What Is Hand Breathing?
Anyone with an interest in yoga or meditation likely knows that there is a wide variety of breathing exercises that exist.
Different techniques are suitable for different situations. Buddy breathing is a great technique to increase parent-child connection but will not always work for your child since you won’t always be with them.
However, if you are looking for a great breathing technique that you can do pretty much anywhere, then look no further than hand breathing, also known as five finger breathing.
Hand breathing is one of the most popular breathing exercises, and for good reason: It has many benefits, from lowering stress to improving concentration.
How to Do Hand Breathing
It is quite simple, as all that it requires is your hands.
Start off by putting the index finger of one hand onto the outside of your pinky on the other hand.
Inhale, and as you do so, trace your index finger up the pinky to the tip.
Exhale, tracing your index finger down the inside of the pinky.
Continue this finger tracing with the rest of the fingers on your hand, going up and down each finger like it is climbing up and going down a hill.
Once you have done that, you can go in reverse, starting from the outside of the thumb and finger-tracing until your index is again back at the outside of your pinky.
You can repeat this technique for as long as you wish. The goal is to reach a state of calm, so that may take more than one round of tracing your fingers.
Why You Should Do Five Finger Breathing
For one, the simplicity of it can be grasped by anyone, including your children. And, as mentioned above, it can be done from just about anywhere.
The breathing exercise itself serves to take your mind off whatever you are worrying about. This is done through the emphasis on the physical activity that you focus your mind on.
When something so simple, and, importantly, external, as finger tracing becomes the center of your attention, then whatever inner thoughts or feelings you were experiencing will slowly lessen.
As you refocus through this breathing exercise, you will become overall calmer, and therefore less likely to be upset by whatever thoughts that you were experiencing before the exercise.
Hand Breathing Exercises for the Whole Family
Looking to create a more calm environment at home? Be sure to introduce the five-finger breathing technique to your children, and they will gain greater coping strategies for dealing with whatever makes them anxious, frustrated, or stressed out.
For information about our range of products and classes that are designed to help children and adults alike gain a calmer inner existence, then be sure to check out The Calm Caterpillar website!
