Healing Techniques: Breathing

Taken from here.

Breathing as a healing technique seems laughable but it's not. For one, you need to breath to survive and if you aren't doing it well it will create problems for you. Second, it has been linked to health in multiple different ways the most important being its link to activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for calming you down. Hinduism believes breathing to be so important that one of their main branches pertaining to how to reach enlightenment is centered around breathing.

There are a lot of very simple breathing techniques out there and all of them are just trying to get you to inhale deeply and exhale deeply. Here are a couple:

1. Box Breathing - breathe in for 4 counts reaching max breath at 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, breathe out for 4 counts exhaling entirely at 4 counts, hold for 4 counts. Repeat.

2. Other Breathing Counts - You can count to whatever you want in terms of breathing. Another common one besides box breathing is breathing in for 8 counts until full of breath, hold for 2, exhale for 8 counts until completely out of breath, hold for two, repeat. Do the count that works for you, just make sure to fully fill your lungs on the inhale and fully expend the air on the exhale.

3. Diaphragmatic Breathing - focusing on breathing from the diaphragm.

4. Alternate Nostril Breathing - taking turns breathing in with individual sides of the nostril.

5. Wim Hof Method - the guy is pretty famous for his breathing techniques. He demonstrates it here.

6. Pranayama - Hindu breathing techniques.

Holotropic Breathwork

Holotropic breathwork is purposefully using your breath in unique ways to process through emotions. I don't know a ton about it honestly, but I have done it multiple times and it works surprisingly well to bring up and process emotions. It is also surprisingly uncomfortable, at least when I've done it, although not intolerable. Here is someone who explains it and what it can do for you:

Happy breathing!