How to Breathe Intentionally

You may be wondering why I decided to write about this topic, and what it to wrote about it. After all, breathing is the simplest most thing in our life that comes automatically to you. It is both effortless and vital. Though it is automatic, I can tell you that there are layers to it, even though we often do not see them. Still, when it is an automatic, effortless process, how can we breathe intentionally?

A simple process of inhale and exhale is called breathing. But what do we inhale or exhale? We inhale and exhale air, we inhale and exhale energy, and we inhale and exhale intentions. I am not set out to train you how to breath, for we all know how to breath. I also not going to explain about what we breath or what happens when we breath (that I will cover in other post). Instead, I am here to put forward the introduction, process, and benefits of the intentional breathing.

So what is intentional breathing? Simply put, intentional breathing is a process of paying attention to each step of breathing, no matter how effortless it is. It is a process of being aware of our breathing such as, nature of breathing, pace of breathing. We will start small and we will start with the simple steps.

For easy understanding, I have broken the topic into 3 sections:

1. Prepare for intentional breathing

2. How to do intentional breathing

3. What to expect

Prepare for intentional breathing

1. Find a minimum of 5-10 minutes time slot any time, any day,

2. Focus only on breathing, nothing else, and

3. Find a space without disturbance of interference.

Follow these simple steps for breath intentionally:

1. Pay attention to your inhales and exhales. Do not overthink and keep it simple.

2. Pay attention to the duration of your inhales and exhales.

3. Pay attention to the changes in the air you breath.

4. Pay attention to the changes in the body when you breath.

5. Pay attention to the changes in the mind.

What to expect

1. The mind will drift to thoughts, imagination, possibilities, experiences, past, future, and so on. It is expected to do so, don’t get bogged down by this,

2. You will notice different sensations in the body while breathing; some of the sensations may trigger you to take your attention away, do not give up.

3. You may notice that the distractions are getting better off you, persist with your practice and you will overcome the obstacles.

4. Your mind may make excuses not to do intentional breathing. Try to insist and follow a schedule.

5. You may be too eager and expect changes too soon. Do not expect, just follow the practice and observe. Change is happening every time you breath, you will notice sooner or later. With time, impact will become larger.

6. Do not be hard on yourself if not able to meet your expectations for the frequency, duration, quality, and effectiveness of your efforts.

7. Secret tip is to think of it as your time to acknowledge, appreciate and be grateful for it.

Now that you have read through, you may find it very similar to meditation. It is both meditation as well as start of the meditation. For now, please do not worry about the meditation, just focus on intentional breathing.

Finally, you may ask what is the benefit of intentional breathing. Well, the benefits range from spiritual and mental to physical and material. This one small practice has the power to change everything in and around you.

So please let go of your excuses, apprehensions, and reasonings for not doing it, and get started with it to reap the manifold benefit this practice can bring.

I wish you all the best for your journey! 🙏