It’s simple. Everything you’re doing is based one single thing: Breathing. You can live weeks without food (although of course, who would want that?!). You can stay alive for days without water. But you can only spare your breath for seconds. Maybe a minute or two if you’re good. Breathing is so powerful that I believe this simple key technique that I’m going to share it with you in just a moment should be taught to everyone in Kindergarten. In just five minutes I’ll teach you to improve your breathing (and life!) fundamentally. Here’s a quick test: Inhale deeply now! If you’re like 99.9999% of the people (including myself two years ago), you’ll most likely inhale quickly sucking all air into your upper lungs and pulling your belly in. If you you look anything like Superman with a puffed up chest when trying to inhale deeply, well, we’ve got some work to. (In fact, trying to get air into your body this way works against the way your lungs are designed!) It’s all good though. Breathing correctly is simple. You’ll learn the secret quickly. And we’ll do it right now. I first learned this technique during the most rigorous Yoga and Meditation teacher training currently in existence. (I’ll write more about this in later articles.) Since then, I’ve completed intense 40, 90 and 120 day meditations (All of which I’m looking forward to sharing with you soon, too!) and studied dozens and dozens of breathing techniques. At the core, they all were based on the ability to breathe long and deep. Breathing long and deep has many, many benefits. It relaxes and calms you when you’re stressed. It stimulates your thinking and makes you more alert. It energizes you, and increases your vitality naturally. So. If you learn and remember one thing you ever read from me this is it. You’ll be able to quickly calm yourself anytime, anywhere. You will be able to cool your mind when things get hot. You will have better focus and concentration when you need them. And you will be able to reduce your anxieties and increase your patience. When you know this secret to long deep breathing, everything else starts to fall into place. Imagine having that kind of focus and calmness available to you anytime at home, at work, with friends, while commuting, or travelling. Ready? Perfect. Let’s get started. **How to breathe long and deep:** 1. Sit up straight in your seat without leaning against the back. Give yourself 30 seconds just to ‘check in’ in this moment. (Later, you won’t need this anymore, but it’s good to start out with) 2. Put your left hand on your stomach and your right hand on your upper chest so you can get a good sense on where your breath moves inside your body (Also, this part is to get to know the technique and can be skipped when you do it again.) 3. To begin, simply observe your breath and mentally relax. It’s absolutely fine if your breath is shallow. Without using any muscles or intention, just observe your breathing. It’s totally fine if you’re just breathing into your upper lungs etc. Just notice and observe for about a minute or so. 4. Now, begin to notice your exhales. Bring your attention to your exhale. Notice your hands move during your exhale. 5. On the next exhale, when you are just about to inhale again, briefly stop, and squeeze out a little more air than you would usually do. Use your abdominal muscles for this. Your left hand should move towards your spine as you squeeze just the tiniest bit of extra air out by pulling your belly in a bit. 6. When you’ve squeezed out that air, relax your abdominal muscles and rib cage and let the air flow into your lungs with no effort. You’ll probably notice how different this inhale felt. So, let’s go again. 7. Focus and intention on your next exhale. Again, when you think you’ve completely exhaled, stop for a second and use your abdominal muscles to squeeze out more air. This time, gently squeeze, pause, squeeze some more…squeeze some more, even just the tiniest amount… Your left hand should have moved closer towards your spine with every little squeeze. Be gentle with yourself. 8. To inhale, relax your muscles and let the air flow in. Relax and feel how your lungs are expanding into your belly, your ribcage and upper lungs much more naturally now! 9. Lungs are full and ready to exhale? This time, start your exhale very consciously by first gently contracting your upper lungs, then slowly contracting the muscles of your ribcage. Finally, using your abdominal muscles to squeeze out the air at the end. Pause. Squeeze. Pause. Squeeze. 10. When you think you’ve squeezed all the air out, give it one more for good measure. 11. Relax the muscles of your torso and inhale by letting the air just flow in naturally. 12. Continue this pattern of an active and “mechanical” exhale (Step 9) and a completely relaxed inhale (Step 11) for 1 to 3 minutes. 13. To finish, inhale and hold your breath for about 5 seconds. Exhale and relax. Well done! If you can remember to actively squeeze some air out using your abdominal muscles at the end of your exhale… Congratulations! You have now learned the key to deep breathing. (Remember: You literally, technically and physiologically can not force a deep inhale due to how our lungs function.) And finally, I have a small challenge for you: Practise breathing deeply like this every day for 3 minutes for 1 week. I promise it will make you feel great and improve your life immediately. Also, it is the basis for all the cool meditations that are coming up soon!