Why breathing exercises fail to help as much as they should!
Why the usual breathing exercises don’t help as much as they should? A case for mindfulness based breathing and meditation.
Most breathing exercises as used to help anxiety, panic, to relax or help sleep help to a degree by allowing some distraction from thinking and other stimuli such as strong emotions or physical sensations such as pain, and some degree of mental calm and physical relaxation. They don’t work as well as they should for a few reasons 1. The breathing itself is often not the most effective belly breathing, 2. The person doesn’t practice the breathing enough to get proficient with it when they need it the most, 3. The mind wanders excessively because of expected distractions which aren’t deal with properly, and 4. The driving or moving forces of the thought-emotion-physical complex that make of the distractions the feelings-physical sensations are reacted to in a not helpful way, and lastly 5. the practice posture and mental-emotional attitude is not the most conducive for successful practice, 6. More learning and contemplation is not used to supplement the problem for which the breathing is being used, and 7. The problem is not face realistically in daily living.
The solution to help these 7 problems is mindfulness based breathing using lower abdominal breathing.
1. Breathing expanding the lower abdomen the way an infant or young child does it, allowing the diaphragm to work the way it should, creating a vacuum so the air is allowed to flow without resistance into the lungs, not needing to use the muscles of the upper chest, neck and facial muscles. Don’t suck the air in or blow it our allow it to passively to go in and out, which will lead to maximum mental calmness and physical relaxation.
2. Practice on a regular schedule and whenever you can, not just when you need to use the breathing.
3. Expect the mind to wander as part of the practice, realizing that a present moment focus, calmness and concentration go hand in hand. The mind wanders by two interrelated factors , not having sufficient concentration , and by not having a mind set of staying consciously and consistently only in the present, excluding the past and future. Concentration develops two ways by picking a focus object in this case your breathing, and trying stay with it, and by coming back to the breathing when distracted by anything. Many times the pulling back to the present and the object of focus develops more and a better concentration than that of the initial and sustained focus on the breathing. Distraction come in three categories momentary ones that can be barely noticed with an easy return back to the breathing, moderately strong ones that require a longer notice, perhaps labeling them, and experiencing briefly their emotional charge before you are able to return to the breathing, and very strong distractions that have to be handled separately by making them a new and temporary object of focus to be handles by the breathing exercise or in sustained mindfulness using breathing which is one definition of meditation.
4. The feelings and associated bodily sensations of the problem and the distractions must be experienced and burnt away by mindful experiencing, over and over, and again and again. This is done by daily mindfulness, mindfulness based breathing whenever you can, and by formal contemplation , meditation and living and experiencing the problem in dialing living by oneself and with the help of others.
5. The practice attitude must accompany the practice that of a caring knowing, with total involvement and unconditional attention being give to the practice, a business or professional kind gentle concern or love. The practice posture is best done sitting, being quiet and still, erect but not stiff, with “just enough” muscular tension and mental alertness.
6. Not only practice of the exercise is needed but you need to learn as much as you can about the problem , and think about it to understand it, facing the feelings that come up in the process.
7. Realistically face and deal with the problem in daily living. All three are needed, breathing exercises, learning about the problem and thinking about it to understand it, and facing it whenever you can in daily living.