Our breathing is one of the key things we can do to detoxify well. Diaphragmatic breathing for good detoxification is crucial. In other words, how we breathe is critical. A lot of us sit for long periods of time and we shallow breathe meaning our body doesn't really move and we only fill the top part of our lungs. To breathe properly we need to use diaphragmatic breathing. This is breathing in deeply through our nose and our belly should go OUT in this process. Then when we breathe out through our mouth, our belly should then shrink back IN. If you don't do this properly you will hyperventilate and become short of breath.
The Process of Diaphragmatic Breathing for Good Detoxification
Slowly breathe IN through your nostrils, belly OUT; then slowly breathe OUT through your mouth, and belly falls IN.
Have you ever walked up stairs or a hill or incline and wondered why you were out of breath? You are not necessarily unfit, but may be actually breathing incorrectly. Try ensuring that several times throughout the day you do deep, slow, diaphragmatic breathing to get good oxygen into your lungs. The added benefit is that our diaphragm under our lungs pushes downwards on our abdominal organs (liver, gall bladder, small intestines) and in doing so massages them. This helps the other organs in the body do their jobs better as well.
The encouragement for diaphragmatic breathing is where exercise comes into play. It does not need to be intense exercise, but rather gentle exercise that just encourages you to breathe a little deeper like walking. This ensures we move oxygen to our tissues and organs that need them.
When we breathe in through our nose, the hairs inside our nostrils filter out potential toxins that we can breathe in like fumes, smoke, allergens etc. When we breathe out through our mouth we also expel toxins out of our body like carbon dioxide. This process prevents our blood becoming acidic.
An added benefit of diaphragmatic breathing is it takes us out of a sympathetic nervous system response (think stress), and turns us into parasympathetic response (think happy relaxing thoughts). So sitting for too long isn't good on so many fronts, but we can help by reminding ourselves to breathe correctly via diaphragmatic breathing.
We also need to ensure we are breathing in clean, fresh air from as clean an environment as possible, by reducing exposure to fumes, smoke, and toxins.
Symptoms from poor breathing technique
Shortness of breath on exertion
Stress
Feelings of coldness
Brain fog, inability to concentrate
Sore, aching body, and more...
If you would like help to understand this concept further, please don't hesitate to make an appointment.
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References:
Weaver L, (2018), Exhausted to Energised, Little Green Frog Publishing
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