The Kerr House
You probably take breathing for granted, and that's good. If you had to keep track of your breathing, you wouldn't have time for anything else. Because respiration is automatic doesn't mean that it can't be improved however. You may shrug and think "I've been breathing all my life, what's the big deal?"

Try deep, conscious breathing just for a day or two. You'll be amazed by how many aspects of your life will be affected. Breath is the link between our inner and outer worlds, our conscious and unconscious state of being, and it influences everything we do and are. Many of us habitually use only the upper third or so of our lungs, and usually take only quick, shallow breaths. By breathing more deeply, we use more pulmonary capacity, receive more life-giving oxygen and expel more carbon dioxide with each breath.

Because deep, correct breathing oxygenates the blood and sends calming signals to the brain, it also stimulates brain cells and clears thinking, increases memory, strengthens lungs and heart, reduces stress, enhances sleep and slows the aging process. Every breath brings prana, the universal life force, into the body, supplying the energy to keep organs, glands and cells operating at peak capacity. Few people realize how invigorating and healing deep breathing can be - until they try it.

Our bodies are constantly trying to tells us what they need. What, after all, is a yawn? It's an automatic response to feeling tired and sluggish; when we yawn, the brain and body are letting us know we need more oxygen. If we don't respond by breathing more deeply, we'll soon find ourselves stretching and yawning again and again. The body is desperate for more oxygen, and when we don't pay attention to its signals, it forces us to breathe deep, whether we want to or not.

Getting Through Life, One Breath at a Time
Realize that breath is your life force. By taking more oxygen with each breath, you increase your life force and energize your mind and body. Here are ways you can use breathing as a daily life-enhancing tool.

Reducing Anxiety
Rapid, shallow breathing causes fatigue, chronic anxiety, and a feeling of dis-orientation. When your mind is going a mile a minute and jumping from one thought to another, you're almost certainly taking quick and shallow breaths. Notice your breathing, tell yourself to relax and start breathing deeply. Continue doing so until your mind slows down and you feel in control again.

Managing Anger
When you're angry and ready to explode, take three very deep, slow breaths, exhaling completely each time. You'll still need to resolve the issues that caused your rage, but you can do so more effectively when you're calm.

Controlling Tears
Crying is a wonderful release, and keeping tears perpetually bottled up is unhealthy. There are many times, however, when an emotional outburst is counterproductive. In these situations, breathe deeply until your mind and body begin to relax. Continue to take deep, slow, even breaths until you find a safe place and time to release your emotions. This is a particularly useful tool for people who are grieving or under great life-stress, but who must continue to function.

Diffusing Pressure
When stress builds, your shoulders and neck probably start to tense up and you may feel a headache coming on. You can stop the accumulation of physical tension and avoid the headache if you slow down and concentrate on breathing deeply and consciously relaxing neck and shoulders.

Inviting Sleep
When you have trouble falling asleep or find yourself suddenly wide awake in the middle of the night, deep breathing may help you achieve healthy, natural rest. Try this technique: totally relax your body, breathing softly, slowly and deeply, and holding each breath both on the inhale and exhale for a count or two. (Counting is a useful way of focusing on the breath.) Then spread your toes apart. Relax.

(Continue breathing deeply as you progress.) Curl your toes under and tighten all the muscles in your feet. Hold, then relax. Tighten all the muscles in your calves, knees, and thighs. Hold. Then relax. Slowly move up your body, tightening and relaxing each area until you reach your head - if you get that far before sleep over-takes you.

Increasing Stamina
Proper breathing is like magic when it comes to increasing physical endurance. To see for yourself, walk up three flights of steps. Observe your fatigue and your breathing. Now walk down the steps and notice how you feel.

Immediately walk back up all three flights, but this time, concentrate on deep breathing using full lung capacity. When you reach the third floor, you'll find that you are much less winded than before - you may not even be breathing heavily. Deep breathing works anyplace, anytime to increase the supply of oxygen to muscles and organs.

Controlling Pain
Dr. Lamaze did a wonderful thing by making mothers-to-be aware of breathing as an ever-present tool they can use to help themselves during childbirth.

If breathing can lessen the pain of child-birth, it can make a difference in any pain you experience. Train yourself to use it daily. Practice deep breathing - in yoga class or with a tape or book - until it becomes second nature, and you, too, will have access to an effective pain-control system.

Breath Basics
Unless we pay attention to our breathing, we tend to hold our breath when we need oxygen most. Notice, for example, how you breathe when you are concentrating on accomplishing a delicate task, such as threading a needle.

Chances are that you hold your breath. Breath-holding may actually help you steady needle and thread, but for most tasks it's counterproductive. Notice whether you also hold your breath when you are frightened, confused or hurried. You need more oxygen, not less, to think and act appropriately, so train yourself to inhale energy and exhale tension. Shallow breathing is a typical physical response to anger, stress, fear, sadness, and pain. It takes a conscious effort to breathe deeply when you're flooded by emotion, but by doing so you can control the spiral of emotion and physical response.

Calm, steady breathing is a lullaby for body and brain - a signal that everything really is okay. When practicing deep breathing, inhale through your nostrils, because they filter and warm the air before it enters your delicate lungs. Some people prefer to exhale through their nostrils, while others exhale through the mouth. This is a personal preference, and it doesn't matter. Focus on the sound of your breath and what you feel as you breathe. Think about inhaling energy and exhaling tension. Breathing is the most important thing you do in this minute, in the next hour, all day today, and any day in the future. How privileged you are to be able to breathe.

Enjoy it!

Cleansing Breath
You know that your kidneys and bowels eliminate wastes, but did you know they handle less than 10 percent of your total biological wastes? Carbon dioxide and other gases make up the largest part of our metabolic waste-products. We eliminate about 20 percent of the total through the skin (the body's largest organ), and another 70 percent through exhalation. In short: the more efficient and robust your breathing, the cleaner your body's engines run.