Harmony at Work

As part of our corporate training programs, we often teach the “10-Minute Recharge”. This routine consists of energization exercises developed by Yogananda, and a meditation technique that he recommended.

But sometimes, in the heat of the moment, one doesn’t have even 10 minutes. So what about a 1-Minute Routine? We offer that, too. It is just this: BREATHE.

You may be thinking, “yes, I know how to breathe already.” But the truth is that most of us don’t breathe properly throughout the day.

An Experiment

1. Sit on the edge of your chair, with your back straight.
2. Place your hand on your belly.
3. Take a deep breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Make sure, as you breathe in, that your stomach pushes out against your hand.
4. Do this twice more.

Now, you may have noticed that, as you were breathing in, your shoulders may have risen slightly. Let’s experience this. Again using your hand, this time hold your belly tight. Now when you inhale, notice how your chest expands and your shoulders rise. You might not enjoy this feeling very much.

What is happening here?

If we hold our bellies tight, then when we inhale, we prevent the air from reaching fully into the lower lungs. The air has nowhere else to go but the upper lungs, which inflate, expand the chest, and cause the shoulders to rise.

When the air doesn’t reach our lower lungs, 2 things happen. The lower lungs don’t receive enough new oxygen on the inhalation, and they don’t release enough stale carbon dioxide on the exhalation. With not enough O2 and too much CO2, the body slowly starts to suffocate. This growing physical tension gives rise to mental tension. Soon we begin to feel stressed, only because of the way we are breathing!

So, why would we ever breathe in this wrong way? We tend to hold the stomach in for two reasons. One is cosmetic, in the wish to appear slimmer. The other is that, when worried or nervous, we tend to keep the stomach tight, as in, “butterflies in the stomach”. Also, if we feel attacked, we may feel as if we’ve been hit in the stomach, or “punched in the gut.”

We can reverse this unconscious trend by consciously breathing deeply. Let’s again take 3 breaths in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Make sure your belly is moving out as you breathe in.

How do you feel? Relaxed? Calm? Fresh?

This kind of breathing is called abdominal breathing or diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is a band of muscle above the stomach that pushes up against the lower lungs, compressing them. When we inhale and let the stomach move out, the diaphragm stretches downward, allowing the lower lungs to inflate. See the diagram below.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

So, the next time you’re feeling stressed, or would like to boost your energy and focus, just sit up straight and take 3 diaphragmatic breaths. As you’ve experienced, this takes just 1 minute—or less!

            What are these?

Tags: calm, diaphragmatic breathing, energy, stress, techniques, tension

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under productivity, techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.