Working with breathing can lead to a greater control of your emotions and the actions of your involuntary nervous system. It is important to pay attention to breathing in order to move toward relaxation and pain control.
You must begin by simply observing your own breathing, without trying to influence it in any way. Sit in a comfortable position, with eyes closed and loosen any tight clothing. Focus your attention on your breathing and notice the differences between inhalation and exhalation.Practise this every day for at least five minutes.
After a few weeks of consistently observing your breathing, start focusing on your breathing by beginning with exhalation and switching over to inhalation. Observing your breathing cycle in this reverse way will help you become more involved in your breathing. You can use your voluntary muscles, being the intercostal muscles (ribs) to push air out of your lungs. This volunary action will allowyou to focus on exhalation and relax more when the inhalation phase is occuring. Moving a greater quantity of air out will allow you to move a greater quantity of air in. Practise this with great discipline day in and day out – before you know it, you will have become much better and automatic deep inhalations which is very important for full body and mind relaxation.