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 strategy 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 training.
Right here she shares 5 postures for practising breathwork…
Sitting cross legged on flooring arms in prayer
The cross-legged place naturally encourages an upright backbone when achieved correctly. This vertical alignment opens the chest cavity and prevents the collapse that happens when slouching, giving the lungs more room to increase absolutely. The prayer hand place additional reinforces this by drawing the shoulders again and opening the chest.
Sitting in hero’s pose on flooring with one hand on stomach and the opposite on coronary heart
The hand placement creates a direct suggestions system. Your stomach hand screens diaphragmatic motion whereas your coronary heart hand tracks chest growth. This tactile consciousness helps you distinguish between shallow chest respiratory and deeper stomach respiratory, naturally guiding you towards extra full breath cycles. Together with your hand on the stomach, you may really feel whether or not your diaphragm is actively participating. Correct diaphragmatic respiratory ought to trigger the stomach to softly rise on inhalation and fall on exhalation, whereas the chest stays comparatively secure. The hand suggestions helps retrain this sample in case you’ve developed shallow respiratory habits.
Sitting in hero’s pose doing alternate nostril respiratory
Alternate nostril respiratory particularly targets the autonomic nervous system by alternating stimulation between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. The proper nostril is related to sympathetic activation (alertness), whereas the left connects to parasympathetic dominance (rest). This alternating sample helps steadiness these programs, resulting in extra regulated, environment friendly respiratory patterns. The approach requires sustained consideration to coordinate finger positioning, nostril switching, and breath timing. This concentrated focus naturally slows and deepens respiratory whereas coaching exact breath management. Hero’s pose offers the secure basis wanted for this degree of coordination with out bodily distraction.
Sitting cross legged doing buzzing bee breath
The buzzing vibration straight stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs via the throat space. This activation triggers a robust parasympathetic response, naturally slowing coronary heart fee and selling deeper, extra rhythmic respiratory patterns. The vagus nerve is essential to the mind-body connection that regulates optimum respiratory. The cross-legged place mixed with inner vibrations creates heightened proprioceptive consciousness. The secure seated place means that you can focus fully on the respiratory approach whereas the vibrations present each physiological advantages and a focusing level for sustained observe.
Standing posture for breath and voice
When standing upright to talk, your physique naturally engages diaphragmatic respiratory slightly than shallow chest respiratory. The secure base created by your toes permits the diaphragm to maneuver freely downward on inhalation, creating the deep breath reservoir wanted to assist sustained speech. You possibly can really feel how slouching or poor posture instantly compromises this breath assist. This posture basically turns your whole physique right into a wind instrument, exhibiting how optimum respiratory offers the inspiration for efficient voice use.
