Breath per minute

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Number of breath per minute I read is about 20 for a normal person.

I counted mine is about 30.

What does that tell ?

Expert advise needed.

#2

How to slow down breath rate ?

any asanas or pranayam

#3

A normal person in stress-less environment breathes 12 to 18 times. But, one needs to understand this:

  1. Breathing is a body’s mechanism of drawing in the required volume of air and expelling the waste. If breathing is shallow it is compensated by rapid breath
  2. Shallow breathing results when people accumulate so much fat around the belly or remain tense by tightening the gutts that the area around the diaphragm becomes rigid and immobile. Correct breathing needs breathing from the chest as well the diaphragm.
  3. Shallow breathing is often accompanied by erratic breathing, where breath is suspended under extreme stress and becomes rapid under excitement.
  4. Asana or Pranayama is no pill, any improvement in the rate and rhythm of breath will come from a sustained and consistent effort over considerable period of time. Abuse of many years cannot be undone in days.
  5. Breathing and emotions go hand in hand. Regulated breathing will need less emotional and stressful lifestyle.
  6. Any breathing exercises should be started moderately and extended gradually. Any force out of eagerness or bravado will be short-sighted.
#4

Thanks Suhas.

What do you mean by abuse many years ? mean not breathing properly over the years ?

#5

Yes, perhaps the right word would be “ill-used”. Shallow, erratic and ‘chest-only’ breathing happens under emotional stress. Also when we don’t know how to regulate breathing, we let it remain autonomous and at the mercy of the stress. This happens because the lower part of the brain that controls autonomous functions like heart, metabolisms and breathing is highly adaptive. It takes the wrong breathing and automates it. So, the abdomenal muscles, lungs, related veins, everything is transformed into a reflex ‘wrong’ breathing pattern and thus we continue to breathe wrong even when the immediate cause of the stress goes away.

#6

Got it. Thanks Suhas!

Valuable info.

I play lots of soccer. Don’t know that rapid breathing brain took as norm :slight_smile:

#7

“Suhas Tumbe” has already well adrressed on your first question-What does that means(breath rate 30 per minutes)? It is true that asanas and pranayamas are not pill, but some asanas and pranayamas can be safely to reduce breath rate to normal. They should not be considered as scientifically varified medicine or substitute in all cases with increased breath rate.
It is sure that some asanas and pranayamas are help to improve function of parasympathetic nervous system and slow down the function of sympathetic nervous system. As their result, it inevitable to observe slow breath rate, slow pulse rate and reduced blood pressure, etc. However, in order to see effect of such asanas and pranayamas, it is important is to practice them regularly for first two to six, once to twice a day.
In asanas, restorative asanas, such as shavasan (corpus pose), suptamakarsana (lying on abdomen-crocodile pose), upvishtha balasna (sitting child pose), suptabalasana (lying on abdomen child pose), supta baddhakonasana, etc are beneficial.
In pranayamas, basic form of breathing exercises such as three step deep breathing-chest breathing, abdominal breathing and yogic breathing, equalized breathing, ujjai breathing are helpful.

#8

Thanks Vijay for helpful suggestions !