Think about the last time you were looking forward to something really exciting. Did your breathing speed up? Could you feel your heart in your chest? Did you gasp in surprise or delight? Did the moment quite literally take your breath away?

Now think about the last time you felt anxious about something, or afraid. Did your breathing speed up? Could you feel your heart in your chest? Did you gasp in shock, horror or outrage? Did the moment lock up your muscles, causing you to hold yourself so tightly that even your breathing ceased?

Good or bad, high or low, our emotions are intimately connected to our breathing. We reveal our inner state by the way we breathe. Every feeling, every experience we have affects our breathing. And the reverse is also true: The way we breathe affects our experiences and the way we process our emotions. …

Breathing well is arguably the most important thing you can do for your health. Without breath, there is no life at all. It is for this reason that human beings from earliest times have connected the life force within to the breath. Before the advent of machines that register precisely when the brain dies, the moment of death was the moment one stopped breathing.

In religious belief systems such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the breath of God is a powerful, life-giving force. We have images of God forming humans by hand and breathing into their lungs to impart life. We are inspired by religious scriptures and writings, including those of St. Paul, that use words such as the Greek term theopneustos, which means “God-breathed” or “breathed out by God.” And in [many] spiritual practices …we see focused breathing used as a tool to bring one into a state of meditation—that calm, clear, focused state of alpha brain wave patterns that is so beneficial to our health and well-being.

… Breathing is a wellness practice that is absolutely free! You can practice intentional deep breathing anywhere and anytime. Deep breathing affects every system of the body in positive ways.

Practical Tips for Your Journey

• …Breathe in deeply, expanding your diaphragm fully (your tummy will push out) and expanding your intercostal muscles (you can feel them stretch wider). Make your inhalation last three seconds.
• Then breathe out deeply, pushing the air all the way out (your diaphragm will squeeze upward, toward your heart, and your intercostal muscles will pull together). Make your exhalation last three seconds.
• Then begin again, with no pause between breaths. Hold your hands over your lower abdomen to feel the rise and fall of your belly.
• When you're practicing deep breathing, it can be helpful to visualize the exhalation as starting from the center of your brow and washing down over your body like a waterfall. Visualize the exhalation as the emotions or negative energy you need to release.

When You Are Stressed, Angry or Anxious

• To release plenty of carbon dioxide, and also to blow off steam (meaning, this is good to do when you are stressed, angry or anxious), make your inhalation significantly shorter than your exhalation.
• You can do it slowly, say by inhaling for a three-count and exhaling for a 12-count. You can also do it quickly, inhaling for a quick one-count and exhaling for a two-count, all through your nose, and then, in a movement sometimes called Breath of Fire, pushing hard on the exhalation with your diaphragm.
• If you're practicing Breath of Fire, begin with 10 breaths, then increase over time. Be careful not to hyperventilate. And be sure to have some tissue handy, because this one really cleans out your nose too!

Focus on Stillness

• If you want to focus on stillness, make the pauses between your inhalations and exhalations last the same amount of time as your inhalations and exhalations. So you would count, for example, inhale-2-3, pause-2-3, exhale-2-3, pause-2-3. Try to cycle more and more slowly.
• [Notice] what surfaces emotionally for you in the times of no breath, the times of silence?

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