breath has long been connected to the Soul and well-being. In the Torah, Genesis speaks of the first human being receiving its soul through its first breath. “And Hashem God formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, Bereishis, The Torah, Tanach (The Hebrew Bible). In Jewish belief you receive your soul at birth, with the taking in of your first breath, and the soul leaves at the moment of your last breath, at death. In Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions the breath is important to spiritual and physical balance and well-being. Yoga (from Vedic Hinduism) and the many forms of Eastern meditation, all use deep breathing for both the spiritual connection to the Universal Soul and a relaxation practice for the physical body’s health and spiritual growth.

“Traditional healers have for centuries described breathing as man’s window to the emotions” (http://www.twilightbridge.com/stress/complete/17breathing.htm.) Whatever your emotion is; happy, sad, frightened, angry, stressed or relaxed; your breathing follows your emotion. Being stressed or frightened, your breathing becomes irregular and shallow. Causing your heart rate to go up and your blood pressure to rise, putting pressure on your whole body’s system. If you are relaxed, your breathing is slow and rhythmic, causing your heart rate to slow to normal and your blood pressure to lower. Traditional medicine has always known that breathing normally is very important for the body’s system. Modern medicine also uses deep breathing (or diaphragmatic breathing) to help treat many health problems like asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), hyperventilation and other breathing problems, pain control, dealing with cancer treatment, stress, nervousness, panic attacks, and many other physical and psychological problems. Also learning to breathe right allows for better mental health, allowing for oxygen to the brain. 

You will notice that when you are breathing abdominally (using your diaphragm), you will feel more relaxed. As a baby we all breathed using our diaphragm, but over time most of us start using our chest and shoulder muscles instead (which doesn’t allow the lungs to truly expand.) Diaphragmatic breathing allows the lungs to expand more, allowing for more effortless relaxed breathing. “The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that sits beneath the lungs, above the abdominal cavity. When a breath is taken in, the diaphragm flattens out, allowing the lungs more room to expand with air. When air is exhaled from the lungs, the diaphragm return to its domed shape. Though breathing is an automatic function, the movements of the diaphragm can be controlled voluntarily with training. Learning how to control the diaphragm and the way we breathe can be beneficial in many ways:

*   “Allowing the most efficient exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the least effort               

*     Promotes general relaxation

*     Improves circulation

*     Removes waste products from the blood

*     Slows down heart rate and breathing rate

*      Frees the mind” (http://www.netofcare.org/.)

Learning to control your breathing will help meditation and other stress controlling practices. It may also help in relieving pain that maybe worsened by stress and can create a balance that may help other health concerns.