Deep Breathing Facts
By Dennis Lewis
In general, the human organism was not designed to breathe deeply at all times
and in all situations. The depth of our breath, whether it is shallow, medium,
or deep depends in large part on what it is we are doing. If we are sitting
quietly reading, for example, we do not need to be breathing deeply. If we are
working hard and expending a great deal of energy, however, we might well need
to breathe deeply. Another situation in which deep breathing can be beneficial
is when we are trying to revitalize our energy or for special or healing
exercises.
Deep breathing can be important to both health and spiritual development. Such
breathing can increase our vitality and promote relaxation. Unfortunately, when
we try to take a so-called deep breath, many of us do the exact opposite: we
suck in our bellies, raise our shoulders, and try to expand our chest. This is
shallow breathing. To learn deep breathing we need to do far more than learn new
breathing exercises. Before deep breathing exercises can be of any lasting
value, we need to experience and understand through the direct inner sensation
of our own bodies the function of the chest muscles and diaphragm in breathing,
as well as the function of the belly and back. We also need to observe how
unnecessary tension in our muscles impedes our breathing.
The diaphragm is a dome-shaped structure that not
only assists in breathing, but also acts as a natural partition between our
heart and lungs on the one hand, and all of the other internal organs on the
other. The top of the diaphragm, located about one and one-half inches up from
the bottom of the sternum, actually supports the heart, while the bottom of the
diaphragm is attached all the way around our lower ribs and connects also to our
lower lumbar vertebrae. When we breathe, the surface of our diaphragm generally
moves downward as we inhale and upward as we exhale. (See if you can sense these
movements periodically throughout your day.) When we breathe fully and deeply,
which is only possible when the belly releases and expands on inhalation and
retracts on exhalation, the diaphragm moves farther down into the abdomen, and
our lungs are able to expand more completely into the chest cavity. This means
that more oxygen is taken in and more carbon dioxide is released with each
breath. Of course, if we breathe both deeply and relatively quickly, we could
lose too much carbon dioxide too quickly, which can cause us to overbreathe or
hyperventilate.
Deep breathing, when it is easy, natural, and necessary, can have a beneficial
influence on our health and well being. To understand how this happens, we need
to remember that the diaphragm is attached all around the lower ribcage and has
strands going down to the lumbar vertebrae. When our breathing is full and deep,
the diaphragm moves through its entire range downward to massage the liver,
stomach, and other organs and tissues below it, and upward to massage the heart.
When our breathing is full and deep, the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back
all expand on inhalation, thus drawing the diaphragm down deeper into the
abdomen, and retract on exhalation, allowing the diaphragm to move fully upward
toward the heart. In deep, abdominal breathing, the downward and upward
movements of the diaphragm, combined with the outward and inward movements of
the belly, ribcage, and lower back, help to massage and detoxify our inner
organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and pump the lymph more efficiently
through our lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, which is an important part
of our immune system, has no pump other than muscular movements, including the
movements of breathing.
As you begin to observe your breathing in the course of your everyday life, you
may notice that you often breathe too fast for the conditions in which you find
yourself, that is, you actually hyperventilate. This fast, shallow breathing expels carbon dioxide too quickly and has many bad
effects on our physical and emotional health. When our breathing is deeper,
however--when it involves in an appropriate way not only the respiratory muscles
of the chest but also the belly, lower ribcage, and lower, middle and upper
back--our breathing normally slows down. This slower, deeper breathing, combined
with the rhythmical pumping of our diaphragm, abdomen, and belly, helps turn on
our parasympathetic nervous system--our "relaxation response." Such breathing
helps to harmonize our nervous system and reduce the amount of stress in our
lives. And this, of course, has a positive impact on our overall health.
The key to deep breathing is to begin to learn to sense unnecessary tension in
our bodies and to learn how to release this tension. Then, when the body needs
to breathe deeply for the task at hand, it will be able to do so. Releasing
unnecessary tension requires great inner attention and awareness. It requires
learning the art of self-sensing and self-observation. A beneficial work with
deep breathing begins with increasing our internal awareness. Without sufficient
awareness, without great sensitivity to what is happening inside our bodies, any
efforts to change our breathing will at best have no effect whatsoever (we'll
quickly stop our breathing exercises), and at worst will create more tension and
stress in our lives and thus undermine our health and well-being even further.
Another important aspect of deep breathing, one that is frequently overlooked,
has to do with the strength of the diaphragm and its coordination with the
secondary breathing muscles. When we were young, unless we were very quiet and
sedentary (which, by the way is becoming more and more common as children watch
more and more television), we kept our diaphragm strong and coordinated through
constant hollering, screaming, shouting, singing, running, jumping, twisting,
playing, and so on. As adults, however, the most intense exercise many of us
give our diaphragm is talking. As a result, a diaphragm that was designed to be
able to move comfortably five to six inches through the vertical direction,
today often moves comfortably just one to three inches. Combine this with the
chronic tension and poor posture that so many of us experience in our lives, and
our diaphragm often becomes misshapen and smaller than it should be. All of this
contributes to the fast shallow breathing we see in so many people.
If you want a stronger and better coordinated diaphragm, the solution is simple.
Begin humming, toning, chanting and singing on a regular basis, being sure not
to let yourself become breathless as you do so, and start a program of tai chi,
qigong (chi kung), classical yoga, and other movement disciplines that bring
flexibility and deep relaxation. (I talk about this in depth in my book
Free
Your Breath, Free Your Life.)
In general, many of us have poor breathing habits, including the way in which we
attempt to do so-called deep breathing exercises, and we don't know it. This is
tragic. Research has shown that our health and longevity are closely associated
with the health of our lungs and the way we breathe. In short, poor breathing
often results in more health problems and a shorter life.
How can you tell if you might have breathing problems? One way is to notice
whether you hold your breath a lot, breathe more than 10 breaths a minute while
at rest, find yourself frequently out of breath, have little belly and lower rib
movement and a lot of chest movement when you are breathing at rest, or suck in
your belly and raise your shoulders when trying to take a deep breath. Another,
more comprehensive, way is to take the free breathing tests developed by Mike
White. He offers two
tests: a 5-minute test and a 15-minute test.
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