For Howard Koseff, healing is all in the gut—or rather from the gut. The local family doctor is a firm believer in the health benefits of belly breathing, a technique that’s better known in yoga circles than at major hospitals. But Koseff’s faith in the therapeutic power of deep breaths has propelled the practice into the mainstream: Koseff teaches belly breathing as part of the mind-body-medicine program he heads at Vancouver General Hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation clinic.

Koseff learned about the benefits of belly breathing firsthand more than a decade ago. At the time, he was a self-described typical type A person, extremely motivated and driven to succeed. But although he was physically fit, he says he wasn’t healthy. The failure of his marriage was a wake-up call.

“I just thought, ”˜Something is not right here,’ ” Koseff tells the Straight. He took time to do some serious soul-searching, along with yoga and meditation classes, which incorporated the act of breathing slowly and deeply from the abdomen and not the chest. According to Koseff, the positive effects of deep breathing go far beyond the physical.

“Belly breathing is a way in which people access holistic health,” he explains. “It’s about slowing down, taking any stress and adrenaline down, so that people can access the healer within.”

All too often, particularly when people are stressed or anxious, they take shallow breaths that originate from the chest. Belly breathing, by contrast, works like this: you breathe in through your nose while pushing your belly out. (If you lie on your back, you’ll see your tummy rise and expand during an inhalation.) Then, as you gently squeeze in your abdominal muscles, you breathe out through your mouth.

Chronic stress elevates adrenaline, resulting in a faster heartbeat and increased blood pressure, Koseff says. Abdominal breathing works to bring those adrenaline levels—and stress levels—down. People with high blood pressure can reduce their readings by doing five minutes a day, he says.

“It helps people with cardiac risk factors to be more aware of a holistic approach to their specific cardiac problem,” Koseff notes. “They’re thankful that they have some control, not just that they have a bad heart or bad genes.”

At VGH’s cardiac rehabilitation centre, belly breathing is just one topic in Koseff’s mind-body-medicine program; others include detoxification, acceptance, and ways of dealing with anger and pain.

He also incorporates the technique in his work as a family physician. Anxiety is a common complaint among patients, one that belly breathing can help improve.

“Most people are given drugs right away,” he says. “The key is to acknowledge the anxiety, become aware of it, and tune in to our powers of dealing with whatever it is that’s causing it.”

Koseff says that ideally, people would do at least 10 minutes of belly breathing a day, whether they set time aside or do it while they’re driving, on the bus, in an elevator, or on the phone. He also dreams of the day when deep breathing is taught in schools.

“The more you practise it, the more you use it,” he adds. “And it doesn’t cost anything.”