Breathing: Breathing techniques and exercises, breathing and stress, breathing and health

Basics Outside of sports, where you'll often see athletes using breath as to tool to relax and focus, the modern world seems to have lost touch with its own breathing. This despite the ancient respect for breath as the primary connection to spirit or life-force ("respire" and "spirit" share the same root, and the breath is a major focus in the meditative disciplines of the world, yoga, tai chi, and martial arts). So it's safe to say that modern humanity, particularly those deeply engaged in the "rat race" or other stress-patterns of modern culture, could use a refresher course in how to breathe.

Research Despite the obvious importance of breath, little good research is available to demonstrate the benefits of good breathing. There is one good study showing how breathing improves high blood pressure (hypertension), but in general, this appears to fall into the category of sunshine, happiness, or water -- not enough money to be made to justify serious research. That said, most people have probably experienced the benefits of good breathing, whether at a key moment in sports or to calm oneself during a stressful/traumatic experience. So this and the testimony of centuries of "breathing experts" in the above disciplines suggest that much (ultimately, free) benefit can be gained from conscious breathing.

Resources We have partnered with a web site that offers a significant amount of free content about good breathing, as well as paid courses. A good starting point is their free breathing test, which assesses your breathing habits. An overview of dysfunctional breathing (that is, how most of us breathe, honestly) is here. The cousework and breathing programs start here. But whether you use Optimal Breathing's resources or others, breath -- along with daily exercise, human relationships, work, and ones diet -- form the core of a healthy life. Whatever the real value of supplements are herbs, they should always follow on (or at least parallel) assessing and improving these core 'lifestyle' issues.

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Breathing