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A Musing #2 - Back to the Beginning: the Breath
So I've been playing with the breath in both Prague and Malaysia, and recently made some pretty exciting discoveries! About 18 months ago in Prague I started really examining my own breath - not only when in yoga poses, but more often when I was just lying on the floor. From there I began looking at what my body was actually doing while breathing. As it turns out - my body was doing a LOT of interesting things. For starters, I was breathing with my shoulders and my neck. In fact, I'd been doing it so long it was almost impossible to not move my shoulders and neck when breathing. And then when I finally got that under control - my legs decided to kick in and start helping! I wasn't breathing correctly because first, I didn't intellectually understand what to do and second, without any guidance my body had apparently decided to develop its own dysfunctional way of doing things - resulting in inefficient muscle coordination on the mat & muscle pain off the mat.
So once I figured out what I was doing wrong - I started trying to figure out how to do it right - and in a way that best supported how we are actually moving in the physical practice of yoga. I did this through reading/research, chatting with physical therapists, other yoga/pilates instructors & exercise scientists, and experimenting on myself (and sometimes them - thank you Lydia!). The result was a new way of breathing for me...and ultimately a new way of thinking about the breath and how it really applies to and works with the yoga poses.
As we delve deeper and really begin breaking things down, like me - you may find some of this quite contradictory to what you've been taught. But I challenge you to keep an open mind, to play and to experiment yourself and draw your own conclusions.
To start we must go back to the beginning - back to the breath. So without further ado...
1. Lying on your back begin breathing in & out through the nose (the mouth remains closed unless it's too strenuous).
2. Both exhalation & inhalation should begin in the belly. Starting with the belly on exhalation the abdominals contract while the diaphragm relaxes, the lungs deflate & the chest closes. Starting with the belly, on inhalation the diaphragm contracts while the abdominals are relaxed, the lungs inflate, followed by the chest opening.
3. With each exhale, deeply & strongly contract the abdominal muscles to pull the lower ribs down towards the spine and the lumbar back down into the mat - filling the back with air (it should feel less strenuous than if you coughed or sneezed - but that's the action we're looking for)
4. With each inhale try to continue to keep the ribs moving towards the spine and the back against the mat (positioned during the exhale) while lengthening through the deep front abdominals, side obliques and deep back muscles. If the breath becomes too strenuous, then forgo the first part and just focus on lengthening through the torso.
5. Aim for a lengthened & non-strenuous quality of breath on both inhalation & exhalation (though if the abdominals are weak - this will be extremely difficult until they become stronger).
6. Begin blaspheming me - yes I know it sucks & it hurts! But it WILL become easier!
Of course like any other journey of the self - ultimately I walk it alone. However, if my path resonates with you or better yet even, if it pisses you off, then I encourage you to join me here & to feel free to add to or argue with my ideas! I want this to be a living, breathing, evolving blog!
In future posts I'll be exploring how to use the breath in order to best support, power & move in the poses, how to strengthen the abdominal muscles to facilitate this breath & the overall implications for this breath & core work in the poses! I'll also be offering voodoo doll 101 - as i have little doubt you'll want to stick pins in me by the time I get you through the abdominal work! (;
Posted by Monica @ Prague Yoga