A simple guide to breathing and stretching for reduced pain

It's no coincidence that yoga and breathing techniques are intertwined. Most of us hold our breath when we stretch. These breathing techniques can help relieve pain:

By remembering to breathe slowly in and out, we keep the oxygen flow to our muscles, and we also relax, allowing our muscles to stretch farther. Here are three ways to breathe as you do any exercise, including stretching. Combining them will help keep you relaxed and lessen shortness of breath.

1. Breathe through your nose:  This warms and moistens the air, a nice feature in cold, dry air, and also reduces the amount of air pollutants your lungs absorb.
2. Diaphragmatic breathing:  People in pain tend to breathe shallowly. By breathing deeply, you fill your lungs with air, getting more oxygen to the brain and throughout your body. To practice: Inhale slowly through your nose as your abdomen — not your chest — expands, breathing in as much as you can. Hold the breath, then exhale as you stretch, fully emptying your lungs. Try to take three breaths with every stretch.
3. Breathing through pursed lips:  Breathe through your nose, expanding your abdomen, following the previous two techniques, and exhale through pursed lips for a longer time than it took to inhale.

Even those of us without chronic pain lose five percent of our flexibility every decade. Pain makes your body tighten, a normal reflex of the muscles to protect them from more pain. Even one muscle's tightness can affect us all over:  a tight calf, for instance, can cause pain in your knees, shins, or feet.

• When you don't move, tight muscles get tighter, says physical therapist Christine Zampach. "You have to reverse that process and teach the body to let go of guarding and return to its normal balance."
• Stretching improves circulation, increasing the blood flow to the areas that hurt you, speeding healing.
• Stretching also helps your posture, keeping your body in proper alignment so no one part is doing too much work.
• Luckily, you don't have to be a rubber band to try stretching. In fact, our range of flexibility is something we're born with. If you couldn't touch your toes at age 20, chances are you'll never touch your toes.
• You want to be somewhere in the middle, where your muscles, ligaments, and tendons are taut enough to support you but loose enough that you can move through the full range of motion you had as a young adult.

Stretching and breathing exercises are a crucial part to any healthy active lifestyle. Try to incorporate these tips into your everyday life:  they are great before, during, and after a workout, but can also be beneficial while sitting at your desk at work or while on the subway.