Let’s start by taking a very deep breath. Inhale. Now exhale.
Did you notice if your chest and shoulders stiffened up and rose up towards your ears?
Did you notice maybe you were biting down and clenching your jaw? Maybe your neck stiffened up?
Now, just simply push your tummy out and notice how you automatically suck air into your lungs. The reason for this is the negative pressure created when you push your belly out. Your diaphragm drops down creating a negative pressure in your chest, which automatically expands the lungs, sucking in air.
The lungs have five lobes and when you take a very deep breath, you actually only bring air into the two upper lobes of the lungs. The reason is because you’re pulling you tummy in rather than pushing it out. The two lower lobes of the lungs have more blood vessels; therefore more oxygen can get into the tissues.
Oxygen is relaxing and healing and allows a major decrease in stress.
So now, when you take a deep breath in, imagine your belly getting bigger. We’ll call this the Buddha Belly. And now, when you let all that air out of your lungs, feel your belly button move towards your spine, hollowing out your belly.
The Vagus nerve runs through your diaphragm and when your diaphragm is hyper stretched, as in Buddha Belly, it activates the Vagus nerve, which stimulates anti-stress hormones. The Vagus nerve is the primary nerve in the Parasympathetic Nervous System, which is the Rest and Digest part of the Autonomic Nervous System. This is the automatic part of the nervous system.
By taking the abdominal breath, as taught here, at least once per hour, will create significant changes in your stress level. The best way to do this is to breathe in for a count of three, hold the breath three counts and breathe out for six counts, and do this hourly. Also, find some time in the day when you can take ten breaths just like this. This type of breathing is a major component of your success.
