Diaphragmatic breathing draws in oxygen with little effort. Adequate oxygen is of course what all your cells (including those in your brain) need for optimum function.  

A breath of confidence 

Besides being an efficient way of breathing, the diaphragmatic breath is a great way to calm yourself if you’re feeling stressed or anxious. At times when you’re dealing with challenging behaviour in the classroom, a switch to the diaphragmatic breath can relax you significantly and give your confidence a valuable boost. 

When re-learning diaphragmatic breathing the following position is helpful: 

Starting position  

• Lie on your back on the floor with your hips, knees and feet parallel. Then bend your knees and put the soles of your feet flat on the floor, a comfortable distance from your buttocks. 

• If the back of your neck feels squashed, making your chin point upwards, put a firm cushion, folded towel, or a paperback book or two, under your head. 

• Close your eyes. You should feel comfortable and supported. 

• Breathe through your nose if you can, with your tongue and jaw relaxed. 

Exercise 9: The diaphragmatic breath 

• Take up the starting position and make a mental note of how you feel. 

• Rest your hands on your lower abdomen, middle fingers just touching over your navel. 

• Breathe at a comfortable rate and depth through your nose. Don’t force anything. 

• As you breathe in, imagine the air is entering through your navel and filling your abdomen, so it expands and rises. 

• As you breathe out, imagine the stale air going out through your navel, emptying your abdomen so it falls back towards your spine. 

• Once you’ve got a comfortable rhythm going, start counting your breaths silently: ‘1’ as you breathe in, ‘2’ as you breathe out, etc. When you get to 10 start again. This should occupy your mind enough to stop it thinking about your to-do list. 

• Keeping your mind on the breathing and counting, do several rounds of 10 breaths. 

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How do you feel now? If you’re more relaxed you’ve demonstrated a powerful principle: how you breathe affects how you feel. 

When the body is relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing is natural. But it works the other way too: you can relax yourself by diaphragmatic breathing. The breath is the link between body and mind.  

Rapid shallow breathing into the top of the chest works the opposite way. It’s associated with the stress-response (or fight-or-flight) syndrome. And just as stress will make you breathe like this, so chest breathing will tend to make you feel stressed, nervous, or anxious.  

The stress-response syndrome is useful in times of danger, but many people are permanently in this state because of their stressful lives. Rapid, shallow breathing can become ‘normal’ unless you break the habit.  

Mindful breathing 

When you have the opportunity, become aware of how you are breathing and consciously switch to the diaphragmatic breath if necessary. Help the process by focusing on the rise and fall of your abdomen (you could place a hand there as a reminder). Make sure your shoulders stay down and don’t rise and fall with your breath. 

Also, just mindfully being aware of and ‘watching’ your breath will gradually make it slower and deeper without any conscious intervention. 

With awareness your body will gradually start switching back to its natural state of diaphragmatic breathing. This will help not only your voice production but your physical health and the way you feel. 

Q: What effects did you notice after doing the diaphragmatic breathing exercise? Have you been trying this way of breathing in stressful situations?