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Gong Bath Benefits
We all know how to breathe, but do you know how to breathe properly? The proper way of breathing is called diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is a large muscle located directly beneath the rib cage. Your goal should be to engage this muscle by ensuring that your abdomen expands upon each inhale.
Here is the way: First start by exhaling all of the air out of your lungs. Then you place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. Begin to inhale through your nose, and as you do, you should feel the hand on your belly move outward as your belly (lungs) should be expanding. Then as you exhale out of your mouth, you should feel your belly retract back toward your spine and relax while your hand on your chest should not move.
If you can master this kind of breathing, you will experience a lot of benefits as you fill up your lungs when you breathe.
Instigate Relaxation
You should have been told to "take a deep breath!" before, which is exactly how you could reduce stress. When you breathe deeply, you are sending a message to your brain to instigate relaxation. As you continue with this exercise, this message will extend to the rest of your body and you will feel a physical calmness.
Better Blood Pressure Control
With the calm that comes over you as you breathe deeply, your slowed breathing and heart rate can have better control on your blood pressure. This is the extension of the "relaxation response".
Healthier Lungs
In addition to helping your heart, better breathing can also improve lung function. When you take in full breaths of air, you can give your diaphragm a full range of motion and allow full oxygen exchange to take place.
The above benefits lead to a bunch of additional benefits as well. For example, improving the immune system, lowering your breathing rate, improving respiratory function and core muscle stability, reducing the production of the stress hormone cortisol and helping with post traumatic stress disorder.
With all the benefits that diaphragmatic breathing gives us, ideally one should use this type of breathing all the time. If you are interested in formal diaphragm exercises for better breathing, it is recommended that you practice deep breathing for 5 to 10 minutes, at least once or twice a day. Start to take more deep breaths to calm down and achieve mindfulness!
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