One of the best relaxation breathing techniques starts with placing your hand over your heart. Let your awareness go there and feel comforted by your own heart. The energy from your hand is directed into the heart and that is partly why it feels comforting to do this practice.
Another key to relaxation breathing techniques is to exhale more deeply. Start your exhale with a sigh and then extend your exhale about 3 seconds longer than you normally would. Use your stomach muscles to actually squeeze out all the breath that you can. Normally we breathe very shallowly and hold on to breath.
As you exhale completely like this it is followed by a more intense inhale. Relax your belly right after your full exhale and allow the inhalation to happen immediately afterwards. You’ll get a rush of air and breath and energy into your belly as it fills like a baloon. Allow the inhalation to happen and make it longer than your normal inhalation.
Breathing is mostly done through the belly so inhale into the belly and as you exhale, think of sending the breath down into the stomach area. This is a full breath and is very comforting to breathe in this way.
The full breath is a foundational breathing practice for most types of meditation, including heart meditation, which is featured on this website. It all starts with the breath.
Waiting to Exhale
Waiting to Exhale was a movie title but it also refers to the shallow breathing that many people use daily. Much of the capacity of our lungs is unused.
Breathing all the way out does leave us vulnerable for a moment and this keeps people from exhaling fully. This is based on fear. But facing this fear and learning to exhale completely can unleash a power in the breath that can be applied to accomplishing our goals in life.
Related Articles
- Breathe and Meditate
- Heart Breathing Technique
- Meditation Breathing Overview
- Dr Andrew Weil Breathing Recommendations
Return from Relaxation Breathing Techniques to Meditation Breathing