Take a deep breath
This can be a radical act of self care
I’m always surprised by what happens when I ask someone to take a deep breath. I observe this quite a bit throughout my day when I am in clinic treating people. It’s fascinating what happens. Some people look at me with a confused look. “You want me to breathe?”
Yes. I want you to breathe.
How?
Take a deep breath in and then let it out. Try. Let me see what happens when you do. What I am looking at is how the rib cage moves, what the neck muscles may be doing, what the abdominals are doing, and how smooth the inhale is received. On the exhale, I’m looking at how the abdominals move, how smooth the breath sounds, and if there’s any pain. Then, I’ll ask people to lift their head, lift their arms, and lift their legs and I observe what happens when they try to continue to breathe with these varied activities.
I check this with most people that I see who come in with any sort of neck, mid-back, lower back, or hip pain. I check how they breathe with breathing on its own and in relation to arm and leg movement as well.
Some things that I observe are:
Some people breathe with their neck muscles and only in their upper chest. When we inhale, the lower ribs should expand outward from the front, sides, and back.
When some people try to tighten or brace their core, they end up holding the breath to try and stabilize the spine when they move their head, arms(s), or leg(s).
If the abdominal area pushes outward instead of pulling inward, then you may have a hard time engaging the deepest core layer, the transverse abdominis, which is your body’s own corset to help stabilize your spine as you move other parts of your body.
When some people try to engage their core, they have a “bulge” or “dome” that pops up along their front midline above and below the belly button. This can mean that the rectus abdominis, the six-pack abs, are working too hard while the remaining core muscles might not be working enough.
When you try to engage your core muscles, if you feel like you are bearing down like when you go the bathroom, you could have some dysfunction with your pelvic floor.
When the breath stutters, my opinion is that there is either stiffness in the rib cage or a proprioceptive problem of not knowing where you are in space.
One of the first pieces of advice I give people is to practice breathing. It helps to activate the vagus nerve, to engage the deepest core muscle, to mobilize the rib cage and diaphragm, to massage the hip flexors, and to mobilize the organs and pelvic floor. It can also help lower blood pressure and your heart rate.
To practice receiving a deep breath is an act of radical self care because it allows us to rest and to realize that we all deserve to breathe. It is our birthright, not a privilege.
In some way, by breathing, I hope it helps to process any emotional weight that can cause increased physical pain and/or stress to a person. I hope that it allows for a more embodied practice as I continue working with people during the course of their care with me in physical therapy.
I invite you to spend a few minutes with this practice. Place one hand on your lower ribs/belly and one on your chest. Inhale through the nose if you can, and exhale. Try to quiet the breath and notice what comes up for you. Do you notice any halting or start/stop of the breath as you inhale? Does the belly rise? The chest? Does the neck tense up? On the exhale, notice what happens. Allow yourself time and space to receive the breath. Come back to the breath when you are in pain, when you are stressed or overwhelmed, or when you want to give yourself permission to pause. You don’t have to earn it.
Take good care,
Sharon