Paul Ford so kindly agreed to allow me to republish his exercise for breathing deeply. This is also sometimes known as belly breathing and is important for developing a calm and relaxed nature.

Practice this exercise daily to re-train your brain to breathe naturally. Babies and young children do this automatically. As adults we have forgotten how to breathe the way we were meant to. We often hold our breath with out even realizing we are doing it. We try to keep our belly sucked in for a more trimmer appearance and we have gotten into the habit of breathing through our chest.

This keeps us from fully expanding our lungs and can cause a host of physical and emotional problems. Take a look at my  facts on breathing page for more information.

Exhale completely, as if you're blowing out the candles on a very big birthday cake.

Bend over. This expels the last bits of air from your lungs. When you're totally out of air, don't let any air come into your throat.

Stand up. This increases lung volume, so air will want to flow into your lungs, but don't breathe. Wait until your body needs a breath—10 seconds or so.

Then, when you can't take much more, breathe. Your body will have moved over from your normal, everyday breathing to unregulated, autonomic “response breathing.”

That's it. Once you let your body take that unregulated breath in step 4, it sort of “reboots your lungs,” and the nervous, “holding-pattern” breathing becomes a thing of memory.

Phew.

Courtesy of Paul Ford cc 2003

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Other Resources:

Hire a Life Coach

Facts about breathing

Should you breathe through your nose?

Deep Breathing Reduces Hot Flashes

Breathing Techniques to Relieve Anxiety

Breathing Exercise to Improve Digestion

Breathing for Focus

Breathing Technique for Stress Relief

Breathing and Headaches

How to reduce stress at work     

Financial Stress and Your Marriage