Learn to Breathe

Learn to Breathe

It seems like the simplest thing in the world. But so many modern people don't do it right. If you want to see how humans are supposed to breathe, watch a toddler. Watch how much their bellies move. Many of us are chest breathers. If you watch a chest breather, you'll see shoulders come up. What we want to do, through the breath, is deeply oxygenate the body. In order to do this, we have to breathe down into the belly.

When we inhale, the belly should extend (expand outwards). When we exhale, the belly comes in. If you notice that you aren't breathing like this, our friend mindfulness teacher Fleet Maull showed us a little hack to help shift the breathing. Sitting upright in a chair with a back, interlace your fingers behind your head. And now practice breathing. Having the fingers interlaced like this takes the muscles out of the picture that do it wrong. With the hands behind the head, you can't breathe with your shoulders. Check it out.

As an aside, in modern culture, with so much emphasis on appearances, we are taught that the belly is supposed to be flat, and that people are supposed to suck their stomachs in. This actually makes it really hard to breathe properly. The belly has to soften in order for us to inhale deeply. Sorry beauty industry: this is acculturation into dis-ease.