“Slow, deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have,” says James Gordon, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. “When you bring air down into the lower portion of the lungs, where oxygen exchange is most efficient, everything changes. Heart rate slows, blood pressure decreases, muscles relax, anxiety eases, and the mind calms. [Belly breathing] is extremely therapeutic.”

Deep diaphragmatic breathing has also been found to significantly reduce symptoms of severe PMS, as well as relieve anxiety, depression, and other forms of emotional distress, end heart arrhythmias, improve digestion, increase blood circulation, and improve sleep and energy cycles.

The abdomen should expand during inhalation to provide the optimum amount of oxygen needed to nourish all the cells in the body.