Don't Forget to Breathe
Have you ever pondered the complexity of your breath? The profundity of this one topic cannot be truly expressed in a single article, but I will do my best to introduce some macro (and micro) concepts.
What is your breath? Most of us, in the West, are taught it is simply a combination of gasses from our environment… ones which we bring into the very essence of our being, into the bloodstream… an alchemical process occurs and extrapolates other gasses, which we see as waste products, but which plants see as food and their “waste products” keep us alive…
The process of breathing occurs, unconsciously, through pressure differentials and intrinsically-linked muscles which act based on pressure and reflexive input. This begs for more information. Think about the magnitude of this massive mountain of air sitting on all of us (atmospheric pressure), muscles and nerve-reflexes all perfectly tuned and working in sync… just so you can breathe.
Inspiring, isn’t it?
It goes deeper… the ancient civilizations all spoke of the aether; the foundational substance which permeates all things, it is the essence of the heavenly realm, of which there is only this “fifth element”. It is the vital force of life itself, the very medium which propagates electromagnetism… even known to be the very constituent which God moves through to convene with you.
Esoteric nature aside, breath IS life. You cannot go for long without it and it is the most fundamental piece of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
All this and most of us simply don’t do it correctly! This is a major reason why we are stressed (or react with a stress-response), why we have aches and pains and why we chronically seek distraction.
Inhalation = Inspiration —> eureka!
After working with hundreds of people, in all walks and stages of life, from a variety of backgrounds; I can say, definitively, that the greatest NEED in health and fitness is relaxed breathing modalities. This includes, but is not limited to:
Diaphragmatic breathing
Sacral breathing
Somatic exercises
Box breathing
Alternate nostril (Nadi Shodana)
Buzz breath (Bhramari)
Anything you can do to relax the state of your body, nervous systems and muscular tissues. Relax the facial muscles, relax the legs, the chest… whatever practice you adopt I HIGHLY recommend it be a somatic awareness base.
(Ancient Greek) Soma = “body”
Slow, deep and relaxed is the name of the game. I’ve gone deep down the “breathedelics” rabbit hole and I can tell you it is wonderful and healing on a mental and spiritual level but it can also help to create further breathing deficiencies. If you’re tense and “wired tight” then you simply MUST do some relaxed breathing FIRST.
Learn to let the belly do your breathing at rest… learn to not hold your breath constantly and seize up, not to brace every time you put your shoes on…
Stick your legs up on the couch and back lying on the floor. Hands rest on the belly. Relax your face. Relax everything that you notice. Breathe out longer than your breathe in. Don’t hold the breath at the top, only the bottom. Every time you exhale, let out 1% more tension. Notice when your chest rises before your belly. Keep working to relax the shoulders and abdomen until you’re eventually breathing from the belly FIRST.
Don’t FORCE it. Let it come naturally. Getting frustrated will not do you any good either…
Once you can chill out, then you can begin to work on other forms of breath work such as breath of fire (Kapalabhati), Wim Hof Method or Tummo, and you can even incorporate Kundalini and Yogic exercises alongside more intense versions of breath.
We will cover biomechanics breathing matches in the next series, but it should be noted that in most physical yoga practices (Asana) you are attempting to link breath with movement and be slow and present both in static postures and while moving. If you find yourself tensing and losing focus off your breath then simply reduce the difficulty!
Utilizing diaphragmatic / sacral breathing throughout the day (and during most activities) will not only keep your CNS at rest but it will also saturate your blood with more oxygen, plus:
Reduce overall sense of anxiety
Release more serotonin and dopamine
Reduce cortisol and other stress-hormones
Relax nerves connected to knees, low backs and “achey” areas
Keep you more present and focused
There is another side to this breathing coin… see most people get things all wrong when it comes to breathing. When there’s nothing physically demanding they tense up and breathe with the emergency muscles, but when they go to lift something… they don’t brace properly and end up pulling something or throwing something out.
You should breathe relaxed when you’re working on the computer or just walking around throughout your day and you should BRACE properly when lifting things! How do you do this?
Well, there’s a couple of things to consider. First, is there an external load? What I mean by that is are you performing something like the above picture (a calisthenics exercise) or are you lifting something (an external load) because they have different effects on the body.
In both cases your breathing will be challenged. In the picture above you can see a total body tension is taking place. I have to react this way to keep the body shape. The nature of this exercise demands it. If I was to, say, pick up a heavy sandbag then I would have to be more conscious of my bracing.
Each total load and object shape is going to factor in to how much tension you need to generate. If you lock up too much then you’ll gas out and cause chronic stress, but if you don’t brace enough you’ll get injured.
In all cases you’re breathing “behind a shield” as in:
Inhale through the nose or sharply through the mouth, down into the belly
The belly expands, then brace the abs HARD
If you’re having trouble with this and breathing up into your shoulders too much, try this drill:
Lie face down on your belly
Breathe your belly into the ground and relax the shoulders
Put a light weight on your low back or have a partner poke their fingers into the low back
As you breathe in try to “push” the fingers out and expand the belly into the ground at the same time
Now do all the above and poke fingers into your sides, just above the hip bones
Breathe in to “push out”
Practice this until it feels more natural. Then grab a weightlifting belt, get it tight around your belly button. Don’t kill yourself but it should be a little uncomfortable. Now do the breathing you just practice “into the belt”.
The belt will act as a “second” abdominal wall and get you used to the feeling of bracing. Emphasize this by holding the breath while braced. Then apply force to the grip, abs and glutes. Whole body is tense and breath is held in low belly, not in the neck or face.
When you lift something very heavy (for you) then you must actually hold the breath while bracing in this manner. Do not do this if the load is lighter than maximal effort.
Does this sound like A LOT? Is it the firs time you’re hearing this? Then I’m sorry to say the physical education system as a whole has failed you. This is the most fundamental aspect of proper physical training; mastering the relationship between breathing and bracing, and I hardly ever see fitness trainers or PE teachers even remotely approach the concept.
If you can master these breath mechanics you will be further along than 90% of trainees out there! Its not only the secret to getting rid of pain and stress, but also the method for lifting more weight than you ever thought possible and SAFELY to boot!
Happy training and breathe easy, would ya? As always, strong bodies, soft hearts.
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