Breathing is the foundation of life. We start to breathe the day we are born and stop breathing the day we die. Without breath, we cannot live. Breathing influences your mind, your body, and your health.

And while breathing is in itself a simple process that all of us do every day all day long (exactly – nearly 25,000 times a day!), there is much to learn about it.

Why? Because there is a lot that can be done wrongly. It’s like proper posture or running – we all know well enough how to do it, but this doesn’t mean that we do it optimally. And even if we don’t strive for Olympic performance in either running or breathing, just small mistakes add up over time and can lead to chronic conditions that significantly deteriorate our health and wellbeing.

In essence, that’s what breathwork is all about – it refers to basically any type of breathing exercise or technique that you intentionally do in order to improve your physical and mental health and overall well-being. First, you learn how to breathe correctly, and second, you have a toolbox of breathing patterns that you can pick from for each situation you are in and the goal you want to reach. Think fitness exercises for your breathing and holistic well-being!

A few facts to really highlight the power of breathing –

1.    Breathing can lower your stress by actively reducing cortisol levels (link)

2.    Breathing can lower your blood pressure, herewith reducing the danger of high blood pressure (or medically: hypertension) such as increased strain on your heart, sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, kidney diseases, chronic fatigue, thyroid, and endocrine problems (link)

3.    Breathing can increase your ability to focus by driving neuronal activity in the related brain areas (link)

4.    Breathing can improve your life span by activating better circulation, and boosting anti-ageing processes (link)

For understanding the mechanics of breathing and getting more information on how to use breathing to improve your life, visit our other blogs “Breath Scoring or Good vs. Bad Breathing” and “Breathing as a secret to effectively coping with stress - why does this work?”. For personalized guided breathing exercises, try out the Chojuu app.

Live better - breath by breath.

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