Most of us are unaware of the breath, although it is such an inextricable part of our life. Since we do not breathe consciously, we are not aware of the quality of our breath. While we are young, other systems of our body take care of the inadequacies in our breathing style. However, once the aging process starts, there is a manifold progression of the symptoms caused by the wrong way of breathing. So before we proceed to identify the various ways of correcting our breath, we need to know the qualities of a good breath. There are six qualities of a good breath:
1) NASAL – Nasal breathing is the best route because of the protective measures of the nose. Due to the mucus secretions and ciliary actions, the foreign particulate matter is trapped and not allowed to enter the respiratory system. On top of that, because of the increased surface area (turbinates), the air inhaled is made warm before entering the lungs.
2) NOISELESS – Our breathing should be noiseless. Noiselessness means that it is smooth and not forceful. Noisy breathing means that either it is done forcefully, or that there is some mechanical obstruction. It needs to be rectified and made smooth.
3) NO PAUSES – There should be no pause between inhalation and exhalation, and similarly no pause should be there between exhalation and inhalation. It should be a smooth switch-over from inhalation to exhalation and vice versa. Pauses are indicative of a current disease or the onset of one.
4) RHYTHMICAL– It has to be rhythmical, without any irregularities.
5) SMOOTH– It should be smooth without any jerks. Jerkiness signifies disturbance in the Pranic movements in the body as well as deranged ventilation perfusion.
6) 1:2 BREATH– The ratio of inhalation and exhalation should be 1:2. This means that exhalation has to be twice the duration of inhalation. Most of us have an exhalation that is much shorter than inhalation. The initial aim should be to make it at least 1:1, and gradually increase it to 1:2.
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