01/11/2023
Abnormal breathing patterns can have a large influence on our health. I see this happening with clients who have difficulty being able to breath the way we were designed to, due to either as a result of current or chronic pain, ongoing stress, or even from a change in posture.
The less aware we are of our breath, the more impact it has on health.
Being aware of breathing has shown to have vast benefits with all aspects of health; from athletic performance to pain management, from reducing the effects of trauma to helping with anxiety and depression..the list goes on.
A classic sign of a non-optimal breathing pattern is chest breathing when we are at rest. This can hugely affect day to day functioning in multiple ways.
Here is a test to see if you chest breathe:
In lying, place one hand on your chest and the other hand on your naval. Focus on taking in a normal-size breath so that your abdomen rises (pushing up the lower hand) but the chest stays relatively still. If the chest continues to rise and if the shoulders shrug towards the head, then there is an altered breathing pattern.
To improve this, continue to do this exercise regularly. Work your way to 10 seconds of belly breathing 10 times. When ready, perform the same activity in sitting, then standing, then walking.
If this is hard to do, keep practising this exercise and it will help improve back issues, increase cardio-based activities, reduce anxiety, and many more benefits.
if this topic interests you, I recommend “Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor. A fascinating look into traditional and modern breath techniques.
