| Breath is what is called a primary pattern, | | | | reaching outward with all five arms), and as you |
| meaning it's one of the first things a child does | | | | exhale, your body should subtly reverse the |
| when he or she is born. Your whole body | | | | movement, coming inward towards the fetal |
| responds to the air that you bring in through your | | | | position. |
| lungs, not just your chest, and oxygen is the | | | | Did you know that everywhere you have ribs, |
| most vital nutrient your body requires. | | | | you also have lung space? You have just as much |
| While you can live without food and water for | | | | rib bone in your back as you do in the front of |
| days, possibly months, you will survive for a mere | | | | your body, therefore, you also have just as much |
| four minutes, six at best, without air. Your breath | | | | availability for breath and movement in your back. |
| is the interface between voluntary movement | | | | The primary muscle to initiate breath should be |
| and the more passive activities of your organs | | | | the diaphragm; however, most people are |
| because it can be somewhat controlled by | | | | unaware of how their diaphragms function. It is a |
| conscious effort. But, when we let go with our | | | | large, dome shaped muscle that spans your |
| attention, breath continues to flow into our tissues | | | | coastal arch (the front, lower part of your ribs, |
| and feed our cells. | | | | where your abdomen begins). As you inhale, the |
| Sadly, many people have forgotten how to | | | | dome flattens downward, toward your feet, |
| breathe. Fear, worry, and stress contract the | | | | pulling air into the chest cavity. When you exhale, |
| tissues around the rib cage and bring in only a | | | | the muscle relaxes and is pulled back up towards |
| small amount of air, just barely enough to | | | | the sky, pressing air out of your lungs. |
| maintain basic functions. Some people teach that | | | | Breathing rhythms are too small to notice most |
| there is a "proper" way to breathe, for | | | | of the time. They are overshadowed by the |
| meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, relaxation, labor, | | | | greater vibrations in our world - cars, music, |
| etc. | | | | chatting on the telephone. We rarely pause long |
| It's easy to learn a breath pattern that serves a | | | | enough to pay attention to our breathing, and |
| particular activity and then to get stuck there | | | | equally as dangerous, when we do pay attention, |
| indefinitely. These patterns, which at first liberate | | | | we are usually trying to control and manipulate it |
| us from our own neurological rut, transform into a | | | | rather than allow it to flow naturally and fully. |
| prison with no alternatives. When you have one | | | | Breath should move organically to release |
| choice, you have a prison, two choices is a | | | | blockages of tension and negative emotion that |
| dilemma, and having three choices equals | | | | have been stored in the body. |
| adaptability. We're striving for adaptability. | | | | Trying too hard to control the breath can result in |
| Breath is a powerful tool, and when you develop | | | | pain, discomfort, or reduced range of motion if |
| awareness of your own pattern, you can alter it | | | | you become fixated in one type of breath work. |
| to accompany sports, change your emotions, | | | | Try the following exercises to begin. monitoring |
| increase or decrease muscular tension, activate | | | | your breathing. I find it easiest to do this while |
| your organs, strengthen your singing or speaking | | | | lying down, but you can also sit in a chair if that's |
| voice, and to support or change the curvature of | | | | more comfortable. Allow your breath to flow in |
| your spine. And you thought breath just | | | | and out of your body in a natural rhythm. You |
| oxygenated your blood! By working with the flow | | | | may be surprised to discover that you take in |
| of breath in your body, you basically go beneath | | | | very little air! That's okay, don't try to change |
| all the harmful and damaging movement patterns | | | | anything just yet. |
| you've learned throughout your life and reset | | | | - Notice whether you pause after you inhale or |
| your body in a neutral place. This is, of course, a | | | | exhale or if you just keep on breathing. |
| process and a practice; however, for profound | | | | - Do you feel your breath more in your chest or |
| physical and emotional changes, there is no | | | | your stomach? |
| greater lever than breath work. | | | | - Does your stomach rise or drop inward toward |
| Your ribs function much like Venetian blinds that | | | | your spine as you inhale? |
| hang in a window. If you've ever looked at a | | | | - Can you feel your diaphragm pulling downward |
| skeleton, you'll notice that the rib bones are flat | | | | toward your feet as you breathe in? |
| and wide, not round like most people assume. In a | | | | - Spend a little time focusing on your diaphragm |
| living body, the ribs - actually, all bones - are | | | | and imagining the large dome flattening out when |
| flexible, soft, and pliable. Unfortunately, science | | | | you inhale, resuming its dome-like shape as you |
| studies dead bodies that are devoid of fluid, so | | | | exhale. |
| we mistakenly think of bones as dried up, rock | | | | - Do you feel movement in any other areas of |
| hard structures. The reality is quite the contrary! | | | | your body when you breathe, such as your spine, |
| In fact, even in dried bone, if the bone is chipped | | | | hands, feet, arms, legs, or even your head? |
| or broken in half, you will see a honeycomb of | | | | - Do you have more breath in the front of your |
| very fragile calcium strata that looks like a delicate | | | | body or the back of your body? |
| beehive. | | | | - Begin to explore the edges of the shape of |
| Living bone is more like a sponge than a rock. | | | | your breath. For example, if you feel your breath |
| Yes, it's more stable than muscle or connective | | | | makes a narrow tube down the center of your |
| tissue, but our bones, like the rest of our body, | | | | body, start feeling where the edges of the tube |
| hold a lot of fluid in them. This allows your bones | | | | exist. How far down does it travel? Breathe into |
| to adjust to breath and other subtle rhythms | | | | the edges as you explore. |
| within the body. As you inhale, your whole body | | | | The simple act of noticing your breath will begin |
| should open up and go into external rotation | | | | to shift the pattern. Don't try too hard! That |
| (palms moving outward, legs rotating away from | | | | negates the purpose of the exercise. |
| the hips, spine extending - imagine a starfish | | | | |