Jun 414 min read

Relaxation & Deep Breathing

Updated: Sep 26

I Will Be Presenting A Complete Guide to Relaxation Techniques & The

Benefits Of Breathing Deep To You Our Reader’s!

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Breath in the Bible is far more than the physical exchange of air in and out of the lungs though. It is one of the most profound symbols in scripture. Breath in both the New Testament Greek and the Old Testament Hebrew is equated with God's Spirit.

Inhale: God with us. Exhale: Still, always. Inhale: Give me an imagination for healing, Exhale: You are the Creator and Sustainer of our restoration.

Deep Breathing Podcast

WHAT

The discipline of Breath prayer is repeating a simple one-sentence prayer throughout the day that is connected to your breathing. It often begins with a biblical name of God that is meaningful to you; followed with a word or phrase expressing your deep God-given desire.

WHY

It is in Jesus Christ that “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:29). In the fast paced world in which we live, the powerful ability to center ourselves in a simple, intimate prayer to God can bring calm and an awareness of His presence and power.

HOW

Breath prayer can be done anytime and anywhere! Choose a sentence or Scripture verse that is meaningful to you to pray and as you say the first part of the sentence, inhale deeply. Then as you say the second part, fully exhale.

Here are some examples:

The traditional “Jesus Prayer” – “Jesus, Son of God (inhale), have mercy on me, a sinner (exhale).”
“My soul (inhale), glorifies the Lord (exhale)” (Luke 1:46)
“My soul finds rest (inhale), in God alone (exhale)” (Psalm 62:1)
“Loving Shepherd (inhale), lead me by still waters (exhale)” (Psalm 23)
“You are my Light & Salvation (inhale), I am safe in Your dwelling (exhale)” (Psalm 27)
“The Lord is my strength (inhale), my heart will trust in Him (exhale)” (Psalm 28:7)

FIRST STEP

Your first step is to decide what your breath prayer will be. Once you choose to pray the Jesus Prayer or some other scriptural breath prayer, take a deep breath and begin!

Matthew 6

Now FYI Guys:

This Information Has Been

Medically Reviewed byGrant Chu, MD

April 15, 2023

From Every Day Health

Deep breathing slows down your heart rate, allows the body to take in more oxygen and ultimately signals the brain to wind down. It also balances your hormones- lowering down cortisol levels, increasing endorphin rush in the body. Following a simple deep breathing regime- '5-4-3-2-1' can guarantee better sleep.Sep

Breathing is essential to life because our bodies require oxygen to function; moving your muscles, digesting food, and even reading these words are all body processes that require oxygen. Breathing also helps the body get rid of carbon dioxide, which is created as a waste product of these processes.

Benefits of Deep Breathing

* Decreases stress, increases calm. ...

* Relieves pain. ...

* Stimulates the lymphatic system (Detoxifies the body). ...

* Improves immunity. ...

* Increases energy. ...

* Lowers blood pressure. ...

* Improves digestion. ...

* Helps support correct posture.

* lowering your heart rate.

* regulating blood pressure.

* helping you relax.

* decreasing the release of the stress hormone cortisol.

*Promotes Healing

“There is an intentionality to deep breathing; you’re really trying to fill your lungs with air. In most cases, you’re not getting that when you are breathing normally,” says Yufang Lin, MD, a doctor at the Center for Integrative Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Health System in Ohio. If your breath is shallow, you may be imposing stress on your body unintentionally, or the stress you feel may be contributing to shallow breathing.

When we’re deep breathing, though, the breath naturally slows down, says Dr. Bell. “When sitting down or doing a nonstrenuous activity, most people, on average, breathe in for about two seconds and breathe out for two seconds,” he says. That’s about what a typical respiration rate is when we’re not really consciously thinking about our breath.

Deep breathing requires you to relax your abdominal region while you take a deep breath in, says Megan Elizabeth Riehl, PsyD, a clinical assistant professor and health psychologist at University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor. “We are more slowly filling the lungs with air as we breathe in and allowing the lungs to expand, which will move the diaphragm [as it contracts]. At the exhale, we release all the air out” as the diaphragm relaxes and the chest wall recoils, she says. In focusing our awareness on this process, we can slow our breathing pattern.

Controlling the breath can be part of a yoga or mindfulness practice, but breath-focused meditation doesn’t have to be deep breathing, says Dr. Riehl. “Some yoga breathing can be similar to diaphragmatic breathing, but it can sometimes be very different. For example, [for] some breathing patterns in yoga, you are supposed to keep your mouth closed.

https://www.wefithealthwellness.studio/post/supplication-meditation

In diaphragmatic breathing or deep breathing, you typically are encouraged to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

“Breath-focused meditation can be an entry point of bringing you to a mindful place, accepting the present moment for what it is. Your breath is the one true thing that is present in the moment — you can’t breathe ahead, and you can’t breathe backwards,”. Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow isn’t promised, Today is the present!

“In meditation or guided relaxation, oftentimes the practice will begin with an awareness of your breath as you breathe in and out, but you might not practice deep breathing or change anything about your breath pattern,”.

“It might just be an invitation to pay attention to or notice: Are you breathing quickly or slowly? Is it shallow or deep? That aspect of mindfulness or starting a meditation is a little bit different from intentionally practicing diaphragmatic breathing,”.

“Stress can shift our breathing,” . “We can become shallow breathers in the face of stress or tension.”

This usually has to do with our body’s sympathetic arousal, which can be activated in times of stress.

This is also known as the “fight or flight response,” and the release of hormones can drive up our breathing rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. This response prepares the body to survive a real or perceived threat, so whether there’s a car swerving at you or you’re going to talk to your partner about your relationship concerns, the body’s sympathetic system responds similarly.

Shallow breathing can lead to physical tension in different parts of your body, including your shoulders, jaw, hands, or back.

“That tension also is associated with increased GI distress. Overall, it can have a snowball effect — stress might trigger more shallow breathing, and then the physical effects can lead to more stress,”.

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We’re all born as deep breathers.

“Think about a sleeping infant. Their little bellies rise and fall slowly and peacefully — you can see that really clearly,”.

When we move out of infancy and begin to move and run around more, we shift from being belly breathers or deeper breathers to breathing from our chest more.

Chest breathing still gets the job done of moving the air through our lungs, but the breath tends to be shorter and more shallow.

“For most of us, when we’re engaged in our everyday breathing, we’re just breathing using the upper half or top third of our lungs. When you take a deep breath in, your chest is rising, but for most people, your abdomen is not moving at all,”.

Abdominal breathing starts in the nose and moves to the stomach as the diaphragm contracts, causing the belly to expand and the lungs to fill with air. Compared with chest breathing, abdominal breathing not only brings in more oxygen, but it’s also more efficient, because it pulls down on the lungs. The negative pressure in the chest cavity that is created with breathing in is enhanced, resulting in more air flowing into the lungs.

A key benefit of deep breathing is that it can help manage stress, which is a contributor to many health conditions.

While research results on deep breathing vary, experts agree deep breathing is safe for most people to try.

Whether done alone, as a meditation, or in combination with a movement practice like yoga, this complementary approach may be worth trying if you are dealing with a health condition.

For instance, deep breathing may help you manage or improve:

Gastrointestinal (GI) conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by lowering levels of stress and anxiety[3]
High blood pressure[4]
Mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as sleep disorders like insomnia, by lowering stress and promoting relaxation[5]
Pelvic floor problems, such as overactive bladder, by lowering perceived stress[6]
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by improving air circulation and quality of life with COPD,[7] and helping with hyperventilation, lung function, and quality of life in mild to moderate asthma[8]
Skin conditions, including eczema (atopic dermatitis), possibly by reducing inflammation[9] and psoriasis flares[10]
Autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and lupus, by promoting heart rate variability, considered a sign of heart health[11]
Neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, which can cause dysphagia and breathing issues at advanced stages,[12] and migraine[13]
Hot flashes, which are associated with rapid heart rate, and other potentially stressful symptoms of perimenopause [14]
High blood sugar levels and oxidative stress, which contribute to disease progression in type 2 diabetes
Recovery from COVID-19, because it can help boost lung capacity, improve diaphragm function, and lessen stress levels associated with the novel coronavirus.

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Riehl has witnessed the benefits of deep breathing among her patients with GI conditions, which include IBS and ulcerative colitis. The way the diaphragm moves in deep breathing can allow for a reduction in tension in the digestive tracts, she says. “This can aid digestion and help with GERD(gastroesophageal reflux disease) symptoms, constipation, and diarrhea,” says Riehl.

In the scheme of interventions, deep breathing is very low risk.

“Sometimes, people will say when they are learning diaphragmatic breathing that they can feel a little light-headed. That’s because they are putting more oxygen in their bodies than they are typically used to,” and levels of carbon dioxide are lowered. It might make you feel different from how you typically feel when you breathe, but it’s not dangerous in any capacity, If you have any concerns or discomfort, such as pain or excessive light-headedness, when starting a deep breathing technique, consult your healthcare team or meditation coach.

Here are a few biblical references to help guide and ground your faith.

“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.”

Acts 17:29 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/act.17.29.KJV

“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,”

Luke 1:46 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.1.46.KJV

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: From him cometh my salvation.”

Psalm 62:1 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.62.1.KJV

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

Psalm 23:1-6 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.23.1-6.KJV

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, They stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up, Above mine enemies round about me: Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me; Put not thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take me up. Teach me thy way, O LORD, And lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: For false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Psalm 27:1-14 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.27.1-14.KJV

“Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, Which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavours: Give them after the work of their hands; Render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, He shall destroy them, and not build them up. Blessed be the LORD, Because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. The LORD is their strength, And he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: Feed them also, and lift them up for ever.”

Psalm 28:1-9 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.28.1-9.KJV

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Matthew 6:1-34 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.1-34.KJV

Our Father’s Prayer

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

Matthew 6:9-13 KJV

https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.9-13.KJV