I was going to say that too Becki, It does sound like Pursed Lip Breathing. It Helps
Me a lot, I use it doing just about everything...
Here are a couple of examples that will help Breathing..
What is Pursed-lip Breathing?
Pursed-lip breathing (PLB) is a technique you can use to help you breathe more effectively, allowing you to get the oxygen you need to your lungs. PLB trains you to exhale more slowly, so you breathe easier, at a more comfortable rate, whether you are resting or moving about.
This breathing technique may help you feel better physically and mentally. When you are less short of breath, you can probably walk farther, climb stairs easier, and be more active in general - this could give you a more positive outlook.
How Does It Work?
The reason PLB helps is that people with COPD tend to trap air (have a more than normal amount of air in the lungs at the end of exhalation). This aggravates shortness of breath. Forcing yourself to exhale more rapidly only causes more air trapping and more shortness of breath. Pursed-lip breathing helps you to empty your lungs and to slow your respiratory rate. PLB helps to restore the position of the diaphragm, the breathing muscle located under your lungs. Normally, the diaphragm is curved upward; when a person breathes in, the lungs inflate and the diaphragm moves downward [Figure 3].
PLB also causes you to contract your abdominal muscles when you breathe out. This forces the diaphragm upward, and helps you to empty your lungs. As a result, you breathe more slowly and more efficiently. Pursed-lip breathing may also prevent collapse of the air passages in the lungs. This may help you maintain good airflow and blood flow throughout your lungs. [Figure 4]
Practice:
1. Inhale through your nose
2. Exhale more slowly through pursed lips - (purse your lips like whistling)
3. Practice at rest and during your walk; perhaps 2-3 minutes every hour. Relax!
HOW TO PRACTICE ABDOMINAL BREATHING
If you have COPD, you may be using the muscles of your upper chest and neck, rather than your diaphragm, when you breathe. This requires more of your energy and prevents your lungs from working as well as they can. You can learn to breathe with your diaphragm by practicing a breathing technique called "abdominal breathing". It is sometimes called "diaphragmatic breathing".
What is Abdominal Breathing?
Abdominal breathing uses your abdominal muscles to help raise and lower your diaphragm, the large muscle beneath your lungs that usually does most of the "work of breathing" [Figure 5]. The diaphragm moves downward to help you take air into your lungs, and upward to push out air when you exhale. As your diaphragm contracts and moves downward during inhalation, it pushes your abdomen outward. When you exhale your abdominal muscles contract and push the diaphragm upwards so that it can be ready to contract for the next inhalation.
How Will It Help Me?
If you have chronic obstructive lung disease, such as emphysema, your lungs may be "overinflated" with trapped air causing you to breathe through stale air. This also causes the diaphragm, which is usually rounded, to flatten. When the diaphragm is flattened, it doesn't move up and down as well as it normally would, and the "accessory" muscles in your upper chest and neck take over the burden of breathing. This causes you to become more short of breath particularly when you are active or exercising. When you breathe in, your abdomen should move outward because of the downward movement of the diaphragm. But because of your lung disease, your abdomen moves inward and your chest moves outward with the movement of the accessory chest muscles.
Abdominal breathing can help you gradually change your breathing pattern back to normal. By using the abdominal muscles to restore the diaphragm as the major muscle of breathing, it can help your lungs work more efficiently and with less effort. It can also help slow down your rate of breathing; bring more oxygen to your lungs; help you to relax, both at rest and during exercise; make you less short of breath; a perfect companion to pursed lip breathing.