Healthy for us

How to Breathe Deeply

Breathing deeply can calm the mind and develop a strong spine.

Steps

1. Get into a supine position, with knees bent and feet flat on the floor or table.
2. Bring attention to body and breath; notice contact points with the floor and your breathing pattern (“where is there movement with the breath”).
3. Bring breath into lower trunk. Let most of the movement of the breath be below the ribcage (“Belly, low back and pelvis”).
4. Bring attention to the area inside of the pelvis. The pelvis is shaped like bony bowl with a hole in the bottom. Within this bony bowl is a muscular bowl going from front of pelvis (pubis) to tailbone like a hammock. When you have to go to the bathroom, you lift this hammock to “hold it”, and when you get to the toilet you release these pelvic floor muscles to evacuate bowel/bladder.
5. See if you can feel a subtle movement with the breath in these pelvic floor muscles.
6. Accentuate the movement of the pelvic floor with the breath.
7. Inhale; relax pelvic floor down.
8. Exhale; very gently draw pelvic floor toward the head.
9. Bring the attention to the abdomen. Draw navel in on exhale. Relax belly on inhalation.
10. Bring attention to the throat. Use glottis to slow down expiration.
11. Continue, and notice any change in pelvic floor and deep abdominal muscles. Feel connection between glottis and expiratory muscles. Play with different ways of coordinating the pelvic, thoracic and cervical diaphragm.
12. Inhale with abdominal and pelvic muscles engaged. Instead of completely relaxing deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles on inhalation, maintain sufficient contraction to stabilize lumbar spine and pelvis.
13. Do not allow upper chest to expand on inhale.
14. Imagine compressing a ball of energy near navel. Pelvic floor and deep abdominals “fight” diaphragm. On inhale, diaphragm “wins”. On exhale, pelvic floor and abdominals “win”.

Tips

* Be gentle and patient.

Warnings

* If you get dizzy or lightheaded, you are breathing too quickly.