There are many ways to breathe and a myriad of ways the breath can be focused and used during: meditation, yoga, martial arts, healing arts, performing arts, sports, exercise, and so on.
This article is not about how to use your breath. It is more about the biomechanics underlying each breath that can either set us up for good alignment or contribute to issues like: forward head posture, neck pain, and back pain.
I hope that after reading this article, you will understand the fundamentals of breathing well. Incorporating these few fundamentals can have a big impact on your overall health and well-being.
Below are 3 breathing fundamentals that will set you up for feeling and being your best:
According to James Nestor in his book Breath, seven books of the Chinese Tao, dating back to around 400 BCE, focused entirely on breathing and how it could kill or heal us, depending on how we use it. Needless to say, how you breathe matters.
- Breathe through your nose, always.
There is a passage in the Tao that states, “The breath inhaled through the mouth is called Ni Ch’i (or adverse breath), which is very harmful. Be careful not to have the breath inhaled through the mouth.” Not much good comes from mouth breathing unless, of course, you are being chased by a saber-toothed tiger.
In his book Breath, James Nestor says, “mouth breathing contributes to periodontal disease and bad breath and was the number one cause of cavities, more damaging than sugar consumption, bad diet or poor hygiene.” He cites lots of studies linking mouth breathing to many common diseases we are currently experiencing in our culture.
- Lower your shoulders on the in-breath.
No matter how you breathe, your diaphragm muscle is designed to do the breathing. The diaphragm’s only job is to pull down on the thoracic cavity to open the lungs, which creates the negative pressure that draws in the air. I have noticed some of my clients using their neck muscles when they breathe. Doing that with every breath shortens the muscles in the front of the neck and contributes to forward head posture and, eventually, neck and back pain.
To see if you are a neck breather, find where your collar bones attach to your breast bone and gently lay your fingertips on the top of the collar bones so that the back of your fingertips rest against your neck. Now, breathe in. If you feel any muscles pop up into your fingers when you breathe, then you are using those muscles to breathe, and it is in your best interest to learn how to just let the diaphragm do the breathing.
It will likely take some practice to coordinate shoulders down on the in-breath, because it is contrary to popular belief and is rarely taught. However, the effects are worth the effort and persistence needed to develop the lower trap muscles, whose job is to lower the shoulders.
If you do not have a sense of lowering your shoulders on the in-breath then strengthening the lower traps is in order and any exercises you find on YouTube will be good to do.
- Breathe slowly.
Contrary to popular belief, we need good levels of CO2 in our bloodstream to enable all the metabolic processes that go on inside our bodies. Again, you can find all the details in James Nestor’s book, which recommends we train ourselves to breathe slower. He likes the 5-5-5 breathing rhythm. Breathe in for 5 seconds and breathe out for 5 seconds, which amounts to 5 or 6 breaths per minute. This is just the right rhythm for a good balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide.
You may find it challenging to incorporate these fundamentals into your every breath. It will take some time, but your persistence will pay off. If you need some extra support with head-forward posture or for mobilizing the shoulders, find a Structural Integration practitioner. We can help.