How do you know that you're alive? And a simple practice to focus and relax.

The ability to breathe determines whether we are alive.

However, many of us often take the breath for granted.

We usually go about our daily life without paying much attention to our breath.

The breath is intricately linked to our physical and mental state.

Have you noticed?

When we get anxious --> our breath becomes shallow

When we are angered --> our breath becomes short

When faced with a daunting task --> we heave a long sigh

When we are focusing on an intricate task (e.g. threading a needle) --> we hold our breath

However, the relationship between our breath and our physical and mental state is not just a one-way relationship.

The ancient yogis discovered that, by controlling the breath, one could alter one's physical and mental state.

Try the following exercise for yourself!

Equal Breathing

Technique

1. Practise this in a comfortable, seated position.
2. Sit upright with your hands resting gently on your knees, elbows and shoulders relaxed, and eyes closed.
3. Breathing easily, take note of the number of counts it takes for you to complete one inhalation.
4. When you exhale, try to take the same amount of time (same number of counts) to complete your exhalation.
5. Repeat. Avoid forcing your breath, just allow the air to flow in and out of your nose smoothly.
6. Ideally, try to maintain the same number of counts for your inhalation and exhalation throughout the entire session. However, if at any point you find that the pace doesn't feel comfortable to you, go ahead and change it to a more comfortable pace.

Likely Results

A. Centering / Concentration / Focus

Practice Duration: about 2 minutes

As we go about our day, sometimes we need to sit down and change our focus as we switch between tasks, or concentrate on a task after running about for meetings.

After doing this exercise for about 2 minutes, it is likely that you will notice that your mind has calmed down, allowing you to focus on the task at hand.

B. Relaxation

Practice Duration: about 5 minutes

If you continue practising, you'll probably notice around the 5-minute mark that you are feeling relaxed. In fact, the relaxation effect can be so strong that you may doze off.

It's not magic, it's how your body works

This principle behind this exercise is simple: it is a deliberate attempt to slow down the rate at which we exhale.

If you get a chance to observe yourself breathing during the day, you might notice that the time you take to exhale is shorter than the time you take to inhale.

For many people, most of the time, it may even seem that we rush through the exhalation.

In this exercise, by pacing the breath to take the same amount to breathe out as we breathe in, we are slowing down the speed at which we exhale.

Over time, this causes the level of carbon dioxide in our body to increase, ever so slightly.

An elevated level of carbon dioxide in the body gives a calming effect by relaxing the vagus nerve. Hence, one feels calmer (hence more focused). If we continue practising, the feeling of calm leads to relaxation.

Cautions

• Do not try this immediately after vigorous physical activity.
• If you're panting or out of breath, allow your breath to return to normal before practising Equal Breathing.
• If you feel any discomfort, become out of breath, or feel dizzy, stop.
• Breathe easily throughout the practice. Don't force your breath.

Challenge

Try to take a few moments to observe your breath during the day, and notice how it changes as we go through the day.

Do let me know how it goes, after you give this a try!