Breathing Basics
When it comes to breathing, there’s A LOT of information out there…
So, I want to help simplify things a bit.
Breathing relies on a change in pressure.
Air will move from high to low pressure.
So when the pressure in the atmosphere is HIGHER than the pressure in our body, air will rush into our lungs.
When the pressure in the atmosphere is LOWER than the pressure in our body, air rushes out.
This is why we NEED our ribcage to move, because it helps create this pressure gradient.
Now let’s talk about DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING, or as I like to call it, 360 BREATHING. This is how you would breathe during a breathing technique (not necessarily quiet respiration).
When we inhale, our Diaphragm will contract and flatten. This causes us to visibly see our belly RISE.
This should be immediately followed by our ribcage expanding in all directions (360 degrees).
The expansion of the ribcage REDUCES the pressure inside the thoracic cavity, resulting in air rushing to fill our lungs.
On the exhale, our Diaphragm relaxes and returns to its “dome” shape. This causes are belly to fall.
Our ribcage compresses and gets smaller, causing the pressure inside the thoracic cavity to increase, resulting in air leaving our body.
This beautiful process is what allows gas exchange to occur, meaning our tissues can receive Oxygen and remove excess Carbon Dioxide.
To simplify:
When we inhale we want:
Belly to rise
Ribcage to expand
Lungs to fill with air
When we exhale we want:
Belly to fall
Ribcage to compress
Lungs to deflate
But you may hear a lot of additional breathing cues, so let’s discuss a few of them:
1. “Pause at the end of an exhale”
You may see this in PRI techniques, and I often cue this in class, so what does it mean?
The cue is something like this: Inhale through your nose, take a long slow exhale through your mouth, pause 4 seconds at the end of the exhale.
The pause can help ensure you’re getting a FULL exhale, and actually allowing your ribcage to move into a position of exhalation. This means the lower portion of the front of your ribcage moves into internal rotation (the opposite of a “rib flare” position).
This position is important because it helps establish a proper Zone of Apposition between the inside of your ribcage and your Diaphragm, allowing your Diaphragm to pump more effectively.
Pausing at the end of the exhale can also stimulate your Parasympathetic Nervous System, shown by increased Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
2. “Keep your abs ON as you inhale”
This cue can be a little more confusing because normally you’d want your Abdominal Wall relaxing as your lungs fill with air…
BUT, the goal of this cue is to help individuals who tend to JUST move from their lower ribs, and have a hard time expanding their apical lungs.
When we take a full exhale during a breathing technique, we should feel our obliques turn on, as they assist in pulling the ribcage into a position of exhalation.
By continuing to maintain some tension in the obliques during the inhale, we can keep the lower ribs down, sending air to expand the upper chest wall.
This can help improve shoulder mobility by altering the orientation of the scapula on the ribcage. It can also help inhibit a neck that is maybe working too hard to “pull” air in.
3. “Don’t lift your chest”
So this cue has caused many people to incorrectly believe they should be belly breathing. But let me explain…
Belly Breathing occurs when our belly rises on an inhale and falls on an exhale, but there’s NO ribcage movement. This is ineffective breathing.
Yes, we do want the belly to rise and fall, but it MUST be accompanied by ribcage expansion and compression.
Neck Breathing occurs when we have a hard time moving our ribcage or effectively getting air in. As a result, on an inhale, our neck muscles LIFT our upper ribs in attempts to create ribcage expansion and pull air in…
But this is also ineffective breathing. We want our Diaphragm pump to work so our neck can relax.
The cue “don’t lift your chest” is meant to prevent people from over-utilizing the neck to pull air in.
But don’t be fooled…
This doesn’t mean your ribcage shouldn’t move. It absolutely should. We just don’t want it to happen by way of the neck.
Breathing… clear as mud, right?!
Want more?
Watch the videos “Breathing: Explained” and “Hip Lift” under the Body & Breath carousel.