Breathing: The Why
Learning to Breathe: http://www.selfication.com/how-to-breathe/
Why do we need to learn to breathe? Don’t we do that every day? These are some of the questions I get from my students. Sure, we breathe every day, but according to many experts we don’t do it correctly.
Really, we are learning how to belly breathe. Most of us over breathe, hold our breath, or practice shallow breathing. These patterns of breathing can be very stressful to the body and leave one lacking oxygen and energy. It’s all about learning to breathe in a way that is most physiologically optimal for the body.
The article posted above does an excellent job explaining the health impact of improper breathing and the many benefits of belly breathing, a.k.a., diaphragmatic breathing.
It also gives an in depth description of the important elements of breathing:
- Conscious breathing
- Breathe through your nose
- Extended exhale
- Straight posture
- Body consciousness
Practice Breathing: The How
Learn How to Breathe
Believe it or not, there is a healthy way to breathe. I found an excellent and FREE app on stress and breathing to relax. This app includes:
Its very cool. You can read or watch videos on the various subjects. You can also customize it so that you are breathing comfortable during the exercise.
The App: Breath2Relax
We will do this exercise in health class, but you can do this at home too!
Breathing: Practice
Activity 1: Stop, Breathe, Think
Try out the website: Stop, Breathe, Think
Complete the first activity Mindful Breathing.
Activity 2: Breathe to Relax
Explore the Breathe to Relax App. Complete a breathing exercise.
Activity 3: Belly Breathing Exercise
Exercise: Practice Using Belly Breathing—This can be an activity for relaxation or to master the art of belly breathing.
1. Lie on the ground, comfy clothes.
2. If at school we will use a book. If at home you may want a bag of rice, a stuffed animal, or something that is easy to balance on your belly.
3. Breathe in through your nose into your stomach and focus on lifting the weight, keeping your shoulders down and chest still. Feel the weight lifting as your diaphragm flexes, pushing your tummy out as you breathe in.
4. Continue to do this until you’ve located and retrained your diaphragm to do all the breathing.
5. Keep practicing. Lift those weights. Push your tummy out as you inhale. And again.
Activity from: Harry Key---a confidence/speech coach, modified for middle school.