There are numerous deep breathing benefits and this post will teach a simple deep breathing exercise you can use. Remember oxygen? It’s always there for the taking, but few of us actually take more than a fraction of our capacity of oxygen into the body. Yes, we are breathing all the time, but the average breath is shockingly shallow. It’s as if we’ve all become too lazy to breathe.

The typical Westerner only breathes as far as the upper portion of the lungs. The lungs are like giant balloons that can be filled to extraordinary capacity. When very deep breaths are taken, two major things happen: (1) Energy floods the body, oxygenating and enlivening the whole being, and (2) the force of the oxygen helps to push through obstructions in the body.

Deep breathing creates an internal pump for the body—think of your lungs as a chi machine keeping everything circulating. One of the things that attracted me to deep breathing is that when you do it properly, your organs actually get a massage! When your breathing lacks power, your circulation slows down and everything stagnates.

Since we cannot live for even a few minutes without oxygen, it’s no surprise that shallow breathing leads to premature aging and even premature death.

Learning how to breathe properly is essential. It’s funny, babies do it perfectly, but by the time we become adults we lose touch with this incredibly simple, utterly critical part of our human design. A power breath feels like an exaggerated inhale and exhale, but it is necessary to exaggerate it in this way in order to hasten the intake of oxygen and repattern your automatic breathing throughout the day.

Practice the following steps as often as you can and reap the benefits of increased oxygen flow throughout your physical and energy bodies:

Step 1: Sit comfortably and begin to inhale through the nose sending the air straight down into the belly. If you place your hand on your belly, you should notice your hand is pushed out by the expansion of the belly. Imagine you are trying to in?ate it as much as possible. Inhale for a count of four full seconds. It will feel like you are inhaling beyond what feels typical for you, and then beyond that, and then when you think you really must exhale, inhale even a drop more and hold for a moment.

Step 2: Now, for the exhale: This will also last for a count of four full seconds. Deflate yourself completely through your nose. It’s a strange, exaggerated sensation if you’ve never done it before. Exhale fully and before inhaling again empty the remnant air even more thoroughly (still through your nose) as you draw your belly into your spine as far as possible.

Repeat the above two steps at least three times and begin to feel the peaceful, highly charged vibrations dance throughout your body. Inflate deeply. Deflate deeply. Inflate.

Deflate. Let that deep, rhythmical cadence fill you with fresh oxygen and energy, and then expel the old breath to take in even more fresh air. Breathing this way is like building a fire in your body. The more oxygen you take in, the brighter and bigger the fire can burn! This is a deep breathing exercise you can do anytime and anywhere to flood you with energy, help remove mental and emotional blockages, and raise your vibrations.

Start today, and you’ll see the benefits of deep breathing for your health!