3 Breathing Exercises for a Deeper Breath

“Now, take a deeeeep breath”

…we’ve all heard it. Whether that be in a guided meditation, a yoga class, or whilst talking to someone who's trying to calm you down. 

It’s something that sounds so simple, yet for many of us it can be quite challenging. A lot of the time this is due to the fact that we’ve forgotten how to properly breathe. This comes down to a few different factors...the first being (no surprise here) stress. 

Emotional & mental stress are almost always stored in the physical body. Sometimes we’re faced with so much anxiety or trauma that taking a deep breath feels impossible, almost as if your body is not letting you breathe. 

Other times, it can be health related. If you’re someone who has experienced health anxiety or has had health related issues in the past, this can definitely come into play. I’ve had clients who say that even thinking about taking a deep breath can create a whole host of difficulties, and at times, even more anxiety. 

 Another reason is conditioning. There have been studies done that show that your breathing changes when you enter high school. You’re more likely to shift from a deep belly breath, to a shorter shoulder breath for the sake of appearing thinner. ‘Sucking it in’, holding your breath...this is a conditioned behaviour that can stick with us long after we’ve moved into adulthood. Pretty crazy, right? 

To breathe deep, we have to create the space to do so and creating that space comes over time, with practice & attention.

Ideally we want to be breathing diaphragmatically, and using our entire system to fill us up with oxygen. When we talk about deep breathing, really what we mean is using 3 main areas of the body - rib cage, belly & the back of your heart (shoulder blade region). 

You can start by paying attention to how you naturally breathe. Do you tend to use your chest? Shoulders? Belly? 

The truth is deep breathing can be unnatural or even uncomfortable at first. It’s just a matter of re-training our brains & bodies to breathe the way we naturally did when we were babies.

Click the video below & I’ll walk you through 3 simple breathing exercises to help get you breathing a little bit deeper! 

A PSA to those of you babes who find deep breathing difficult due to anxiety or general health struggles: just do your best & don’t force it. Yes, a deep breath is what we’re going for but compromising physical or mental comfort just for the sake of one deep breath is not worth it. Listen to your body. Feel like you could benefit from a deeper breath? Great, try it out (gently, slowly, softly & with LOTS of self-compassion). If not, you do you boo. 

How did you find those exercises? Does deep breathing comes naturally to you? I can’t wait to hear. Let me know in the comment section below! xo