How Deep Breathing Can Slim You Down

Have you ever considered the role your breath plays in maintaining a healthy weight?  Did you know that if you are eating a balanced diet, your respiratory system should be responsible for eliminating 70% of your metabolic waste?  Are you taking proper care of your respiratory system so it can do its job well?

Most people are unaware of their breathing habits and practice unhealthy breathing such as holding their breath or breathing high in their chest in a shallow way.  Certain breathing patterns can cause intense stress and anxiety in a person - just because of the way they are breathing.

Most of us were never taught how to breathe.  We tend to breathe from the chest up when it should be the stomach that initiates the breath.  When you are feeling stressed or anxious, if you take time out to do 20-30 deep breaths (from the stomach), you will feel much better.  If you have indigestion or stomach issues, try taking 10 deep belly breaths prior to eating.  It has been proven that oxygen is responsible for healing all by itself.

So you might be asking, how do I learn to breathe? What is the proper way to breathe?  The easiest way to start practicing deep breathing is to lie down, inhale, and feel your stomach moving outwards.  As you exhale, your stomach should move inwards.  You can do this while focusing on specific areas that hurts or needs attention.  Massage therapists often ask their clients to breathe into a tight area as they press down on it. Yoga instructors tell students to breathe into a tight muscle area to relax and loosen the muscles.  Areas of the body always loosen up with breath; this proves that oxygen alone does in fact loosen tight muscles.

If you are stressed, you will likely notice your breathing is shallow.  This is the time when you really need the extra oxygen to help relax your tense muscles & body.  A combination of deep breathing and water can often get rid of a headache, stomach ache, fatigue, anxiety or stress.  I am not talking about severe anxiety here that is a diagnosed medical condition.  I am talking about the anxiety that you feel, for example, when you are overdue on a project or assignment.

Breathing is also a way your body detoxifies…the more toxic substances you inhale, the harder your body has to work to get them out of your system.  If you smoke or inhale too many contaminates from the air, respiration can’t keep up, so some respiratory or lung disease may develop. Under normal conditions, the breath does remove normal contaminates from the body.

Below, I’ve included 3 deep breathing exercises that will help you stay slim, relieve stress and maintain a healthy body.

Square Breathing

1. Inhale for count of 4
2. Hold for count of 4
3. Exhale for count of 4
4. Hold for count of 4

Kung Fu Breath - practice before eating

1. Inhale deeply with face toward ceiling
2. Exhale forcefully through mouth - shouting something

Goddess Breath

1. Stand with feet shoulder-length apart
2. Take deep belly breath, and pull the strength of the ground up with it
3. Feel your oneness with the planet
4. Exhale through mouth.  Let go of excess emotional baggage carried around, and forget it - it’s not important.