Everybody take a deep breath! Just reading this makes you aware of your breathing, doesn’t it?
As athletes who come from sea level to compete in Colorado know, our “thinner” air is less oxygen- rich, forcing our lungs to work harder. We benefit simply by living here, but even though breathing is a mostly unconscious act, doing it well is not necessarily instinctive.
“People kind of do the Popeye thing, where they puff out their chest and suck in their tummy,” which is the opposite of how to take a deep breath, says Chris Morse, a physical therapist at National Jewish Health. She works on rehabilitation with patients who have lung diseases and teaches fitness classes. Her work has made her a close observer of how people breathe, stand and walk.
“People are very slouchy — a lot of us sit with our shoulders forward,” she says. “You hear about core strength, the abs and low back, but it’s all about strengthening all the way up the back.”
Her advice for us slouchers?
“In the nose, out the mouth,” Morse says. If you are not an exerciser, start simple, with something you can do for 20-30 minutes. “If someone gets short of breath fairly easily, I want them to decrease the intensity of their exercise. Sometimes people feel like they need to be breathing hard as proof that they’re working hard enough.”
Not true, Morse says. What she doesn’t want is for us to say: “I gotta work really hard. This is stupid. I’m done.”
“If you don’t like the elliptical machine or the cardio kickboxing class, don’t do it! Just go out and do some walks. The idea is to make it a habit and make it enjoyable,” Morse says.
We might not be able to control our heartbeat, our boss or the traffic, but we can control how we breathe. And better breathing can lead to lower heart rates, smoother digestion, less stress and a more alert mind.
“The breath polishes the nervous system,” says Patti Montella, who teaches breathing techniques at The Art of Living Foundation in Denver.
Like our lungs themselves, our nature is to expand, she says.
It all starts with a breath.
become aware
Upper chest: Lie on your back, placing one hand on your upper chest and the other on your abdomen. If the hand on your chest moves as you breathe but the one on the abdomen does not, you’re definitely a chest-breather. Anything more than slight movement in the chest is a sign of inefficient breathing.
Shallow: Lie on your back and place your hands around your lower ribs. You should feel an effortless expansion of the lower ribs on the breath in and a slow recoil on the breath out. If your ribs remain motionless, your breathing is too shallow, even if your belly moves.
Overbreathing: Lie down and take a few minutes to let your body establish its relaxed breathing rate. Then count the length of your next exhalation and compare it to the length of the following inhalation. The exhalation should be slightly longer. If not, you are an overbreather. As a second test, try to shorten your inhalation. If that causes distress you are probably an overbreather. Because it is easy to manipulate the outcome of these two tests, you may want someone else to count for you at a time when you are not paying attention to your breath.
Breath-holding: Pay attention to the transition from inhalation to exhalation. A breath-holder usually feels a “catch” and may actually struggle to initiate the exhalation. This tendency is particularly noticeable during exercise. Reduce the holding by consciously relaxing your abdomen just as an inhalation ends.
Barbara Benagh, Yoga Journal
learn the relaxation drill
Practice this simple drill during your daily routine when you feel unwanted tension — for example, when you feel yourself becoming impatient while waiting in line.
1. Position yourself comfortably either sitting, standing, or lying down.
2. Keep your back straight.
3. Draw in a deep breath and count to five slowly. Exhale slowly and let all your muscles relax. Repeat this step two or three times until you are completely relaxed.
4. Imagine a pleasant thought, such as “I am learning how to relax,” or a pleasant scene, such as a calm lake. If you use a natural scene, imagine all the sights, sounds, and smells of that scene as vividly as you can.
National Jewish Hospital, adapted from “The American Way of Life Need Not Be Hazardous to Your Health,” by John W. Farquhar
you don’t have to huff and puff
While you are cultivating the exercise habit, pay attention to your breathing. “If you can talk and walk without getting short of breath, you want to feel like you can hold a conversation,” says Chris Morse, a physical therapist at National Jewish Health. “Once you have that under control, then you can look at your goals — heart rate, fat burning.”
Weightlifters tend to hold their breath. She tells them to exhale as they lift. “I say ‘blow as you lift.’ You could do the exercise quickly but that’s not important. It’s more important to do it slowly and with control.”
And, finally, invest in some time with a trainer. “It’s an expense that might be worth saving up for,” Morse says. “The more informed you are about exercise, the better.”
National Jewish Health offers 30-minute personal trainer sessions for $35, and 1-hour sessions for $40, as well as $10 strength-training group classes. Call 303-398-1490 for more details.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com
Make it an art
Breathing patterns are an integral part of any yoga or meditation class. Just check your local community center, yoga studio or hospital. For an intensive study, The Art of Living Foundation offers a 20-hour class based on the work of social activist and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The technique, called Sudarshan Kriya, or “healing breath,” can not only improve the practitioner’s mental and physical health, but the surrounding community’s as well, says Shankar.
In its April Mental Health Letter, Harvard University reviewed published studies of Sudarshan Kriya’s effectiveness versus antidepressants and electro-convulsive therapy, concluding that “controlled breathing with roots in traditional yoga shows promise in providing relief for depression.”
“We have the power to overcome the tendency of the mind to cling to the negative,” says Patti Montella, who teaches Sudarshan Kriya in Denver. “But a breathing technique is easier to manage than the mind. The breath helps bring you inward, helps thoughts to quiet down because that breath is in the present moment.”
The Art of Living Foundation was active in Denver in the ’90s, when Montella first learned the breathing practice. “I felt so much lighter, like years and years of emotional ups and downs had just been tossed out in a few days,” says Montella.
The nonprofit has been criticized for the cost of its classes, which range up to $450, but are often discounted. Montella says all but 5 percent of Art of Living’s funds go directly into its programs, and its few staffers live on small stipends. Graduates of the program meet for ongoing practice in Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Vail, Durango and Ridgway.
The foundation offers free workshops for high-risk populations (jails, youth centers) and the helping professions (firefighters, nurses, law enforcement), “to give them some techniques they can apply in their lives right away for immediate relief, toward creating a violence- free, stress-free Denver,” Montella says.
To that end, the foundation has cut the price of its upcoming course from $350 to $165 per person. Registration: secure.artofliving.org (with promotion code CEX058) or call 720-324-0624. The course is Aug. 7-11 at the Centre for Spiritual Living, 1420 Ogden St.
