Deep Breathing Exercise

To practice deep breathing use the following exercise. You may also use this exercise to recover normal breathing quickly when you become "winded." When breathing quickly and heavily during Taekwondo training, such as during free-sparring, deep breathing will allow you to resume a normal breathing rate quickly.  Be careful when performing the exercise when not winded so you do not hyperventilate. If you feel dizzy, stop! Use this breathing exercise at your own risk.

Deep Breathing Movements

• Stand in an attention stance. Breathe normally.

• Step the left foot about 12-inches to the left, relax the body, and, while deeply inhaling through the nose, raise both arms up, outward, and forward with the hands open as if you were putting your arms around a large beach ball. Inhale using the diaphragm until the lungs feel full of air; think about air filling your abdomen rather than your lungs.

• While holding the breath, pull the hands inward toward the upper chest, rotating the hands palm down as they approach the chest, ending with the palms facing down, one hand over the other just in front of the upper chest as if they were resting on top of a post.

• As you slowly force the breath out through pursed lips, slowly and deliberately push the hands down as if you were forcing the post deeper into the ground. Tense the abdomen and think about forcing oxygen into the bloodstream. By slowly releasing air, you will prevent you blood pressure from rising too high. When the hands reach belt level, tighten the abdomen and quickly and forcibly exhale all the remaining air in the lungs through an open mouth, while snapping the hands and body into a parallel ready stance.

• Repeat the cycle until you breathing rate returns to normal.

Breathing Exercises

When performing breathing exercises, remember to concentrate on breathing through the nose, both during inhalation and exhalation. Nose breathing is important for breathing exercises, but it is impossible to use when sparring since the body's demand for oxygen increases too quickly for the nose to handle the air flow.

Attention Breathing

Attention breathing is focusing your awareness on the natural rhythm of your breath, not to control it, but merely to observe it. Your awareness allows you to shift from unconscious breathing to conscious breathing as you feel air as it moves in and out through your nostrils and lungs. As you become aware of your breathing, it should become smoother and more relaxed. But do not try to change your breathing, just observe.

Abdominal Breathing

Once you become aware of your breathing, you may start modifying it. Abdominal breathing is easy to learn and brings quick, tangible results. It invigorates abdominal muscles and their constant movement massages internal organs and increases blood circulation.

Abdominal Breathing is filling the lungs completely, from the bottom upward. Most people breathe with their chests and the top half of their lungs. Abdominal Breathing uses the abdomen to fill the lower half of the lungs. The focal point of Abdominal Breathing is an area about three finger widths below the navel, known as the "hypogastrium," or "dan tien" in Chinese, or "hara" in Japanese.

To begin, inhale through the nose, expand abdomen gradually by lightly pushing out and down as oxygen fills the lower lungs. Focus on expanding the abdominal area but do not forcefully protrude the abdominal wall. Instead, try to achieve a gentle and smooth expansion in rhythm with the inhalation. When the abdomen is full, exhale through the nose and gently retract the abdomen, compressing bottom of the lungs. Do not expand or contract your chest, rather, breathe as if your lungs were in your abdomen. Repeat for ten cycles , filling to maximum capacity and emptying completely with each breath.

Reverse Abdominal Breathing

Reverse Abdominal Breathing is more difficult than Abdominal Breathing because it reverses the natural flow of the breath. Reverse This breathing method best suited for  martial artists since it concentrates focus on the hara during exhalation. It strengthens abdominal muscles and makes breathing naturally strong.

To begin, inhale through the nose, drawing the abdomen inward and upward. The upper chest will naturally expand as oxygen fills your lungs. As you inhale, contract the muscles of your perineum, the area between the anus and the lower edge of the pubis at the front of the pelvis. The central point of the perineum is called the huiyin in Chinese and is the focal point for Reverse Abdominal Breathing. By contracting and pulling up the huiyin, you are able to concentrate on the abdominal area. Do not forcefully squeeze the abdomen, use smooth and relaxed motion. When lungs are full, exhale through the nose, release the huiyin, and push the abdomen outward and downward. Repeat for ten cycles , filling to maximum capacity and emptying completely with each breath.

Nose Panting

The nose has an important part in breathing. Nose hairs trap large particles that could injure the lungs and mucus membranes warm cold air trap fine particles. The nose's sense of smell detects poisonous fumes that could damage our health.

The Nose Pant is a great exercise for charging yourself with energy or for releasing stress. Imagine you are blowing a piece of dust out of your nose by sharply puffing outward through the nostrils, immediately followed by an equally sharp intake of air through the nose. Perform these quick in-and-out breathes ten times., then uses a couple of deep slow breaths to calm the body.