Breathing Patterns

I wrote this a few years ago. I figured it was fun and useful reading. It is about the breath.

upsidedowncarl

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Breathing Patterns:

From: Carl Horowitz

Lets look at breathing for a moment. A shape change in the thoracic cavity causes a pressure change in the lungs which causes air to be pulled in or pushed out. This is sort of like what happens with an accordion. When you compress the accordion the decrease in volume within the accordion creates an increase in pressure which pushes air out. When you cause the accordion to expand this increases the volume within the accordion decreasing the air pressure and creating a partial vacuum which causes air to be pulled in.

Compression of the thoracic cavity will cause air to be pushed out of the lungs and expansion of the thoracic cavity will cause air to be brought in to the lungs.

The diaphragm is responsible for a certain amount of this pressure change that brings air in. When the diaphragm contracts it causes an increase in volume in the thoracic cavity which causes a decrease in air pressure in the lungs which pulls air in. One interesting thing about the diaphragm is that, as it contracts, it can have a number of different effects on the way the thoracic cavity changes shape.

When the dome shaped diaphragm contracts the shortening of the muscle fibers pulls on the attachments to the rib-cage and spine on one side and on the central tendon of the diaphragm on the other. If certain muscles in the rib-cage contract to stabilize the rib-cage and restrict its movement, then, as the muscle fibers of the diaphragm contract they will pull on the rib-cage but it will not move. The result will be the movement of the central tendon of the diaphragm from superior to inferior. In a person standing upright this would be movement of the central tendon downward in a vertical plane. If the abdomen is relaxed this movement would create a displacement of the contents of the abdomen. This displacement is what you would observe in belly breathing.

However, if the displacement of the abdominal organs is prevented by a contraction in the abdominal muscles (in other words if you keep your stomach “flat” when you breathe) then the diaphragm can contract in such a way to cause the rib cage to lift and expand forward, to the sides and back. This would be similar to what would happen if you had half a tennis ball resting on a table in the shape of a dome. If you tried to push the dome of the half sphere down towards the table the outer edges of the halved ball would move out farther to the sides in all directions increasing the circumference of the base of the dome. As the diaphragm contracts, if it cannot displace the abdominal organs, the central tendon is still pulled from superior to inferior and the ribs are pulled from inferior to superior. As this happens the dome of the diaphragm begins to have less of an arc (it moves towards a more “flattened” shape); as a result the circumference at the base of the dome increases. These factors cause a lifting and a broadening of the circumference at the base of the rib-cage where the diaphragm inserts. The result is an increase in the volume of the thoracic cavity which helps create an inhale.

The diaphragm can also contract in such a way that it causes the expansion of the rib-cage in all directions and the displacement of the abdominal contents.

In terms of movements in the thoracic cavity, air filling the lungs can also cause a vertical lengthening of the spine and an expansion of the upper chest. So the air filling the lungs itself can be used to create expansion of different areas of the body and can be used to support postural alignment. Of course this is really just scratching the surface of the subject.

So how does this get applied in a yoga practice? There are many different techniques used in breathing exercises. Just like with any technique in yoga, the technique is supposed to serve a purpose. When it has served that purpose there are benefits. When the technique has outlived its purpose it can become a problem. Sometimes people get stuck on the techniques. The technique is not the goal, the benefits a technique is supposed to bring is the reason for the technique. I would say this about asana and alignment techniques as well. The practice is for the benefits not the techniques. The techniques only apply if they fit the needs of the person and help create the desired benefits. The appropriate techniques are the ones that are appropriate for the person practicing.

Breathing while expanding from the top down or the bottom up or into the ribs then the chest then the abdomen on inhale are all techniques. They have their applications and benefits and there are places where each technique is useful.

I had a client whose abdomen was so tense that there was almost no movement in this area when she breathed. She had spent years with the self image that she was not allowed to let go of her abdominal muscles because of the desire to have a flat looking stomach. It made her whole body unbelievably tense and her breathing was quite shallow. For her, simply learning how to relax her abdominal muscles while breathing to let some movement happen in this region was ground breaking. After she began to learn how to let go of tension in this region a lot of the unnecessary tension she was holding in her ribs, jaw, neck, shoulders and hips started releasing and many things in her practice and in her life began to change as a result.

I had another client who had “bad” posture, lower back problems and very little tone in his abdomen. His habitual pattern was to breathe into his belly, and movement in his upper spine, rib-cage and chest was restricted. Because the available range of motion in these areas was restricted it was hard to change this pattern. Having him contract his abdomen and keep it flattened while taking a comfortable breath into the chest and rib-cage began to open things up in this area. At first the breathing was fairly shallow. But as things opened up his breathing became deeper and deeper. Just this simple process began to help his lower back problems because the movement in his upper torso and the strengthening of the abdomen helped support the functioning of his lower back.

In the end both clients were able to take full breaths expanding chest, rib-cage and abdomen on inhale but how they got to that point was through the use of different techniques. And once they became aware of their habitual tendencies it became much easier for them to create patterns that were beneficial to their specific needs.

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