the anatomy of breathing
What if there was one thing you could do right now that would change your life? It turns out that one of the most powerful tools we have for healing happens to be something that we do about 20,000 times each day. The ancient yogis knew the power of the breath, and that is why pranayama is such an integral part of yoga practice. Swami Kripalu practiced pranayama for 8 - 10 hours every day!
Breathing is typically an automatic process that happens without thought or conscious control. However, the breath is the only autonomic process you can choose to control through voluntary action. By changing the way you breathe, you can influence your heart rate, nervous system, posture, and the flow of energy in your body.
The diaphragm is the main muscle of inspiration. It rests like a dome at the bottom of the rib cage. When you inhale, the diaphragm pulls down and expands the volume of the lungs and ribs. When you exhale, the diaphragm relaxes back to its resting state. A relaxed exhale requires very little effort, as it is the result of the passive recoil of the diaphragm. However, the abdominal muscles can assist with facilitating a deeper exhalation by narrowing and depressing the rib cage.
The efficiency of the diaphragm is deeply connected to the alignment of the rib cage. When the ribs are stacked above the pelvis, the diaphragm rests in its natural state, and has room to move. When the ribs are in a flared or displaced position, the diaphragm gets stretched out and no longer has the full excursion available to enable deep inhalation. As a result, the neck muscles attempt to assist with breathing in by elevating the upper ribs. This leads to neck and shoulder tension, and can limit shoulder mobility by changing the way the shoulder blade sits on the rib cage.
This also results in inhibition of the automatic engagement of the core, leading to postural instability. Think of the game Jenga. When all of the blocks are aligned, the tower is pretty stable. However, if any of the blocks are pulled out of alignment with the tower, it is no longer as stable. The same is true for the body. When the rib cage is out of alignment with the pelvis, the posture is not as stable, the diaphragm begins to be used for postural stability, and breathing becomes shallow and strained.
Breathing is the most important function in your body as all of your cells and organs need oxygen in order to survive. The consequence to inefficient respiration is a negative feedback cycle in which we begin to over-breath, and rarely fully exhale. Most importantly, it creates stress on the nervous system and puts the body into fight or flight mode. Inefficient breathing can lead to headaches, anxiety, pelvic floor dysfunction, vocal cord dysfunction, neck and back pain, shoulder pain, and other physical issues. To counter this, breathe through your nose and lengthen your exhalations relative to your inhalations. You can work up to a 2:1 ratio in which you exhale for twice as long as you inhale. Lengthening your exhalations will help calm your nervous system, and engage your core muscles to help you feel more centered.
inspiration
So much has been written in the yogic texts about breathing. Breath is the vehicle for energy and our connection to our divine selves and to each other. Here are some of my favorite verses about breathing from the Radiance Sutras, a translation by Lorin Roche of the Vijnana Bhairava Sutras.
This is one of my favorite books, and one I return to regularly for inspiration. It is a love song between Shiva and Shakti, and also contains 112 verses on the practice of meditation as a method of cultivating harmony and love. I highly recommend it.
1.
The One Who is Intimate to All Beings said,
Beloved, your questions require the answers that come
through direct living experience.
The way of experience begins with a breath
such as the breath you are breathing now.
Awakening into the luminous reality
may dawn in the momentary throb
between any two breaths.
The breath flows in and just before it turns
to flow out,there is a flash of pure joy
-life is renewed.
Awaken into that.
As the breath is released and flows out,
there is a pulse as it turns to flow in.
In that turn, you are empty.
Enter that emptiness as the source of all life.
2.
Radiant one,
The life essence carries on its play
through the pulsing rhythm
of outward and inward movement.
This is the ceaseless throb, the rhythm of life
-terrifying in its eternity, exquisite in its constancy.
The inhalation, the return movement of breath,
sustains life.
The outgoing breath
purifies life.
We breathe out the old air, the old thoughts, the old feelings.
These are the two poles
between which respiration goes on unceasingly.
Between them is every quality you could ever desire.
As the breath turns from in to out,
and again as the breath
curves from out to in
-through both these turns, absorb intensity.
3.
Enter these turning points
In the play of respiration and expiration,
Where the rhythms of life transform
Into each other.
Breath flows in, then surrenders to flow out again.
In this moment, drink eternity.
Breath flows out, emptying, emptying,
Offering itself to infinity.
Cherishing these moments,
Mind dissolves into heart,
Heart dissolves into space,
Body becomes a shimmering field
Pulsating between emptiness and fullness..
