This simple exercise can increase health and longevity

The Ancient Masters of India and Asia instructed and promoted the secrets to longevity and a healthy, energetic life. Those that adopted their wisdom and insights were rewarded with extra strength, clearer thinking, and many more years than their peers. Now you too can benefit from their knowledge.

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While it’s true that exercising the muscles through physical labor and walking is crucial as humans progressively grow older, and exercising the brain with challenges and new experiences is important, most modern day health enthusiastist are missing something that the Ancient Masters considered a foundation to good health and life itself: exercising the lungs.

Much attention is given by the spiritual adepts to breathing, breathjing exercises and the proper ways to breathe. The attention is merited because physiologically your life depends on breathing. The breath of life also floods your bloodstream and oxygenates the cells keeping them healthy and functioning optimally.

Although the lungs are one of the most important things to exercise, many Westerners today are unaware of breathing regimens and the importance to any overall health program.

the Lamas of Tibet incorporated breathing exercises into their rites for thousands of years, and the yogis of India claim that true spiritual insights cannot be achieved without the ability to breath properly.

Today’s Westerners are rediscovering the importance of breathing properly and how to exercise the lungs for maximum effect through the disciplines of yoga and Pilates.

Breathing exercises in the mountains

The foundations

Yoga is a very ancient health and spiritual discipline while Pilates was first practiced by patients of physical trainer Joseph Pilates.

During the 1920s Pilates created the exercise regimen known as ‘The Method’ for rehabiliation. Called Contrology, and while its primary purpose is a balanced body through muscular control and strength while focusing on the spinal alignment, Pilates also considered proper breathing to be a crucial element of the therapy.

Three basic elements make up the foundation of Pilate’s approach.

The first foundation is controlled breathing done 100 times.

Next is what Pilates dubbed The Swan. Especially helpful if you have a tendency toward taking short, shallow breathsn the breathing technique not only greatly increases lung capacity, but slao strengthens the chest and its ability to expand during inhalation.

Lastly, is a routine that works to increase the elastic quality of the small muscles surrounding the rib cage. Called The Standing Chest Expansion it’s done, as the name implies, while standing up.

The exercises are easy and can be done almost anywhere you have a few minutes of privacy. Video instructions for performing the lung improving exercises are available here and here.

Raise your arms from your body while inhaling very slowly

Increasing your lung capacity

See how long you can hold your breath. The longer you can hold it before exhaling and taking the next breath the better your lung capacity.

You can increase your lung capacity gradually over a period of time by timing each exercise with a clock that has a second hand, or a digital clock that displays seconds.

How long can you hold your breath?

Practice holding your breath on and off throughout each day and every day attempt to hold your breath just a few seconds longer. Over a period of weeks, you’ll find you may be able to hold your breath for as long as several minutes.

The Eastern Adepts have been known to hold their breath for longer than five minutes, while the islanders that dive for pearls off Japan and Tahiti are documented to stay underwater without breathing for as long as seven or eight minutes. You don’t need to match those records to achieve significant benefits derived from increased lung capacity.

If you like to swim and live near water or have a pool, you can use your swimming sessions to help increase lung capacity. Exercising in the water is not only good for the cardiovascular sysytem and keeps the muscles toned, but it can also help strengthyen the lungs. The reason why water helps is the pressure exerted when it covers the chest. Water compresses the diaphragm and boosts any workout and breathing regimen. Experts advise working out in water several times weekly for about 45-minutes. Doing so will help increase both endurance and lung capacity.

Taking control of your breathing

When people are told they must learn how to breathe, many are shocked, some laugh. After all, since birth everyone breathes, what’s to learn?

But there are proper ways of breathing and deletrious ways. Breathing correctly helps build and strengthen the chest muscles and also increases lung capacity. greater lung capacity leads to greater strength, endurance and overall health as it aids the cellular functioning, digestion, and boosts the efficiency of the auto-immune system. proper breathing also enhances brain functions.

Start your breathing exercises by exhaling completely. Try to make every bit of air in your lungs out. You won’t damage or collapse your lungs as they hold air you cannot expel.

Now, when you inhale breathe in through your nose as slowly and evenly as possible. You should slowly raise your arms away from the sides of your body while inhaling. This allows the maximum amount of air into the lungs.

Mentally count off ‘one-thousand-one, one-thosand two, one-thousand-three while inahling and do the same while exhaling. This is controlled breathing. Your brain is taking over control of a normally autonomic function. Do this exercise throughout the day for about five minutes each time.

Repeat the procedure in five minute increments throughout your waking day.

These simple exercises could add years of pleasure, strength, and happiness to your life.

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