Get An Energy Boost, With Just 4 Simple Breathing Exercises?

Then read along, because here are the exercises that wake up your body with a proper shot of energy 

Exercises that train your breathing

Warm-up and test yourself for the exercises by simply breathing, just as you usually do, and pay close attention to your breathing. Can you feel it in your throat, in your chest, all the way down to your stomach? 

What is the temperature of the air you breathe in and exhale again? 

Inhale through your nose, release through your mouth, and allow yourself to just feel and think about how you actually breathe. You will become better at noticing and listening to your body – and your body will also communicate much more when you start listening to it.

Exercise 1 – Let go

This exercise trains you to let go of the breathing and is a good warm-up for the subsequent exercises, because it also turns on your energy. 

It can be a difficult exercise because for many it can be hard to let go, but if it feels completely wrong or awkward, then what you are doing is probably exactly right! 

1. Stand up straight with your arms down at your sides. Bend your knees slightly so that you do not overstretch them and relax completely.
2. Inhale through your nose and release through your mouth. Make an “ahh” sound when you exhale. It can be difficult because many tense up the jaw, but try to open your mouth and relax your jaw, because that will send a signal to the brain to relax. Continue to inhale and release the exhalation.
3. Now make small micro-movements up and down with the knees to the point where you eventually stand straight up and “jump” a bit. Perhaps you will also be able to feel that the stomach relaxes and almost stands and “swells” or “waves”.

The goal is to make the body relax and let go. Do the exercise for 5-10 minutes.

Exercise 2 – Feel your Stomach

If you did not experience the ability to let go or feel a kind of energy with the previous exercise, you will almost certainly be able to feel something after this exercise, which is called the “samurai sword”, and which trains you to release the tension in your stomach.

1. Sit on a chair with a straight back. Inhale through your nose, then bend forward to force all the air out again on your exhalation.
2. Sit up again while holding your breath, but do not tense up your stomach. Now go exploring in your stomach with your fingers as if they were a large sword. Start at the navel and feel free to press.
3. Take a regular breath before re-exploring your stomach with the “sword” while holding your breath. Hold your pressures and let the pain and tension subside just as quietly. Repeat as many times as you like.
4. Your stomach should not be tense – but it is most stomachs. A healthy stomach is a soft stomach that can wave in and out, while a tense stomach is a sign that you are breathing too superficially. It is quite normal that it can hurt to press your fingers into a tense stomach, but you should not be afraid of “ruining” something.

Exercise 3 – Inner calm

In this exercise, you use nasal breathing and alternating breathing, where you breathe in and out through alternating right and left nostrils. 

In the nose are thousands of nerve endings, which are connected to the parasympathetic – calm – nervous system, so it gives more peace to breathe in through the nose. 

Nitric oxide is also released, which is a blood gas that helps oxygenate your blood 10-15 % better.

1. Let your right thumb and ring finger meet each other, almost like a peace sign, and let them close your nostrils while your middle fingers rest on your forehead. Close your mouth.
2. Start by closing the left nostril and breathe in through the right nostril for five and a half seconds. Then close the right nostril, and exhale through the left nostril for five and a half seconds.
3. Breathe in through the left nostril for five and a half seconds. Continue by closing off the left nostril and exhaling through the right nostril. Thereafter inhale through the right nostril, and exhale through the left nostril. Switch between inhalations and exhalations through the two nostrils for 5 minutes.
4. Your right nostril is connected to the left hemisphere – the logical, acting part – while your left nostril is connected to the right hemisphere, which is the creative one. You, therefore, balance the nervous system by this alternating breathing through your nose.

Exercise 4 – More energy

Most people associate rapid inhalation and exhalation with hyperventilation, which can be uncomfortable. But when you do it consciously and controlled, it is called “super-ventilation”, and it actually trains your ability to breathe and awakens your body with a proper shot of energy – like a strong espresso. Super-ventilation causes the blood to seep from the outer joints of your fingers and feet into the inner organs along with a good flow of adrenaline.

1. Lie down or sit during this exercise, because you may feel dizzy for a short time.
2. Take a deep breath and hold your breath. You will probably experience not being able to hold it that long. But after this exercise, you can just do the test again, and then you will probably find that you can hold your breath for a longer time.
3. Then take 30 breaths with super-ventilation – where you breathe hard and fast in and out without breaks – before you start the super-ventilation then hold your breath for as long as you can.
4. When any dizziness subsides, you are guaranteed to feel fresher, more awake and full of energy.