Breathing from the Stomach

If you've ever watched infants sleeping, you'll notice that their stomachs go up and down when they breathe. This might seem like an insignificant fact, however, most adults could learn a thing or two from these diminutive dozing creatures--as they demonstrate perfect breathing technique!

Most of us lose our original, instinctive way of breathing as young adults and even as kids because of the high levels of stress brought about by unnatural lifestyles. Stress then leads to physical tension, which causes the stomach muscles to tighten and our breathing to shift upward into the chest region.

Want to see what I mean? Here's a challenge: Go ahead right now and take a deep breath. A huge, deep breath...

Did you see your chest expand? If yes, then you are among those who have developed an improper breathing habit. Try it again, this time ensuring your chest doesn't move, but that your stomach expands as you breathe in, and contracts when you breath out. It should feel like a bellows inflating as it sucks in air and deflating as the air is released. (It's not as easy as it sounds! If you need some help, try putting your on your navel. Slowly ease your hand away and ensure your stomach follows it.)

What happens when you breathe this way is that the stomach expands outward, causing your intestines and other innards to move out of the way, and to make room for the diaphragm to pull the lungs down to their fullest capacity. As a result, you get the largest breath of air possible. More air in the lungs means more oxygen in the blood stream--which means more oxygen going to the body parts and brain, and ultimately, better brain performance.

Deep breathing has many implications for learning. One is that it can control nervousness. When learners are under stress (e.g., they have to give a test or speak in front of an audience), they become tense, and start taking shallow breaths from the chest. The lack of oxygen teams up with the psychological fear factor, robbing the brain of oxygen, and cutting off the mind's access to the cerebral cortext (the seat of long-term memory). You might recall a time where you had to give a speech or take a test and your mind went blank. That's what was going on.

In the future, whenever you're in a situation where you need to perform cognitively, and you find yourself feeling stressed, tense, or nervous, immediately shift you attention to your breathing. Begin taking deep breaths from the stomach—slowly and rhythmically. Within a few breaths, your tension will ease and clarity of thought will resume. Try it--it's not so hard. In fact, even a baby could do it.

Stress During Pregnancy Has Detrimental Effect On Offspring

ScienceDaily (2008-10-29) reports that

stress during pregnancy may have unfortunate consequences for children born under those conditions – slower development, learning and attention difficulties, anxiety and depressive symptoms and possibly even autism.

While we are surely grateful for the study and its results, scientists should give a bit of credit to Indian's scientists of yore, who arrived at the same conclusions thousands of years ago. Ayurvedic texts discuss not only the implications of stress during pregnancy, but also effective ways of planning for conception, and the diet and lifestyle that should be followed in order to produce a healthy, balanced child.

People frequently come to me with problems they face with their children regarding learning and especially behavior. I usually ask them to describe the state of their lives while the mother was pregnant--what she ate, what she did, where she lived, who else stayed in the home, the general mood, etc. I also ask them similar questions related to the the child's infancy--first three years of the child's life. Inevitably, I find that parents with the most extreme problems violated a majority of the principles clearly defined by Ayurveda.

The unfortunate thing is that by the time they meet me, the damage is done. During the early stages of development, the brain's wiring--the essential configuration of its neural networks is more or less laid down permanently--like the infrastructure of a building such as pipes, electrical lines, vents, etc. Once a building is up, redoing infrastructure is nearly impossible. In the case of both buildings and people, this doesn't mean nothing can be done if problems exist in the basic foundation. But then the process of remedy is more about damage control than cure, and in many instances, the problems resurface repeatedly over time.

I hope more new and expecting parents take note of this, and take greater care with respect to the period of pregnancy and infancy. You are always welcome to speak with a Jiva doctor for free advice via email info@jiva.com or by phone +91-129-4088152.

Till then, see what Dr. Partap Chauhan has to say about Ayurveda and a healthy pregnancy: