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Prevent Corona (COVID-19) part 1: Abdominal Breathing

Posted 17 Mar. 2020

Ancient Indian & Chinese practices as preventive measures against Corona Virus (COVID-19):(Part 1)

Prevention is better than cure is the age old wisdom of a healthy and long life. Better to prevent disease rather than to try to find cures for diseases after they occur. Get sick, seek medical help – is reactive rather than proactive approach. With humanity facing the current crisis of Corona virus (COVID – 19), till the remedy is discovered “Prevention is the Only Cure”.

External & Internal methods of Prevention against Corona virus

External preventive methods against Corona Virus:
COVID-19 spreads from person-to-person (within 6 feet) and from respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Most preventive measures against Corona Virus are externally focused i.e. clean your hands often, avoid close contact with people who are sick, cover coughs and sneezes, wear a facemask if you are sick etc. While external practices will help us to immediately prevent Corona infection, we must also develop ourselves internal resistance against Corona infection.

Internal preventive methods against Corona Virus:
Strengthening of respiratory & immune system will not only help you fight COVID-19 but also give an overall sense of health and well-being. A healthy immune system reduces your chance of viral infection. Your respiratory system includes the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs. Here are few tips to build up your resistance –

Quick tips for strengthening respiratory & immune system:

• Stop smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke.
• Maintain a healthy weight by exercising regularly & eating a healthy, balanced diet.
• Lower stress levels by practicing yoga, meditation or deep breathing
• Eat more vegetables and herb supplements
• Try to sleep for 7–8 hours and avoid having an all-nighter

Ancient Indian & Chinese practices to strengthen your respiratory & immune system as preventive measures against Corona Virus (COVID-19):

Adopting the age old wisdom of ancient Indian & Chinese masters in your everyday life will help build up a resilient internal system. Few of the internal strengthening practices which can be made part of our daily routine are covered in this 4-part article series.

• Deep breathing: Abdominal Breathing
• Pranayama: Kapaalbhati
• Pranayama: Anulom Vilom (Alternate nostril breathing)
• Qigong: Yoga of Kung Fu – Ba Duan Jin (Eight piece of Brocade)

1. Deep breathing: Abdominal Breathing:

The average breath count of a healthy adult male is 15 breaths / min, i.e. one full breath takes 4 seconds (inhale 2 seconds & exhale 2 seconds). Most people breathe with the upper part of the chest resulting in shallow breath i.e. 18 to 22 breaths / minute. Abdominal breathing also rightly called as “Diaphragmatic breathing” utilizes the lower part of our lungs thereby increasing the lung capacity resulting in longer, fuller and deeper breath. Deep breath ensures that maximum capacity of the lung is utilized & better oxygen intake.

How to do Diaphragmatic breathing:

• Take a comfortable posture – standing or sitting keeping the spine erect.
• Place both the hands over your navel
• Inhale from your nose & try to push your stomach outside
• Exhale from your mouth while pushing your stomach inside

This is called one full breath cycle, beginners can start with 10 cycles and go up to 50 cycles.

Breath visualization:

Inhale: Imagine the breath entering through nose & reaching right upto your navel.
Exhale: Imagine the breath from your navel coming up & exiting through your mouth.

Counting while you inhale and exhale will further slowdown the breath & make it deeper. Start with inhale 4 counts & exhale 4 counts to begin with and go up to inhale 8 counts, exhale 8 counts.

Other Benefits of Abdominal breathing:

• Helps you relax, reduces stress & lowers your heart rate.
• Helps lower your blood pressure improves your core muscle stability.
• Improves your body’s ability to tolerate intense exercise.
• Lowers your chances of injuring or wearing out your muscles.
• Slows your rate of breathing so that it expends less energy.

Abdominal breathing is introduced in the 1st class at IWCA to correct the inadequate breathing practices, thereby strengthening the respiratory power house & immune defense shield. Students across all age groups have seen remarkable correction of their breathing rate, i.e. getting back to 15 breaths / minute. Those who already were having the correct average found their breathing becoming fuller and further decrease in their breathing rate.

Interested people can come to IWCA training centers for a quick demo about abdominal breathing. In the next article we’ll explore the 2nd ancient practice to strengthen our respiratory & immune system as prevention against Corona virus (COVID-19).