Deep breathing/diaphragmatic breathing

Wasnick (2007) explains that deep breathing, also referred to as diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing and belly breathing, is very beneficial to our health. He states that it improves the functioning of our lungs and blood vessels, as well as relieving stress and improving our mental and physical performance at times when our body is tense.

Deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing is very easy to do, but we tend to forget to do it accurately when we are stressed or when we are simply not concentrating on our breathing properly. Bourne (2005) illustrates that our breathing reflects the level of tension we carry in our body at the present moment. When we are tense our breathing tends to be rapid and shallow and only occurs higher in our chest area, whereas if we were to be relaxed, we generally breathe longer and fuller breaths further down into our abdomen. Deep breathing can create better feelings of connectedness between your mind and body, increases the oxygen supply to your brain and can also act as a relaxation method on its own.

You may be wondering how deep breathing relates to PMR? Well deep breathing and PMR actually combine really well with each other and doing this will simply give you an additional level of relief during the session. On my placement, I would briefly talk to my clients about deep breathing before conducting the PMR session. It’s easy to learn with these few steps:

1. Firstly, you should recognise the tension you are feeling and then place one hand on your abdomen (in the middle of your stomach, right below your rib cage).
2. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, right to the bottom of your lungs. You should feel your lungs filling up with air, so your hand that is placed on your abdomen should be rising. Note that your chest will rise slightly, but most predominantly your abdomen.
3. Once you have inhaled a full breath, pause for a few seconds before slowly exhaling out through your nose or mouth (personal preference). Exhale fully and allow all of the air to escape your body. Think of your body as a balloon that is deflating and allow your body to go limp.
4. Repeat this ten times and focus on keeping your breaths slow and regular so that it is the same for each abdominal breath (Bourne, 2005).

If this is continued throughout a PMR session, a higher level of relaxation will be achieved.

References:

Bourne, E. J. (2005). The anxiety & phobia workbook (4^th ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

Image retrieved 31 July, 2013 from creativityinlife.wordpress.com/tag/health/

Wasnick, M. S. (2007). U.S. Patent Application 11/716,208.