Freshen up your lungs to alleviate stress and toxins

For those who practice yoga and Pilates, deep breathing is the main focus. This helps to clear out toxins that may have built up in the lungs, which will help improve lung performance and clear airways. Deep breathing gets more nourishing oxygen into your body. Blood that is rich in oxygen will help you feel better and give you more energy – it is impossible to be healthy if you’re not getting enough oxygen.

Although the lungs are not muscles, they can be exercised and failing to exercise the lungs can impact the respiratory system. To help prevent chest infections and viruses, deep breathing is so necessary as air can remain in the tissues of the lungs and become stale, hindering fresh oxygen from finding its way into the bloodstream.

Breathing exercises from Dr. Edward (founder of the Global Healing Centre) to practice every day:

Find a relaxing and quiet place to sit down. Close your eyes and begin by breathing in deeply through your nose from your belly up. Count to five, inhaling the entire time. Even when you think you can’t inhale any more, try to squeeze a little more air in. Allow your lungs and stomach to fully inflate. This enables oxygen to reach the deepest depths of your lungs to inflate all the alveoli and break up any toxins and pollutants that may have accumulated. Hold your breath for several seconds and then exhale over the course of another count to five. When you think you can’t exhale any more, keep blowing from the deepest depths of your lungs and stomach! You should feel your chest and abdomen flatten inward. Repeat this breathing exercise 10 times. If this feels too much to start with, repeat 5 times and slowly build it up.

Performing this exercise on a daily basis will not only help cleanse your lungs, but it also helps relieve stress and it won’t take long before you notice positive improvements. As they say, practice makes perfect and perfecting your breathing techniques is essential for a healthy life.