HOW TO PREPARE FOR SOHAM MEDITATION; I.E. CORRECT BREATHING PATTERN?

If you’re not breathing correctly, then this can create huge problems for you since healthy breathing patterns are how your body maintains a high metabolism and delivers oxygen to vital tissues. In addition, if you breathe too fast or don’t inhale deeply enough, you can increase the pH of your blood, and this can decrease the amount of blood getting to your brain and muscles and result in less oxygen being released by that blood.There are main two problems of breathing---- 1-SHALLOW BREATHING 2-BREATHING WITH NOSE How to Know If You Breathe Right--- It’s important for you to recognize if you’re not breathing correctly. Here are 7 common signs of DYSFUNCTIONAL BREATHING patterns:--------

1-You inhale with your chest. When you begin inhaling (breathing in), you may notice that your chest is the first thing to move, typically going up or slightly forward. If so, this is a sign that you are engaging in shallow or upper chest breathing. 2-Your rib cage doesn’t expand to the side. If you place your hands on either side of your rib cage when you breathe, you should notice that your hands move to the side about 1.5-2 inches as your trunk widens. If not, this is also a sign of shallow breathing. 3-You’re breathing with your mouth. Do you find that even when you’re not exercising, you commonly have your mouth open as you breathe? Unless you have a sinus infection or congestion that keeps you from breathing through your nose, your mouth should be closed as you breathe from deep within your nasal cavity. 4-Your upper neck, chest, and shoulder muscles are tight. Do you carry lots of tension in the muscles around and under your neck? If you get a massage, or you reach back and feel those muscles, do they feel painful, tender, or tight? If so, this can be a sign that you are engaging in stressed and shallow breathing. 5-You sigh or yawn frequently. Do you find that every few minutes, you must take a deep breath, sigh, or yawn? This is a sign that your body isn’t getting enough oxygen in your normal breathing pattern. 6-You have a high resting breath rate. A normal, relaxed, resting breath rate should be approximately 10-12 breaths per minute. If you measure how many times you’re breathing each minute and you exceed 12, this is a sign of quick and shallow breathing. 7-You slouch forward. Poor diaphragmatic control can cause specific muscles to become short and tight. Typically these muscles are your chest and the front of your shoulders. So if you find yourself slouching your head or shoulders forward, this can be a sign that you’re not activating your diaphragm when you breathe. In short, it means breathing in a way that is physiologically optimal for your body. It’s the way you’re designed to breathe, only you were never taught how to. Bad breathing habits can give rise to a lot of unexpected negative effects on our health and well-being. Some of the most crucial ones being:------ 05 NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SUB-OPTIMAL BREATHING------- 1-The nervous system becomes unbalanced – The breath is very important in maintaining a balanced body because each breath has an immediate effect on the nervous system. Imagine inhaling being the gas and exhaling the breaks. A dysfunctional breathing habit, like a short and forced one, results in a tense body and much higher levels of stress. 2-The airways get tighter – Which makes it harder for the air to make its way to and from the lungs. To compensate, we have to work harder and breathe faster to get the same work done. 3-The blood vessels constrict – Which can lead to higher blood pressure and which in turn makes the heart work harder. 4-Less energy is produced – Bad breathing lessens the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the cells. The cells get stressed and has to prioritize survival instead of development. 5-Each and every single one of the processes in the body are dependent on oxygen. Some of our most work intensive organs are:----- A-The brain – Uses 20% of the oxygen we consume. When there’s a shortage of oxygen the brain will work slower and since the brain regulates a lot of other functions in the body these are also affected. B-The heart – Constantly active and beating about 100.000 times in a single day the heart is a huge consumer of oxygen and shortage in supply means the heart can’t pump out blood as effectively. This leads to bad circulation and the result can be cold hands and feet. C-The muscles – Oxygen shortage has a negative effect on stamina as the muscles go stiff, tense and tired faster. Now, there are plenty more ways that bad breathing effects our bodies, including crooked teeth and “craniofacial abnormalities” ... THE FOUR EASY PRINCIPLES of Proper Breathing--------- 1. Breathe through the nose-- A-The nose is for breathing, the mouth is for eating. The breath should go in and out through the nose. Your nose is kind of like a factory that refines and prepares the air coming in to be used by the body as effectively as possible. 2. Breathe with the diaphragm (the partition separating the chest and abdominal cavities in mammals)— The air you breath in through your nose should go all the way down to your belly. Your breathing muscles consist of the diaphragm and muscles in the abdomen, chest, neck and shoulders. 70-80% of the inhaling should be done by the diaphragm so that your breathing is nice and deep. This has a couple of advantages:---- 2-1-It helps your lungs with the gas exchange which is much more effective way down in the lungs. 2-2-The diaphragm massages your liver, stomach and intestines and gives these organs a rhythmical balance. 2-3-The lymphatic system, which is important for our immune system, gets the help it needs to get rid of the waste products from the bowels. 2-4-The pressure in the chest and belly is decreased so that the heart won’t have to work as hard. 2-5-More effective muscle work as the wrong breathing muscles won’t have to do unnecessary work. 2-6-As the chest gets more relaxed so does the neck and shoulders and a s a result the likelihood of pain in these areas go down. 3. Breathe relaxed--- By taking control of our breathing and making it more relaxed, our body tunes in and becomes relaxed as well which leads to better functioning in general.A relaxed body makes it easier to keep a rhythmical and relaxed breathing. 4. Breathe rhytmically--- A-Everything has a natural rhythm – the ocean waves, the seasons, the moon. Your body is no different. The rhythm of the heart is measured in EKG and the brain in EEG. B-The hormones in the body follows our natural rhythm. One example the melatonin that is released when we’re going to sleep. C-Optimal breathing is no different, it’s in the rhytm we find well-being. When everything is in tune the body functions at it’s very best.

THE KEY POINTS----- 1- TAKE CARE for CONSCIOUS BREATHING... Become aware of how you breathe during different parts of the day. A practical tip for this is to let your phone alarm go off every hour or so and check your breathing each time it does. Are you breathing relaxed, rhythmically, silently and deeply through your nose? Is there room for improvement in this particular situation. Breathe through nose ,,,Straight posture & Body consciousness is very helpful 2-TAKE CARE for Extended EXHALE.... An extended exhale increases the relaxation and makes the inhale deeper and more rhythmical. For optimal (Best or most favourable) breathing, the inhale should be 2-3 seconds, exhale 3-4 seconds followed by a pause for 2-3 seconds. The extended exhale also has a positive effect on the inhale which gets deeper. 3-An upright posture gives a deeper breathing where the diaphragm gets more space to work. Your thoughts and feelings are affected in a positive way and at the same time, it gets easier to breathe through the nose.......SHIVOHAM