Boost your energy in one Breath

We do it from the moment we’re born, so you’d think we’d know how to do it right by now. yet, despite inhaling and exhaling over 20,000 times a day, we’ve lost our natural ability to breathe fully. Why? From an early age, we’re taught how to control our feelings and emotions, and as a result, our muscles tighten and our breathing patterns become restricted.

“a lot of people breathe into their chest muscles, rather than fully using their diaphragm, external intercostals and the scalene muscles (in the neck), and relaxing their lower abdomen,” says rebecca Dennis, breath expert and author of And Breathe. this can worsen when we’re stressed, and our breathing can become shallow and rapid, which saps our energy. but breathing deeply allows our diaphragm to drop downwards and our ribcage to expand, creating more space for our lungs to inflate. this increase in oxygen will reduce our heart rate, help calm nerves, release toxins and ramp up our energy.