Typical Benefits of Meditation
Breathing Meditation is a popular health exercise that many of us enjoy doing regularly.
Typical benefits include:
• Stress release.
• Restoring calm and inner peace.
• Focusing on the present.
• Reliving anxiety.
• Reducing negative emotions.
• Lowering resting heart rate.
• Lowering resting blood pressure.
• Improving sleep quality.
Breathing and Meditation
Breathing is one of the key elements in meditation, as slow breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible to relax the mind and body.
Good breathing during meditation would also help your mind to concentrate on breathing and shut down those stressful thoughts you might have, thus resulting in a better quality of meditation.
Better still, if you practice diaphragmatic breathing, it will further enhance the health benefits such as:
- Makes you calm and relaxed.
- Lower your heart rate.
- Lower your blood pressure.
- Maintain a good posture and core stability.
- Help achieve effective lymphatic drainage for improving your immune system.
AYO BT+ is particularly suited to help achieve advanced diaphragmatic breathing in meditation.
Here is a summary of the reasons:
- To gain more benefits from diaphragmatic breathing, one would need to drive the diaphragm in a reasonably large movement. However, in the meditation state when the body’s energy consumption is very low, a large diaphragm movement would normally result in hyperventilation, which would reduce the benefits of the meditation. The air inlet adjustment function of AYO BT+ from the BTi of the device will limit the air intake while allowing a larger beneficial diaphragm movement without you suffering from hyperventilation.
- The breathing measurement function of the AYO BT+ from the BT+ L and BT+ E modules can capture your real-time breathing waveform while you are doing the meditation, and the waveform can be used as a constant checkpoint about how well your breathing is in terms of cycle time, flow amplitude, inhalation flow shape and pause, and exhalation flow shape and pause.
- The breathing measurement function of the AYO BT+ from the BT+ L and BT+ E modules can provide a summary of breathing data, such as Breath Per Minute (BPM) and Minute Ventilation (MV), which are critical metrics to guide you to breathe towards your optimal breathing.
A Reference Breathing Pattern for Meditation
From an energy consumption point of view, meditation is a consistent resting state, where the body’s energy consumption is kept to a minimum so that the variations of breathing patterns for adults, such as BPM and MV could be minimum among age, gender, height, and weight than otherwise if we do physical exercises. Therefore, a common breathing pattern reference could be used by most people as a guide to practice.
A reference breathing pattern is shown below:
- BPM: 5-6 L/Min.
- MV: 5-6 Litres.
- Small and gentle inhalation with a pause.
- Small and relaxed exhalation with a pause.
- The Ratio between Inhalation to Exhalation: 1:>=2.
Note:
- If you can comfortably achieve the above, your breathing is regarded as in line with the physiological norm.
- Both the Inhalation and the Exhalation include pause time.
- Lower BPM and MV are even better, such as BPM of 2-3, and MV of 2-3. However, only a small number of advanced breathers could achieve them.
AYO BT+ Assisted Breathing During Meditation
To boost the quality and benefits of your meditation, here is a sequence of steps you may follow or use as a reference:
- Find a quiet and comfortable place.
- Ideally, do meditation before your sleep each night.
- Sit with a straight back, either sit on a floor with legs crossed on each other or sit on a chair, with both feet flat on the floor.
- Get your AYO BT+ respirator and adjust the BTi to a low setting, such as 2 to 4.
- Wake up the BT+ modules and run the App.
- Run the Meditation exercise.
- Place your mobile phone in front of you at a height that allows you to look straight ahead and maintain a straight back.
- When inhaling, push the diaphragm down then hold it still until you feel like exhaling.
- At the start of exhaling, simply relax the diaphragm and let it return to its resting position by itself without you driving it.
- Keep in that position until you have a slight air hunger and feel like inhaling.
- Repeat the breathing cycle, pay attention to the following:
- Relax your full body all the time, especially keep your shoulder low and relaxed.
- Observe your breathing waveform periodically, and try to make each inhalation small and gentle, and exhalation small and relaxed.
- Repeat the breathing cycle, imaging the following:
- Let go of everything except your calm and relaxing breathing, in and out.
- No more responsibility whatsoever, just enjoy the moment alone by yourself.
- You are so free, so relaxed, think nothing, do nothing, just breathe lightly and gently, in and out.
- You are so free, free as a bird and soaring in the sky.
- You are so free, no worries, weightless, floating in the universe, just breathe lightly and gently, in and out.
Wishing you a satisfactory meditation with AYO BT+ every day and getting the most out of it!