Use this breathing to Supercharge you!
Oxygenate your Blood
What if you asked your boss, or asked yourself (if you are your own boss), for a breathing break? Why not? Smokers take smoking breaks!
Seriously, Alan Hymes, M.D., a co-author of Science of Breath, described the process of the oxygenation of the blood. He did so to validate the co-authorship of Swami Rami, a Yogi, who, like all Yoga Teachers, teach breathing exercises. Dr. Hymes pointed out that gravity pools much of the blood in our lungs towards the bottom of our lungs (assuming we are not in a headstand). So this understanding allows us to do yoga belly breathing to boost our blood's and our brain's oxygenation, any time, anywhere! On the inhale, bring the air into the bottom of your lungs, and more of the oxygen in that breath will go into your blood stream than if you took in a shallow breath. And yes, oxygenated blood alkalizes all our cells, all organs in the body, to reduce stress .
Breath of Fire
So, lets learn to make our lungs happy! Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground and parallel to one another. If this is your first time doing this, it helps to put one or both hands on your belly to feel the movement of your belly. Always breathe through your nose.
All inhales and exhales in this exercise are equal in duration, equal in effort, and rapid, like panting. Eyes may be
open or closed, but it is preferred to close your eyes and focus on the point between your eyebrows
Use your smart phone timer app. Start with one minute, and work your way up to three minutes.
(1) Begin by using your ab muscles at the navel point to push the air out of the bottom of your lungs by drawing the muscles back towards the spine. This pulls the belly in. (2) From this position, use those same ab muscles to push your navel point out (pushing the belly out) drawing air into the bottom of your lungs, and then, (3) pull those ab muscles back in towards your spine (pulling the belly in), until all air in the bottom of the lungs is expelled. Again, the inhale and the exhale are both the same duration and effort. There is no contest to see how fast you can do this, or how much air you can take in or push out, or how hard you drive your abs. Just make a concentrated effort to bring air with oxygen into the bottom of your lungs, where most of your blood is pooled, and to exhale the carbon dioxide out that is exchanged during the intake of oxygen, as if you are panting.
