Out of all the breathing techniques I have come across, I recommend two - used at different times of the day for different purposes. Both techniques require you to breathe properly - that is, breathe with your stomach, and not with your chest.

The easiest way to understand this is to pretend your lungs are divided into thirds, the top third, middle third, and bottom third. Most people breathe only with the top part. Unfortunately, that's the least effective section of the lungs.

The objective is to get as much oxygen through your breathing into your blood cells as possible. The problem with breathing only with your top third (the third closest to your mouth) is that most of the blood cells which carries the oxygen to the rest of your body flow through the bottom of your lungs. For simplicity, picture all of your blood cells passing through the bottom of your lungs just trying to capture as much oxygen as possible on its way past the lungs - you can see why breathing with your chest, and therefore using only your top third is very ineffective.

No matter which technique you choose to use, be sure to breathe with your stomach. That is, breathing by using the following basic technique:

• When you taking deep breaths in - keep your chest still, and your stomach moving out as you breathe in.
• When you take deep breaths out - keep your chest still and your stomach moving in as you breathe out.

Ideally, only your stomach should be moving in and out horizontally as you breathe. This will ensure that plenty of oxygen goes through the bottom third of your lungs. If your chest 'puffs out' during a deep breath, then you are cheating your body of oxygen by using just the top portion of your lungs.

I learned this breathing technique at a health seminar. In the beginning it can be a little hard to get used to, however, it is worth it.

The breathing exercise involves breathing in, holding your breath and breathing out in a 1 - 4 - 2 ratio. So, if you take a deep breath in to the count of 5, hold your breath to the count of 20 (5 x 4), and breath out completely to the count of 10 (5 x 2).

You will most probably breathe in to the count of between 5 - 12 depending on how slow or fast you count. It is recommended doing 10 breaths 3 times a day.

The purpose of this breathing technique is to stimulate your body to detoxify your body of all the waste in it - it should create a sudden surge of energy if you have done it right. This is why I've labeled it the cleansing breathing technique.

This breathing technique requires a little more physical work and must be done slowly to begin with. Unlike the last cleansing breathing technique, this breathing technique involves breathing in, holding your breath, and breathing out all in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Like the cleansing breath, please don't forget the importance of breathing with your stomach and not with your chest.

Breathing in: As your standing up straight with your hands besides your body, breathe out as much as you can. Now, take a deep breath in, and as you're breathing in, raise both of your arms simultaneously and in sync with your breath in while you count. As you come to a point where you cannot breath in any more, your arms should be directly pointed upwards and parallel to each other, or at least spread out like wings on a bird mid-flight.

Holding your breath: if your breathe in was a count of 5, then you will at this stage hold your breath to the count of 5. Keep your hands as I've described above and count to 5 (or whatever your count was when you were breathing in). Again, besides your arms in this case, your stomach should be the only body part that is really moving.

Breathing out: As you breath out your arms should fall in synch with your breath out and to the same count as the first two steps. In this example you should complete the count out to the count of 5. When you come to the point where you can breathe out no more then your arms should be on your sides and parallel to your body once more.

Do each rep of this exercise slowly at first, and then increase the pace, faster and faster and faster and push it as far as you can. When you get to a point where you cannot go any faster, then go slower and slower and slower until you reach the original pace.

You may find yourself feeling a little funny and awkward, but it will make you feel energized if you complete this properly.

So there you have it. Use these two techniques daily, along with the exercises for fast weight loss to give yourself more vitality, and more energy. Deep breathing will really help you to remove the toxins from your body, as I said above, and will help you out as you work towards your ideal body shape.