Belly Breathing

 

Sensei Jo explains

 how belly breathing can powerfully transform your daily life by reducing stress.

Shifting from Fight-or-Flight to Rest-and-Digest

When you're stressed, your body often defaults to shallow, rapid chest breathing. This triggers your sympathetic nervous system, the "fight-or-flight" response, releasing stress hormones like cortisol and increasing your heart rate and blood pressure.

Belly breathing, conversely, engages your diaphragm, the large muscle beneath your lungs. This deep, slow breathing pattern signals your parasympathetic nervous system – your body's "rest-and-digest" mode – to activate. This effectively calms your entire system.