Act of Breathing

The act of breathing is the movement caused in different parts of your trunk when you inhale and exhale. The movement does not mean that the inhaled air actually reaches these parts of your body. The air never goes anywhere but to the lungs. However the movement of different parts of the trunk do bring air into certain areas of lungs. For example, very shallow breathing uses the top of your lungs which causes only the first few ribs to move and abdominal breathing brings air into the base of your lungs which causes your abdomen to rise and fall with inhalation and exhalation.
There are four principal types of breathing:
1) Natural Breathing: is the initial observation about the act of breathing where you observe your natural breathing pattern of inhalation and exhalation without any force or manipulation.
2) Abdominal Breathing: Enhances the action of the diaphragm. It causes the abdomen to bulge during inhalation and draws it back during exhalation.
3) Thoracic breathing: This is the breathing that works with the ribs. It opens your ribcage outward when you inhale and closes them during exhalation
4) Clavicles Breathing: Uses the total ribcage expansion. It opens the ribcage outward and upward till you feel your collar bones being pulled upward by the muscle of the neck, throat and sternum when you inhale and relaxes them during exhalation

These five types of breathing practices do not mean that one type is better than the other. It is a practice which involves five different ways of moving the lungs and exercising the muscles in your lungs to straighten and train them to use it in different circumstances for different purposes. Therefore, it is important to practice a variety of breathing techniques, especially when you realize that you have a tendency to use one technique.