Breathing exercises are useful to help treat many physical and mental illnesses. Learning to control the breath is key to controlling and balancing body, emotions and mind. Breathing training works because there are direct nerve connections from the nose and lungs to the brain with important relays to the nervous and endocrine (hormone) systems. Breath is also considered to be the link between the conscious and unconscious mind. Breathing is the only physiologic function that can be either voluntarily controlled by the mind or can be involuntarily and automatically run by the body. In the conscious act of doing certain types of breathing exercises, a person gains greater awareness and control of involuntary physical functions and the unconscious mind.
Examples of breathing exercises and their benefits are:
● The Complete Yoga Breath - helps asthma, recurrent bronchial conditions, and digestion
● Alternative Nostril Breathing - helps anxiety, obsessive thought problems, and depression
● Diaphragmatic Breathing - helps high blood pressure and
depression
● Bee Breath - helps thyroid conditions and sinus problems
● Bellows Breath - helps both allergic problems as well as
constipation
● Hissing Breath - helps to cool the body
Disruptions in concentration are often associated with pauses and hesitations in respiration. Practicing simple techniques to regulate breathing rhythms brings about greater clarity and continuity of thought. Emotional states are often accompanied by altered breathing patterns. For example, the sobbing of grief, the sighs of disappointment, and the trembling breath of anger.
