Carolyn Gregoire Aug 09, 2013
Thebest way to calmdown isso innate to our lives, we often take it for granted: Taking a breath.
Focusing on your own breathing canhave a significant impact on your well-being and stress levels, and can even create physiological changes like lowering your blood pressure. But for many of us, when it comesto improving our health, changing our breathing somehow doesn’t springto mind asreadily aschanging our diet or exercise habits.
"We take our breath for granted the way we take our heart beat for granted," Carla Ardito, a breathing expert at Manhattan’sIntegral Yoga Institute and creator of the Breathing Lessons app, told The Huffington Post. "Thedifferenceis we can work on our breathing."
And there’splenty of precedent. For thousands of years, theyogic practice of pranayama (Sanskrit for "extension of the life-force") has been used as a method geared towardsreducing stressand healing the body and mind throughtargeted breathing exercises.
Check out the infographic below for seven health benefitsof focusing on your breathing.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3696302/
Infographicby Jan Diehm for the Huffington Post.
