Written by Edgar Luna

As human beings we have several vital biological functions that we need to do in order to live, out of all those functions, do you know which is the most important?

Well, right away the ones that come to mind are eating to provide nourishment, fuel and essential vitamins and minerals to our body, drinking water to hydrate, sleeping to rest and recharge our internal batteries and many others, and as we all know breathing is extremely important, just try to hold your breath for an extended period of time and you will confirm that.

However in order for us to breathe, we do not have to think too much about it, breathing is thought of as an automatic function. 

Of course if we stop breathing we could die in a few minutes, but we do not have to consciously think about breathing, it just happens without putting too much effort into it.

Technically we do not have to remind our brain to inhale and exhale every time we breathe, but are we taking full advantage of this marvelous action?

When we breathe, we inhale fresh air full of oxygen by using our lungs and diaphragm to expand our chest cavity , then that air gets filtered into our bloodstream taking oxygen to every cell in our body.

Then all the waste from the cells gets expelled into the bloodstream back to the lungs where carbon dioxide gets expelled with every exhale. This repetitive process allows our bodies to obtain oxygen and eliminate waste

Can we improve this process?

Yes we can, by doing some relatively simple breathing exercises to increase the amount of oxygen coming into our body and amount of waste that we eliminate from our bodies.

First we have to increase our oxygen intake by taking advantage of our full lung capacity by creating as much space as possible within our chest cavity with every inhale:

1. Start by only focusing on inhaling through your noses and feel the sensation of the air coming down to your belly then up to your chest as it expands then feel how your shoulders lift. As you inhale your diaphragm is pushed down creating more space in your lungs. As you are inhaling count 1,2,3 then pause for just a moment.
2. Exhale and feel the air come out your nose, just do the opposite from what you did on your inhale. Feel your shoulders start to relax, chest contracts and you pull your diaphragm up as it pushes into your lungs to allow as much waste to come out with every exhale . Again count 1,2 3 as you exhale all that air out and virtually nothing is left, be sure you empty as much as you can.

Be very conscious of this practice making sure you feel your lungs expanding and filling up with air as you push your diaphragm away from your lungs, then pulling your diaphragm into your lungs to help push your breath all out.

If you have more lung capacity and can inhale for more than 3 counts go for it just then keep it balanced, same count for inhales and exhales.

Practice this intentionally a few times a day so you can improve your breathing, the more you do it the more naturally it will come to you . After some time you will feel you are automatically breathing more efficiently and nourishing your body with more oxygen and taking steps to help with healing and improving your functions. This is such a vital and normal function that we take for granted but should make some effort and set time aside to improve as we do with other things.

Breathing efficiently has many benefits such as:

1. Reducing stress and anxiety.
2. Helps you focus.
3. Lowers blood pressure and heart rate.
4. Increases energy and many more.

Making time in your day to practice your breathing is a great and relatively easy habit to start that will bring many benefits to your well being. I would encourage you to dive a little deeper into the study of breath and its benefits, it is a function that we take for granted but provides life to all our cells.

So take a few moments and just breathe .

E.Luna