Diaphragmatic Breathing

Have you ever noticed how your pet or child rests? Belly rising and falling.

They are doing diaphragmatic breathing, also known as abdominalor deep breathing.
It is a technique that involves engaging the diaphragm, a large dome-shaped muscle at the base of the lungs. When you breathe deeply using your diaphragm, your abdomen expands during inhalation and contracts during exhalation.

As we age, unfortunately, we start to lose this awareness of deep breathing and breathe more into the chest. This is mostly due to stress and anxiety.

A diaphragmatic type of breathing allows more air to enter your lungs and helps to fully oxygenate your body, promoting relaxation and reducing stress.

To help us bring awareness back to this breath, we can do as follows:

1. Start by lying on your back with knees bent and place one hand on the belly and one hand on the heart.

2. On your inhale, feel how the whole belly expands.

3. On your exhale, feel how your whole belly contracts.

Notice that these movements occur because the diaphragm descends on your inhale and contacts upward on your exhale.

4. Now i invite you to notice what happens to your inhale when you deepen your exhalation. Can your spine and ribs remain relaxed, so just the diaphragm is the main focus of the movement of breath?

5. Try moving your hand down your belly and picture where the diaphragm connects in at your lower lumber spine.

By reconnecting back to this breath, we can start to see its effects on body, mind, and spirit.

Do you have 5 mins a day to practice?