Breathing 101
This month I want to talk about breathing. Better late than never. It feels a day late and a dollar short as we have been on Covid watch for the last year, concerned that we may become afflicted with the horrible respiratory disease. And yet now having vaccines received we may not feel quite as worried about losing our ability to breathe, something we take for granted.
Nevertheless, breath always been a large focus for me when I work with my clients. RHYTHM, MOVEMENT & BREATH are at the core of GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® work.
Through my experience teaching, I have found over and over again that most people breathe very shallowly and don’t really understand what it means to take a deep breath.
Generally when I ask someone to take a deep breath they raise their shoulders up to their ears and try to pull as much air into the chest cavity as they can, puffing up their chest. Sadly, it’s mostly the same when I ask someone to stand up tall but that’s another conversation……
Shallow breathing occurs up in the chest and never draws the breath deep into the lobes of the lungs. Shallow breathing also does not move the diaphragm much. It is important to exercise and attend to this area, as much as we attend to other areas and muscles of the body in our GYROTONIC® or GYROKINESIS® practice. Active deep breathing uses the diaphragm (which is a MUSCLE) and also the abdominal muscles (it’s a two for one!).
Deep breathing is necessary for many reasons, even if we never have to battle the coronavirus. Deep, slower breathing is necessary to bring the air all the way to the alveoli which are the exchangers of carbon dioxide and oxygen.
Deep breathing can reduce stress and foster mental well-being by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system and allowing the body to rest and repair. Diaphragmatic breathing helps regulate heart rhythms and lowers blood pressure (we get these effects in meditation too for the same reasons). Additionally, deep breathing helps engage the core and therefore provides support for good posture and support for the spine!
Why are we breathing shallowly (holding our breath)?
Pain. Stress. You get it. Think back to some time you had an injury or muscle in spasm and you felt like you could barely breathe. This is part of the workings of the sympathetic nervous system (your body’s fight or flight protection mechanism) trying to protect you. Alternatively, chronic shallow breathing can even cause you to trigger a fight or flight response in your body, causing stress related illnesses such as high blood pressure. Shallow breathing works the shoulder and neck muscles which can create tension and pain the in neck and shoulders and can even trigger headaches.
The Epiphany
It sounds backwards, but it’s important to understand that your diaphragm goes down toward your abdomen when you breathe in. Inhalation is the moment of muscle contraction. If we don’t breathe deeply, we don’t engage the muscle.
The Horror!
In order to breathe deeply you have to relax your belly. Let it all hang out! Men and women alike are resistant to this as it seems so counterintuitive to what we generally do. It turns out, most of us are walking around trying to “suck it in”. And although we constantly focus on engaging our abdominals while in the studio, in order to support the spine and to recruit more power into certain movements we cannot only contract the abdomen. Muscles like to expand AND contract. Think pelvic floor or even biceps. You cannot only contract or you will have loss of mobility, congestion, and all the issues that go along with those problems. It is important to engage in the process of expansion and contraction in the belly via inhalation and exhalation.
Daily Breathing Practice
Adding a few rounds of belly breathing to your day will allow you to begin working the muscle of your diaphragm and will also calm the body allowing you to drop into your parasympathetic nervous system, where the body is in a state of rest and repair (like in sleep or meditation).
Basic diaphragmatic breathing practice (belly breathing)
Lying on the floor on your back with a pillow under your head
Knees bent with feet flat on the floor
Hands on the belly
Take a few moments to relax and breathe naturally feeling the rise and fall of the belly as you inhale and exhale
Gently inflate the belly like a balloon as you inhale through your nose
Exhale through the mouth for 3 counts, melting the ribs toward your spine and drawing your belly button towards your spine
Repeat
