Most of us breathe in three of four different ways. These ways of breathing can be called high, low, middle or complete breathing.

1. High breathing   refers to breathing that takes place primarily in the upper part of the chest and lungs. Also called “calvicular breathing” or “collarbone breathing”, it involves movement of the ribs, collarbone and shoulders.

High breathing is naturally shallow and a large percentage of the oxygen fails to reach the alveoli and enter into gaseous exchange.

This is the least desirable form of breathing as only the upper lobes of the lungs are used which have only a small air capacity. The upper rib cage is fairly rigid and so not much expansion of the ribs can take place.
A great deal of muscular energy is expended in pressing against the diaphragm and in keep the ribs and shoulders raised abnormally high.

High breathing is a common cause of digestive, constipation and gynaecological problems.

2. Middle breathing   is a way of breathing in which mainly the middle parts of the lungs are filled with air.
It exhibits some of the characteristics of both high breathing, since the ribs rise and the chest expands somewhat, and low breathing, as the diaphragm moves p and down and the abdomen in and out a little.
In this form of breathing the ribs and chest are expanded sideways. Too often it results in a shallow type of breath. It is more efficient than high breathing, but far inferior to low breathing and the complete breath.

3. Low Breathing  refers to respiration which takes place primarily in the lower part of the chest and lungs. It consists mainly of the movement of the abdomen in and out and the corresponding movement of the diaphragm. It is sometimes also called “abdominal breathing” and “diaphragmatic breathing.”
We often use low breathing when sleeping, but whenever we become physically active: walking, running or lifting, we are likely to find abdominal breathing inadequate for our needs.

This type of breath is far superior to high or middle breathing for new reasons:

1. More air is taken in when inhaling due to greater movement of the lungs and the fact that the lower lobes of the lungs have a larger capacity than the upper lobes.

1. The diaphragm acts like a second heart. Its piston-like movements expand the base of the lungs, allowing them to suck in more venous blood. The increase in the venous circulation improves the general circulation.

1. The abdominal organs and the solar plexus, a very important nerve centre, are massaged by and down movements of the diaphragm.

4. Whole Body Breathing   involves the entire respiratory system and not only includes the of the lungs used in high, low and middle breathing, but expands the lungs so as to take in more air than the amounts inhaled by each of these three kinds of breathing together when employed in shallow breathing.

The complete breath is not just deep breathing; it is the deepest possible breathing. Not only does raise his shoulders, collarbone and ribs, as in high breathing, and also extend his abdomen and lower his diaphragm, as in low breathing, but he does both as much is needed to expand his lungs to their fullest capacity.

This type of breathing should only be utilised when doing breathing exercises. The rest of the time it is best to use low breathing by pushing the stomach out slightly when inhaling, and then just letting the stomach fall back to its original position in the exhale.