We all know the power of yoga; it reduces stress, cures diseases, keeps a person happy, and most importantly while performing yoga, an individual communicates with his own body. One major yoga practice is breathing techniques which help you to relax. Deep breathing is very helpful and has been proved successful in decreasing stress in a person. As you breathe deeply, fresh air goes into the lungs and also affects the brain in positive ways, making it calm and relaxed. This is also useful for massage therapists as they also go through many respiratory conditions. They can also join massage therapy courses to get more detailed knowledge of this.

Five effective breathing techniques

Here are some effective breathing techniques that massage therapists can especially use. You can also go through massage therapy courses for more.

• Pursued lip breathing

People with different respiratory conditions can consider this practice. This is a form of pulmonary rehabilitation practice. This may help with COPD or asthma; such condition weakens the lungs and makes the patient hard to take off the unwanted air out of the lungs. And due to unwanted air remaining inside the diaphragm is hampered. 

• Buddha’s breath

This is the easiest breathing technique to practice. This practice can bring some powerful effects such as relaxation, peaceful mind, oxygenated blood; these are some factors that can’t be denied at any cost. In this activity, you have to inhale air deep in the abdomen and then breathe to go in your ribs while inhaling to fill your lungs with air. While exhaling, you should gently contract the abdomen, expelling air from the bottom at first, and then allow the chest area to become empty. This is also given several names, such as yogic breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, and belly breathing. 

• Buddhist vase breathing 

This technique involves complex breathing and is the feature of several ancient cultures, which include qigong, tantra, hatha yoga, and also some martial art types. This is known to propel the person into a deep awareness state, and it generates intense heat in the human body. One has to push the inhaled air through the lower side of the abdomen, simultaneously going up the pelvic floor. Here one should hold the breath as long as possible and then slowly try to release it. Also called tummo.

• White tiger technique

It is an old Daoist technique to breathe, which is similar to the Buddhist vase technique. It relies on Daoist principles; it matches the macrocosm and microcosm with I-Ching. This contains water and fire and also martial fire breathing and golden elixir. This technique is generally taught by tutorials under supervision because, if done wrong can be hazardous for one’s health. This is also called the white tiger and green dragon breathing technique.

• Golden elixir technique

This also helps to enhance other breathing techniques by the strength and healing power of saliva. This practice was once secret in Chinese qigong. It is now broadly used in medical qigong. This technique is taught in white tiger for use in primordial breathing qigong. In this technique, one has to generate saliva, inhale and then swallow. It goes to low Dan Tian on exhalation.