Breathing – So Important And Yet So Neglected
December 12th, 2008 10:04 amWe take about 20,000 breaths each day. We take in ½ l of oxygen with each breath. During the course of our life that means 300 million litres of air. This is a huge amount of air! This air is used for all sorts of things: speaking, singing, screaming, laughing….
We all have our individual breathing rhythm. In general human beings breath about 15 times per minute. Of course we breathe faster when we are out of breath of tense and slightly slower when we are really relaxed.
Yoga contains many different breathing techniques and all of them have different purposes (relaxing, heating, cooling, balancing…). One overriding idea is that by slowing down the breath we prolong our life. One philosophical construct is that we all are allocated a certain number of breaths and once they are used up, we die. By slowing down the breathing rate we can “cheat” and extend our lifespan.
Regardless whether you want to subscribe to the above idea or not, it is much better for our overall health to breathe slowly and deeply.
Some modern therapists go so far as to say that our breath is an indicator that shows our level of wellbeing and to a degree even our character. Even thoughts can change the way we breathe.
People who spend a lot of time in front of the computer and don’t consistently work on their posture end up with shortened muscles in their chest area. As a result they cannot take any deep breaths down into their abdomen any longer….
Don’t let this happen to you, in the next post I will talk about some helpful practical tips on how to improve your breathing.
Till next time
Connie
Your Yoga Partner
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