Rubén Sosa, certified instructor of breathing techniques and founder of the Medita por el mundo project, teaches us to breathe well in his book ‘Breathe, here and now’
“Going back to breathing through our nose can already make a big difference in our well-being”
“We live our day breathing in a hyperventilating way, and this makes our body be on alert all day”
Breathe. The first thing we do when we are born and the last thing we do when we die. We breathe all day and at all hours, which does not mean that we breathe well. And if that doesn’t happen, our body doesn’t oxygenate properly and we open the door to all kinds of discomfort: physical and emotional. Before panicking (and starting to gasp), let’s know that we can learn to breathe well and increase our quality of life. This is how he assures it Ruben Sosa, certified instructor of breathing techniques and founder of the Medita por el mundo project, in his book ‘Breathe, here and now’ (Vergara).
How is perfect breathing?
perfect breathing is slow, subtle and diaphragmatic, and also these three characteristics are united by a fundamental element, our nose. The fast and fast-paced life that we usually lead, a life that becomes almost a kind of obstacle course, also makes us breathe faster than we should. We live our day breathing hyperventilatinglyand this not only changes our body at a biochemical level, but also makes our body be on alert all day, since our breathing and our mood go hand in hand. If we breathe fast, our heart rate and blood pressure go up, however, when we breathe slower and with the diaphragm, we get just the opposite effect. Many studies have even determined what the perfect rhythm is, which consists of inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for another 5 secondswhich would give us regarding 6 breaths per minute.
Why is it good to breathe through the nose?
The nose is our main organ for breathing, and it should always be that way, or at least 99% of the time. It is not only a piece of meat and cartilage that protrudes from our face, inside it is made up of multiple cavities inside our skull They perform very important functions when it comes to breathing. These cavities are called paranasal sinuses, and within their functions is the filtration, heating and humidification of the air we breathe, which greatly contributes to making the air that reaches our lungs as optimal as possible. All these functions are lost if we breathe through the mouth. Mouth breathing also it even changes the pH of our mouth, making it more acidic and establishing a environment more prone to cavities. This is not to mention that breathing through the mouth is directly associated with the bad jaw formation and the respiratory tract, something to take into account, especially at very early ages and which can result in the nose being covered all day by narrow upper respiratory tracts.
Is bad breath a consequence of anxiety or do we feel anxiety because we breathe badly?
We might almost call it a vicious circle. Each state of mind has a specific breathing pattern.When we are agitated, anxious or stressed, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow, and it is also more common for us to end up breathing through our mouths. On the other hand, when we are relaxed or sleepy in a place, breathing unconsciously becomes slower and more deliberate. The curious and interesting thing regarding this is that it also works the other way aroundwe can speed up our breathing to increase our heart rate and blood pressure, or make it slower and more relaxed to induce our nervous system to relax. But this also happens without realizing it, and if we breathe dysfunctionally, accelerated and through the mouth, we will also be sending signals to our body that it must remain alert, and that is why it is so important to be aware of our breathing, because we may be telling you all day that you should remain as if you were in a moment of stress or anxiety when it is not necessary.
Can breathing help us to overcome anxiety situations or, vice versa, to intensify sensations?
Breathing is the remote control of our autonomic nervous system, which has two distinct branches. The sympathetic branch, which is activated to stay alert, it sends blood to the muscles, fills us with cortisol, and is even called the fight or flight state. and the branch parasympathetic, which is responsible for rest, cell repair and digestion among many other functions. Since this nervous system is closely linked to breathing, we can take control of it by modifying the rhythm and cadence of breathing.expiration to activate one branch or another. If we feel anxiety, slower breathing through the nose and using our diaphragm well, our state can change in just 3 minutes of exercise.
With age, does it become difficult for us to breathe well?
More than because of age, the problem is that throughout our lives we are acquiring some healthy breathing habits. When we are born we are expert breathers, we breathe through the nose (in fact, up to 6 months of life we cannot breathe through the mouth), we do it with an good movement of our diaphragm and in a rhythmic way. When we get older, either through our own learning or by imitating the elders, we begin to think that a deep breath is done by filling the upper part of the chest, or that we fill ourselves with air better by swallowing it through our mouth. Also the way we sit, hunched forward with slumped shoulders, reduces our lung capacity. They are a whole series of bad habits, which together with the almost chronic stress that many people suffer for a excessive pace of life in which current times, the ones who end up running all day are us, make us become in the long run the worst Breathers In The Animal Kingdom, and that our breathing becomes a subsistence breath, a breath that, of course, keeps us alive, but it is not in the best possible conditions.
Three things we do wrong when we breathe
Above all, and something that we must correct is mouth breathing, only this change, of recovering breathing through our nose, can already mark a big difference in our well-being. Even sleeping, there are mouth strips to prevent the mouth from opening when sleeping, which not only prevents us from breathing through our mouth and sleeps better, but also helps to put an end to snoring to a great extent. Another of the things that we usually do wrong is breathe faster than we should, we average between 12 to 16 breaths per minute, too high a breathing rate, since this should be at 6 and 8. This of course alters the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in our body, and consequently our body biochemistry.
We must reuse optimal shape our diaphragm, which is the main muscle of respiration, without it our lungs might not fill themselves without emptying themselves of air. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the population uses it well below its capacity, and as a consequence their lungs they do not fill with air enoughoften feeling the sensation of lack of oxygen much more easily during the day.
Your book helps us focus on breathing to stop breathing automatically. What other things have you wanted to influence?
It is essential that we put awareness back into the way we breathe, since being something we do automatically from birth, We don’t give it the great importance it has. We can live several weeks without eating or even several days without drinking water, but if we stopped breathing for just 1 or 2 minutes, most of us would not survive, and therein lies its true importance and it is the key point for us to realize once more its incidence in each element and function of our body. Also I recommend doing some simple breathing exercise for a few minutes a day, for example, inhale in 4 counts, pause the breath in another 4 counts and exhale in 4 counts, it is what is called a triangular breath.
What do we get with this technique?
This technique helps us slow down the rate of breathing, avreturn to put consciousness in it, and to unite the three elements of a good breath, that is slow, subtle and through the nose. In this way we can gradually re-educate our breathing, as well as learn ways to relax easily. Finally, we must erase the belief that breathing more is better oxygenating ourselves, since there are mechanisms in our body related to respiration, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other elements involved, which only work correctly when balancedand an excess or decrease of any of them, only makes the body work not as well as it should.
