Ten Secrets for Better Breathing

Here are ten secrets for better breathing, which are also found in Free Your Breath, Free Your Life, by Dennis Lewis. Each of them can take many days, weeks, or months to understand through practice. Don’t underestimate any of them. Just ponder and practice!

1. If possible in your daily life, inhale and exhale only through your nose, even when you are doing aerobic exercise.

2. Sense the movement of your breath frequently in the midst of your everyday activities. Remember not to hold your breath.

3. Be sure your belly stays relaxed. Let it expand as you inhale and retract as you exhale. Touch it and massage it frequently. Your belly is the foundation of your breath.

4. Breath is life and movement. Let your breath engage and fill every part of your body, especially your belly, back, spine, and chest.

5. To transform your breathing, start with your exhalation, with “letting go.”

6. A long, slow exhalation helps harmonize your diaphragm and turns on your “relaxation response.”

7. Sense the natural pause after exhalation; let yourself rest there for a moment.

8. Let your inhalation arise by itself, when it’s ready.

9. Sense the various breathing spaces of your body several times a day. Smile into these spaces and observe how your awareness helps them open and close effortlessly.

10. Remember, you are a breathing being, alive right now and here. Let yourself feel the mystery and the miracle of your breath and your life as often as you can.

Copyright 2004-2015 By Dennis Lewis. From “The Ten Secrets of Authentic Breathing,” Free Your Breath, Free Your Life.