Dr Ela Manga is an Integrative Medical Physician and breathwork practitioner and a co-founder of Breathwork Africa. Ela is dedicated to sharing breathwork on the African continent and additional afield. Her built-in and acutely aware method to wellness, alongside her distinctive give attention to breathwork has been a catalyst for therapeutic and alter throughout many communities and sectors from enterprise to schooling.
Right here she shares 5 postures for practising breathwork…
Sitting cross legged on ground arms in prayer
The cross-legged place naturally encourages an upright backbone when completed correctly. This vertical alignment opens the chest cavity and prevents the collapse that happens when slouching, giving the lungs extra space to increase totally. The prayer hand place additional reinforces this by drawing the shoulders again and opening the chest.
Sitting in hero’s pose on ground with one hand on stomach and the opposite on coronary heart
The hand placement creates a direct suggestions system. Your stomach hand displays diaphragmatic motion whereas your coronary heart hand tracks chest growth. This tactile consciousness helps you distinguish between shallow chest respiration and deeper stomach respiration, naturally guiding you towards extra full breath cycles. Along with your hand on the stomach, you possibly can really feel whether or not your diaphragm is actively participating. Correct diaphragmatic respiration ought to trigger the stomach to softly rise on inhalation and fall on exhalation, whereas the chest stays comparatively steady. The hand suggestions helps retrain this sample should you’ve developed shallow respiration habits.
Sitting in hero’s pose doing alternate nostril respiration
Alternate nostril respiration particularly targets the autonomic nervous system by alternating stimulation between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. The precise nostril is related to sympathetic activation (alertness), whereas the left connects to parasympathetic dominance (leisure). This alternating sample helps steadiness these techniques, resulting in extra regulated, environment friendly respiration patterns. The approach requires sustained consideration to coordinate finger positioning, nostril switching, and breath timing. This concentrated focus naturally slows and deepens respiration whereas coaching exact breath management. Hero’s pose offers the steady basis wanted for this degree of coordination with out bodily distraction.
Sitting cross legged doing buzzing bee breath
The buzzing vibration immediately stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs by means of the throat space. This activation triggers a powerful parasympathetic response, naturally slowing coronary heart fee and selling deeper, extra rhythmic respiration patterns. The vagus nerve is vital to the mind-body connection that regulates optimum respiration. The cross-legged place mixed with inside vibrations creates heightened proprioceptive consciousness. The steady seated place means that you can focus solely on the respiration approach whereas the vibrations present each physiological advantages and a focusing level for sustained apply.
Standing posture for breath and voice
When standing upright to talk, your physique naturally engages diaphragmatic respiration relatively than shallow chest respiration. The steady base created by your ft permits the diaphragm to maneuver freely downward on inhalation, creating the deep breath reservoir wanted to help sustained speech. You possibly can really feel how slouching or poor posture instantly compromises this breath help. This posture primarily turns your total physique right into a wind instrument, exhibiting how optimum respiration offers the inspiration for efficient voice use.
