Do you breathe well?

As Mr. Miyagi (from the Karate Kid) so eloquently stated “the key to life is breathing”.  But to take this further, how efficiently do you breathe?  During everyday life and low stress activities most people will breathe with their chest.  Meaning the chest will expand with every inhalation and exhalation.  This unnecessarily uses a lot of upper chest muscles when it only really requires your diaphragm.

To breathe with your diaphragm, think about breathing through your stomach.  Start by lying down on your back and putting your hands on your chest and stomach.  As you take a breath in, try to fill your stomach with air and it should rise.  As you breathe out push the air out of your stomach and feel it fall.  Try to feel that most if not all of the movement comes from your stomach and not your chest.  When you can breathe well from your back, move to a seated position and then standing.

Breathing problems can also be an indication of other conditions.  If you have ongoing issues such as shortness of breath, chest pain or difficulty breathing contact your medical doctor.  Otherwise keep practicing and try to implement diaphragmatic breathing in your daily life.