Diaphragmatic Breathing
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
This is the most important type of breathing. Lie down on your back and put your palm on your belly and the other on the chest. As you inhale, the lower edge of the rib cage, the abdomen should expand and the chest should move very little. As you exhale, the belly should move more than the chest. By practicing this type of breath daily, and checking yourself as you go through your day, this will eventually become automatic. This is the way children breathe until they begin to shut down their openness.
Diaphragmatic breathing can be practiced lying down, sitting up, or standing. If lying down, palms should be upward and legs should be slightly apart. This lying down position is called shavasana (corpse posture).
There should be no external sound as you inhale and exhale. Diaphragmatic breathing decreases the breath rate automatically. You will find that you inhale and exhale less often in a minute than you do when you do chest breathing, but you will feel more energized and balanced.
Diaphragmatic breathing is the most efficient kind of yoga breathing. When practicing the yogic breathing technique of diaphragm breathing we are getting the most oxygen intake into the blood. Also known as abdominal breathing, the relaxation breathing technique of deep breathing is a central part of pranayama yoga in yoga meditation. The breathing exercise of pranayama breathing can best be practiced with the aid of a yoga instructor. The benefits of pranayama can be experienced through pranayama exercises known as pranayama asana or meditation breathing. A yoga retreat may be the best place to begin the breathwork of pranayama techniques.