To be aware of the different types of breathing, find a suitably quiet room which is at a comfortable temperature. Sit comfortably in an upright position in an armchair with your head and back supported. Let your shoulders drop. It may help to close your eyes. It is important to relax when practising your breathing.
Top or Apical breathing •
Move your hands to the very top of your chest.
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Breathe gently twice, causing your hands to lift.
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You may be able to feel tightness there.
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Now try to drop your shoulders.
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Sigh out to empty your lungs then take in a breath.
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Keep your hand on top of your chest and monitor it, trying all the time to relax and drop your shoulders.
Once you are aware of breathing with the top part of your lungs you can gradually learn how to bring your breathing further down into your chest. This can be difficult at first and will take practice.
Lower Rib or Lateral Costal breathing -:
When you feel ready, try to drop your breathing further into your chest.
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Relax and drop your shoulders.
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Turn your hands inwards, putting your knuckles on either side of your chest wall above your waist (lower rib area).
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Sigh out, then in your own time, breath in and out gently, so you can feel the chest wall moving in and out. This makes for more efficient respiration as more lung volume is used.
When you are aware of breathing in the lower rib area, the final step is learning to breathe from your diaphragm which is the muscle partition that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. The diaphragm pushes your lungs up and down. Diaphragmatic breathing is the most efficient form of breathing for your body. It uses all the lung volume.
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