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chest If you work on Exercise in this manner for only a few minutes every day you will
in short order alleviate this impediment and any related discomfort
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Breathe Diaphragmatically During Exercise
Another effective way to strengthen your diaphragm is to pair diaphragmatic breathing with a
cardiovascular workout Try taking a short jog focusing on the sensations you feel when
alternating between inhalations and exhalations You are likely alternating far too quickly Try
blowing nearly all the way out and breathing nearly all the way in with each breath This can
feel uncomfortable but is extremely healthful
Ironically many people breathe shallowly while exercising because they are concerned
they will not get enough air if they breathe too deeply The sensation of elevated heart rate
makes you want to take tiny breaths Ignore the panic signals from your heart and ensure that
you breathe in and out near full capacity As long as you are breathing heavily you are getting
plenty of oxygen When you persist in an exhalation even when you feel your heart beating
hard in your chest you are restructuring your unhealthy breathing patterns and breaking
through the trauma that underlies them Dont bother using your breathing metronome during
cardio just make sure you are taking full breaths Use the next exercise to get you going
Breathing Exercise Diaphragmatic Jogging
Take a light jog well within your comfortable limits for cardiovascular exercise As you
run begin extending your inhalations and exhalations Focus on the effort involved in
doing so and on the accompanying sensations Instead of panting at a rate of multiple
inhalations per second try to breathe in for one to three seconds and then breathe out
for two to four seconds Once you get a feel for it use this technique for all forms of
aerobic and anaerobic exercise
Breathe Diaphragmatically While Eating
Theres one other daily activity that deserves specific attention It is surprisingly difficult to
follow a breath metronome while eating a meal Attempting it makes us aware of just how
entangled our appetitive drives are with distressed breathing The first time tried it realized
that distressed breathing had created a starving ravenous creature inside of me The activity
below offers a puzzlingly difficult challenge that should pique your interest in the benefits of
diaphragmatic breathing The last two activities do not require the use of a breath metronome
but this activity like most of the activities in this program is greatly improved by using one
Breathing Exercise Diaphragmatic Eating
Set your breath metronome at your preferred rate Find space by yourself and set your
meal in front of you Start paced breathing Attempt to slowly consume the entire meal
while breathing at your preset rate Notice how aspects of the biting chewing and
swallowing are frenzied Slow everything down and pay attention to how your body
responds This may be frustrating because you are accustomed to shallow shortinterval
breathing while eating After a few meals though it will start to feel normal
Chapter Breathe Deeply Smoothly Slowly and on Long Intervals
Generalizing Diaphragmatic Breathing
For many people distressed breathing is pervasive and affects every aspect of daily life
This book aims to help you develop just the opposite an ingrained habit for deep
diaphragmatic breathing that you practice every waking moment As Chapter explained
this new habit will desensitize your stress system by pairing experiences that are normally
stressful and linked to thoracic breathing with diaphragmatic breathing instead
was partially inspired to create a system based on this concept by my experiences in the
yoga studio Hatha yoga revolves around yoking various stretches and poses with calm breathing
Since developing the present program have found that this concept is not even new in the
clinical arena It is a littleknown technique called generalization of diaphragmatic breathing
Some therapists use diaphragmatic generalization to help clients associate peaceful
breathing with distressing thoughts and other activities such as standing sitting and walking
Forming those associations ensures that proper breathing predominates in most life
situations Yoking relaxed breathing to various activities in this way can be considered a form
of systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization is a psychological method used to help people overcome
phobias and anxieties It is a popular form of exposure therapy that uses counterconditioning
a Pavlovian process developed by South African psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe The idea is simple
If the source of the persons anxiety is discovered ie spiders the person is trained in
relaxation techniques ie reappraisal breathing and muscle relaxation exercises and then
guided to use these techniques while they are exposed to increasing levels of fearinducing
stimuli They might progress from talking about spiders to looking at pictures of spiders then to
videos of spiders and finally to holding real spiders Their fear of spiders is thus brought to
extinction by gradual exposure This cognitivebehavioral therapy technique is considered one of
the most effective in clinical psychology today It is used to help people become comfortable
with all kinds of stressors including things like elevators dogs knives and public speaking
As the last three exercises have illustrated you can apply the same principle to the
simplest of behaviors If you can maintain diaphragmatic breathing while you gradually and
systematically perform actions that would normally increase your breathing rate you can
habituate to these stressors and reprogram the way your breathing system relates to them
Taking this a step further you can even desensitize yourself to your attempts at assuming
dominant or optimal postures that would normally cause you to breathe shallowly
The rest of this books exercises are intended to be performed with paced diaphragmatic
breathing guided by a breath metronome This is done to make every nonsubmissive posture a
safe and fun place to be Having spent more than ten years pairing hundreds of different
activities with diaphragmatic breathing am sharing the ones that benefited my clients and me
the most Below is the fundamental diaphragmatic breathing exercise that would like you to
combine with every other exercise and activity in the remainder of this book please note that
Exercise from Chapter can be used as an alternative to breathing with a metronome
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Breathing Exercise Paced Breathing to Combine with Exercises
Set your breathing metronome to your target breathing rate which for most people
should be at least four seconds in and six seconds out Follow the metronomes prompts
Breathe deep full breaths If you can breathe through your nose Breathe slowly
smoothly and at a steady rate Breathe assertively
Heres a way to quickly and easily get a sense of just how powerful generalized
diaphragmatic breathing can be am going to ask you to do a deep backbend without paced
breathing and then again with it Lie down on your stomach on a carpet bed or soft surface
Then use your arms to lift your torso off the ground while your legs and hips lie flat performing
a gentle upward dog pose Notice how shallow and irregular your breathing becomes when
you do a backbend Lie back down and imagine what it would take for you to improve your
upward dog Lots of time and effort right Years of yoga training Not quite
Spend five minutes practicing the paced breathing method in Exercise above Now try
the upward dog again The position should be easier to hold and less stressful to perform
Your back should feel supported and safe rather than exposed and vulnerable and you should
have a sense that you are stretching and strengthening your lower back rather than straining it
The reason this works so well is that diaphragmatic breathing affects muscles directly Chapter
will address how distressed breathing makes muscles throughout your body close down with
tension while diaphragmatic breathing makes them receptive to being toned
Every time you repeat a breathing exercise you make innumerable cellular and molecular