Breathing 101- Part 1
Decrease stress, improve energy, and alleviate back and neck pain by IMPROVING YOUR BREATH
Part 1 is an introduction to breathing, assessing your starting point and 2 simple things to start practicing your breathing.
Breathing is controlled unconsciously which means, you are always breathing whether you are thinking about it or not. It is controlled by the brain and changes quality in response to our environment and task. We have the ability to consciously override the rhythm, frequency, depth, and intensity of the breath to a point. The quality of our breath can affect the quality of our emotions as well as our movement and posture.
The organs responsible for our respiration are our lungs, they are in a sac, called the pleura which is connected to our neck, ribs, spine, breastbone, and diaphragm. These structures together with the small muscles between the ribs make up what is commonly referred to as the rib cage.
When the rib cage expands, the volume of the sac increases and the pressure drops, which pulls air from the outside of our body inside our lungs. When the rib cage constricts the volume inside decreases and the pressure increase and air is expelled. This actions work together because of the elastic recoil within the rib cage structures. Think of when you stretch out a rubber band and let go how quickly it wants to bounce back to its original shape. or when you squeeze a sponge small and when you open your hand how fast the sponge returns to its expanded shape.
The rib movement involved in this expansion and contraction is in 3 ways. The upper ribs lift up like a water faucet handle. The lower ribs open up to the side like a handle on a bucket. The last 2 ribs, the ‘floating’ ribs open in a caliper motion arms opening and closing to hug someone. All of these motions allow expansion in 3D to create space to accommodate the surface area of the diaphragm contracting from a dome to a flat surface during inhalation.
The first step is to know where you are starting! If you want to make a change it is essential to have a starting place.
Checking in with your breath:
Sit on a hard surface so that your spine is comfortably stacked on top of your pelvis. Take note on what you feel: where are you holding tension, where does your body weight seem to be distributed, any aches or pains anywhere. Then bring attention to your breath, where do you feel it, does it feel fast, slow, deep, shallow, easy, hard. Do you feel your chest rise, your shoulders rise, or your spine sway? Repeat this same procedure laying on your back and your stomach. Write down your notes so you can remember for when you recheck!
Now you can take an objective measurement of your capacity to hold your breath. In a comfortable seated position take a small exhale out your nose, inhale through your nose and exhale again. Plug your nose and start timer. When you feel the urge to breathe unplug your nose take a breath and stop the timer. Write down your result. Because I don’t want you to worry about the performance of this test I will wait to tell you what the result means in PART 2 of the series next week.
2 simple things to start practicing breathing:
📌Use a nasal rinse daily. Check out minute 3:23 in the Video The Top 5 Things Everyone Should Have
📌 Practice a rhythmical breath. In seated or laying on your back with your chest lifted with a pillow, exhale out your mouth completely making a ‘HA’ sound. At the end of your exhale spell your name out loud to expel the remaining breath. Close your mouth and wait for your inhale breath to rise up on its own, simply directing it through your nose. Repeat for 8-10 breaths or 5min
Recheck how you feel, focusing on the positive changes.