Excerpted from the book Power Breathing by Sang H. Kim

Comparison of Power Breathing, Lung Breathing and Diaphragm Breathing

When you expand your lungs, air from outside rushes in to fill the void. This is a natural phenomenon of stabilizing an imbalance of pressure in the chest cavity.

In Power Breathing, you deliberately create this phenomenon by expanding the muscles of the lower abdomen. When you expand your lower abdomen, the diaphragm automatically moves downward creating more space for your lungs and this expansion pulls air into your lungs. When your lungs are fi lled, hold your breath for a moment and condense it downward. Once your lower abdomen is fully expanded, it naturally bounces back. All you need to do is slowly let it go (Gentle Breathing); tighten the muscles and intensify the force (Power Breathing); or move mindfully according to the position of your diaphragm (Healing Breathing).

The more air you pull in, the more power you can generate. The harder you condense the air, the more forceful the release is; thus it is called Power Breathing.