Here is what’s supposed to happen when you breathe:
- Air comes in through your nose.
- Your belly expands for the first two-thirds of the inhale.
- Your chest and upper rib cab expand for the final third.
- On the exhale, things collapse in reverse order.
- On the inhale & exhale, you fill up & empty completely.
Just a reminder because it’s very common to forget, to breathe shallow, to breath into your chest, and / or to hold in your belly and reverse your breathing pattern.
Typically the above process works fine when you are relaxed and not really thinking about it.
But if you’re overly stressed out, or, you have trained an improper breathing pattern into yourself over years through habit, you may need to work on this.
A few minutes of practice a day can be enough.
Here are some references that I’ve used:
My daily meditation app, Calm.
Dr. Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing exercise.
Paul Chek’s video on how to correct an incorrect breathing pattern.
