Thread: Learning to breathe properly

Observe a baby while fast asleep. That is the normal and proper way of breathing. Try to imitate that and do your best to keep the synchronicity. This is what I have always told my voice students when I teach them proper breathing.

We used to breath "normally" as babies but as we grew and matured, we had formed habits which altered our natural ways. Try to close your mouth and inhale through your nose. Relax and take your time. Slowly exhale (again, ) through your nose. As you inhale, your rib cage should expand, moving your diaphragm and pushing your abdomen and as you exhale, your rib cage should contract. Do this slowly but steadily and gradually increase the interval as you get used to it.

This is going to be your everyday exercise. Chunk your target into a few minutes of breathing practice to an hour, then 2, 3 until you can breathe without even thinking about it.

Let me know how it goes. I'll try harder to help you.

^ Thank you very much for the tips -- I will definitely practice breathing normally -- I read something about how your blood vessels can constrict over time if you breathe through your mouth instead of your nose, so hopefully I can change my habits before that happens.

Is there a certain amount of time a breath should take (some kind of range)? Does weight affect how deeply you are able to breathe, or are breathing habits while at rest independent of weight? My mom used to tell me when I was younger and needed to calm down that I should inhale to a count of 8, hold it, and then exhale to a count of 8, but that seems like a really long time.

If I try to just breathe normally through my nose to how long it seems comfortable, it's about half of that -- 4 seconds in, no holding really (maybe a split second) and then 4 out.

Also, I don't feel like I get enough air unless I am not slumped over and my neck is straight. I have really bad posture (yet another thing on the list to work on, right ), so that might also be hurting my breathing.

Okay, this is kind of a weird question, but...when you breathe with your mouth closed, are your teeth together, or is your jaw relaxed slightly so that there is a space?

I just am noticing these things since I'm trying to breathe better lol and I bit my tongue once because of it :P.

I am a subconcious mouth breather... when I am aware, I breathe through my nose.. when I am not paying attention I notice i do it through my mouth... I also have the mouth fall open when asleep sometimes (not so sexy lol) I wonder if there is more at play there than weight. I was a skinny child and did it then, a skinny teenager and did it then, I was a fat young adult and did it then and now I'm thin and still do it.

My brother does it and so does my mom. I wonder if its genetics or just a learned behavior or just something as different as left-handed, right-handedness... some use the nose, some use the mouth.

I know nose is optimal. Mouth breathing dries your mouth out more. But hm...I've also always had sinus problems, stuffy noses, allergies.. I wonder if thats what tweeked me into that sort of breathing, same with my mom and same with my brother... all of us stuffy nose it frequently.

I'll work on your exercises you listed caterpillar... ty for the tips.

you need to get information on the buteyko method it changed my life and helped me deal with my anxiety and panic attacks and also my sleep anpnea. i cant stress how awesome it is. i read a little book called (i think) close your mouth. it was fantastic!