Tell a Ghost Story: You’re Breathing All Wrong.
Actually, most people don’t know how to breathe properly. Most of us are familiar with thoracic breathing, where the chest does most of the work while the abdomen remains nearly static. Look around, and you’ll notice that many people raise and lower their shoulders while breathing, a telltale sign of shallow breathing facilitated by primarily using the chest.
Thoracic breathing isn’t without its problems. For one, it leads to insufficient oxygen exchange and relies on a limited group of muscles. Worse yet, it can affect your appearance: thick neck, forward head posture, facial asymmetry and temporomandibular joint disorder, rounded shoulders and hunchback, internally rotated shoulders, anterior humeral glide, protruding abdomen, flattened buttocks, anterior pelvic tilt, hyperextended knees, and flat feet. These consequences are very real, not urban legends.
Imagine that we need to breathe over 20,000 times a day. If done correctly, such a frequent activity can revitalize us, relieve shoulder and neck discomfort, alleviate back pain, regulate mood, and reduce anxiety. On the contrary, incorrect breathing can cause serious problems. The brain, perceiving a lack of oxygen, can trigger a series of reactions like tilting the head and neck forward and dropping the chin to increase airflow, leading to increased chin tension and discomfort in the shoulders and neck.
Moreover, a hunched posture further compresses the abdominal space, causing constriction of the internal organs. The brain might then direct to hold the organs static, leading to a host of problems such as a protruding abdomen, pelvic floor issues, deformed pelvis, reshaped buttocks, stiff lower back, and more.
But if you start with simple exercises right now, you could begin to reverse these issues. Would you be willing to try? This is the scientifically proven truth about the power of proper breathing.
To learn to breathe correctly, we must first understand a very important muscle – the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the major muscle of respiration and divides the thoracic and abdominal cavities. When inhaling, the diaphragm contracts downwards, creating a vacuum that allows air to enter the lungs naturally through the nose and mouth.
Just by routinely practicing diaphragmatic breathing anywhere, at any time, you can expect to improve your breathing methods, address a host of problems caused by incorrect breathing, and change your life.
As we exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and rises to its original position. There is a common misconception that the “muscles” of the lungs contract and expand to facilitate gas exchange during breathing. However, the truth is that the diaphragm plays a crucial role. The lungs themselves lack muscles and rely on the pressure difference created by the diaphragm to exchange gases successfully. With our diaphragm tirelessly rising and falling for more than 20,000 breath cycles a day, it’s an activity performed over 20,000 times daily.
From my perspective, the diaphragm is like an elevator constantly moving up and down between floors. Just as a building must remain upright for its elevators to function smoothly, the same is true for the diaphragm. Only when the thoracic cavity and pelvis are aligned in a straight line can the “elevator” of the body’s “building” – the diaphragm – move freely up and down.
Yet, due to everyday postures such as tilting the head forward, hunchback, or curling up for extended periods while using a mobile phone, improper positioning of the thorax and pelvis and body misalignment occur, hindering the movement of the diaphragm. When the diaphragm cannot move up and down smoothly, we are unable to breathe deep and freely. This is why those who breathe normally often appear more upright.
Now, let’s try a method that allows us to feel the effect of becoming upright through breathing. First, sit comfortably and straight in a chair, making sure your thorax and pelvis are aligned straight both frontally and laterally. Imagine them as two blocks, where the “thoracic block” is securely placed on top of the “pelvic block.” Then, take slow and gentle breaths, feeling as if the chest cavity and abdominal cavity are being filled with air. Afterward, hold your breath (making sure not to leak any air) and attempt to perform bending and hunching movements. You will discover it seems like magic has fixed your body in place, making it difficult to slouch or adopt poor posture.
At this moment, the air in the thoracic and abdominal cavities has established a firm barrier around your torso, forcing you to maintain an upright and relaxed posture. Through this method, you will experience so-called “intra-abdominal pressure”. When our respiratory function is normal and the diaphragm operates at maximum efficiency with proper thoracic and pelvic alignment, each breath helps build and maintain good intra-abdominal pressure.
This means that muscles can relax and rest without being overtired, the brain senses safety and relaxation, the arteries, veins, esophagus, and vagus nerve traversing the diaphragm are no longer compressed by high tension, and the fascia of the body and internal organs regain the ability to stretch freely. In short, good breathing equals ample oxygen supply and a brain that feels safe, which leads to harmonious organ function, more efficient circulation and metabolism, plus a stronger vitality and higher quality of life????.
What’s more wonderful is that with healthy breathing patterns, through practices like slow breathing, periodic breath-holding, and mindful breathing, unexpected benefits such as aiding in fat reduction, controlling appetite, increasing metabolic rate, and enhancing heart health can also be achieved. Thus, mastering the right breathing techniques will make you more upright and relaxed; each breath becomes a reachable practice of life.
The first step in starting to learn breathing is to practice using “diaphragmatic” breathing.
Steps for the seated version of the breathing exercise:
Step One: Sit in a chair and find a midpoint by rocking the pelvis back and forth, which feels most comfortable as your sitting position. Ensure the hips are stable, then adjust the chest and upper body so that they align frontally and laterally with the pelvis, like two firmly stacked blocks.
Step Two: Place one hand on the chest and the other on the belly button. During slow inhalation, feel both hands move outward in parallel as the chest and abdominal cavities expand, with the hand on the chest moving less than the hand on the abdomen. The key is not to let the chest and shoulders rise noticeably during inhalation; focus on the outward expansion of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The aim is to breathe naturally, long, and quietly, which is the focus of this step.
Step Three: Lightly place both hands on the lower edges of the ribcage. Like a butterfly’s wings expanding with breath, the ribs open to the sides during inhalation and come together during exhalation. Ensure once again that the chest and shoulders remain stable without noticeable rising during inhalation.
Final Step: Place one hand on the lower abdomen and the other on the back. During inhalation, both front and back hands should feel the body expand; due to the bony structure, the expansion felt by the back hand will be relatively weaker, but the focus remains on keeping the chest and shoulders still during inhalation.
Close your eyes, inhale slowly and silently through your nose, then exhale, making the exhale twice as long as the inhale. Maintain a steady and comfortable breathing rhythm, focusing on duration and quietude, without striving for deep breaths. During practice, pay attention to the subtle changes in your body with each breath.
