Get Breathing
Our breath is our life force—without it, there’s no life. And it’s full of movement. When we breathe, we move. The breath ebbs and flows, peaks and troughs, filling our bodies and releasing. Just look at how animals breathe (especially when they’re sleeping). They do it without any self-consciousness, their whole body moving naturally with the breath. This is our essential breath and the most natural way for us to breathe.
As we get older, life throws different challenges our way. We also build up a bank of experiences that can distort how we see ourselves. These experiences can lead to poor breathing habits that lead us to restrict how we breathe. Think of something as common as body image; millions of people all over the world wearing tight clothes, sucking their bellies in, anxious about how they think they should look. Or consider the times you’ve felt under threat—maybe you hear a strange noise at night. What’s the first thing you do? Hold your breath. It’s instinctive, as your senses sharpen while you try to figure out what's happening. More often than not, it’s harmless—just a fox rummaging through a bin. But these types of stressors happen repeatedly throughout the day having a similar effect—emails from the boss, unwanted phone calls and messages, constant demands on our time putting never-ending pressure on us. What do we do? We hold our breath.
When these restricted breathing patterns become chronic, they start to have a real physical effect on our wellbeing. We might experience tension and fatigue, especially in the upper body. More significantly, these patterns can affect the nervous system, keeping us in a constant state of "fight or flight." This happens because shallow chest breathing is how we prepare to either fight danger or run from it. Yet, when we’re feeling run down, anxious, or just a bit "meh," we rarely think about breath as a way to feel better. We focus on diet, exercise, or meditation, but forget that simple breathwork - our vital energy - can reenergize and restore us.
Breath Awareness
So, where do we start? Breath perception is one of the first steps, but most of us have no idea how we actually breathe. There are plenty of breath perception exercises out there to help you start noticing how the breath moves. You could try an Essential Breath Awareness practice, or a version of Donna Farhi’s Marriage of Movement & Breath. Get used to noticing what’s going on in the body when you breathe. What is the belly doing when you breathe in and out? What’s happening with the rib cage? Do you finish your exhale or snatch at your inhale? Don’t try and make stuff happen or make your breath be something that you think it should be. At this point just watch how it is.
Breathing Mechanics
In terms of mechanics, breathing can be understood in a relatively simple way. We have primary and secondary breathing muscles. The primary ones do the bulk of the work—your diaphragm in particular and intercostals (the muscles between your ribs).
The diaphragm is like a parachute sitting under the ribs, separating the upper and lower torso. When you inhale, it moves down, creating more space for the chest cavity to expand and for the lungs to inflate, allowing a full breath in. As you exhale, the diaphragm rises back up, the rib cage contracts, and the lungs deflate. This is a natural, diaphragmatic breath. For the diaphragm to move down, everything beneath it—intestines, organs, etc.—needs to move out of the way, which is why the belly expands when you breathe in. The belly expands, the ribs expand, and as you exhale, everything retracts. If this reflects your general breathing pattern, you’re in good shape.
Your secondary breathing muscles are the helpers—they’re located higher up in the neck and shoulders. They’re designed for short bursts of activity, like running from lions or fighting bears. These days they’re probably better for park runs and running for the bus. You don’t want to be using these all the time though, and so rule number one is that your secondary breathing muscles should never take on the role of the primary breathing muscles. When muscles that are meant to do the helping start to do the heavy lifting, they tire quickly, leading to tension, particularly in the neck and shoulders.
If this secondary pattern becomes chronic, your body will also start to think it’s constantly in fight or flight mode. You’re essentially in survival mode all the time. This is exhausting and can wreak havoc on your cortisol levels and overall well-being.
Why It Matters
All of this is significant because the way we breathe has a profound effect on the parts of our nervous system that help us to do things involuntarily – things like our heart rate and digestion. And our nervous system has a profound effect on the way that we feel and how we respond to things. And when that is out of kilter, we can get into a world of trouble.
In part two of this blog, we’ll look deeper into the relationship between our breath and our nervous system and how that impacts on our health. For now, try out some of the breath perception practices at the links above and begin to develop an awareness of how your body moves when you breathe. Notice where and how you might be holding your breath, and think about what effect that might be having.