Quality of Breath Can Change Your Life
By Jennifer Buergermeister

Do we understand the importance of a simple breath? To breathe means to process the air in-and-out of the lungs.  Breath maintains our life and well-being.  Breathing is the utilization of oxygen that comes in with each wave of the breath. If you are living, you are breathing, yet are you breathing correctly?  Less obvious is the importance of the quality of one’s breathing.  Are you merely breathing on autopilot or are you consciously activating the diaphragm and expanding the lungs?
Respiration is the inhalation of oxygen into the lungs and diaphragm and the exhalation of carbon dioxide.  The inhalation is essential for the delivery of oxygen throughout the entire body. If you do not get enough oxygen to meet your body’s energy demand, it will result in the reduction or cessation of cellular functioning, which results in a decline of health.
Most of us have experienced circumstances that have brought awareness squarely on the breath—its shallowness, rapidness, or depth.
Think about the last time you were angry, frightened, or nervous. Your breath, more than likely, became rapid, short and shallow.  That is, the inhale only went as far as the upper chest. You may have gasped, sighed relief, or exhaled a sob of grief.   While exercising, the body requires more oxygen to meet the demands of muscle contraction.  Oftentimes, during one’s workout, the breath will be shallow, short, and rhythmic. By contrast, a yoga class promotes long, deep, rhythmic breathing—lung expansive and diaphragmatic respiration.  The result is a state of calm and relaxation.

Diaphragmatic breathing focuses on lung expansion into the lower areas of the lung, which are often neglected and the location of trapped stale air. Exhaling the stale air fully from the basement of the lungs allows new, fresh, oxygen-rich air to flood the capillaries and be delivered throughout the body.  In addition, the organs receive a much welcomed massage from the activity of diaphragmatic breathing.  This type of diaphragmatic breathing pushes the abdominal organs down and forward, boosting circulation and enhancing functionality of the organs within the abdominal cavity. Also, diaphragmatic breathing is a therapeutic tool for common health concerns, such as hypertension, a leading cause of heart disease.  Furthermore, it promotes proper lymphatic propulsion and drainage within the body. Oxygen produces the energy to pump the lymph through the lymphatic vessels.  Full, conscious breathing alleviates anxiety, which has been found to be a common denominator in mortality rates found in America.
I think we inherently know how important it is to breathe, but are breathing properly? We are familiar with the phrases, “When you’re nervous, stop and take a deep breath” or “Before you react, take 10 deep breaths.”  However, many do not know that breath is often referred to as spirit. The Latin word spiritus means breath. When we realize that breath is spirit, doesn’t it take on a whole new meaning for us to breathe? As a baby, we enter this world with a first inhale, and spirit enters into the body. When we die we take our final exhale, where spirit leaves the body to continue on its journey.
The autonomic nervous system consists of two systems: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The two subsystems work together to regulate the body’s heart rate. The sympathetic system accelerates heart rate and the parasympathetic nervous system slows down heart rate. Finding the quality of breath and learning to control the breath brings the parasympathetic nervous system into balance with the sympathetic nervous system.  Balance is the door. Breathe is the key.
When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, heart rate increases and blood flow is restricted to the organs.  The blood travels to the limbs in response to the fight or flight mechanism to prepare the body for action.  We begin to breathe more rapidly and higher into the chest. Upper chest breathing caused by stress then triggers the sympathetic nervous system into overdrive.
The energy needed throughout physical activity to discharge accumulated energy during stress, if not met, will lead to anxiety. If the nervous system is stimulated into overdrive frequently, anxiety is then perpetuated by continuous arousal which usually results in states of irritability or even hyperventilation, eventual adrenal exhaustion, and continual lack of blood flow to the vital organs which will become stressed as well.
Studying the interrelationship between emotions, breath, and the autonomic nervous system brings valuable insights to the prevention and treatment to a number of stress-related diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Learning and practicing mindful meditation and pranayama, which teaches proper diaphragmatic breathing and other forms nerve and mind balancing techniques such as slow, deep breathing, benefits the autonomic nervous system in the body.
My favorite is simply sitting quietly and counting how long you can inhale, hold for half as long, and how long you can inhale. Watch how fast you can stretch the lungs and ribs to make more room for the breath. My chest has expanded an entire shirt size which indirectly makes my hips seem smaller as my shoulders have broadened!
Breathing is easy, but it may not be enough. Quality, conscientious breathing will provide many health benefits to our mind/body and prevent long-term cell and tissue damage. Learning to breathe properly may ultimately save your life.

Jenny Buergermeister is the owner of Jennyoga located in Houston. Jenny is the founder of Breathe the Cure, the Texas Yoga Conference, The Texas Two-stepping with Yoga Tour and the Texas Yoga Association. She is also the residing president of the Yoga Teachers Association of Houston, and a facilitator at MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Place…of Wellness. For more information go to www.jennyoga.com or www.breathecure.org