Breathing, the Center of Life
The quality of the breathing determines the quality of the life. Breathing is unique among body functions in that it can be entirely involuntary and unconscious, or it can be almost entirely voluntary, or a mix. Voluntary control can be automatic, forgotten and unrecognized, and it is this automatic but voluntary over-control that is the culprit in most dysfunctional breathing.
For the most part, it is generally thought that improving breathing means increasing breathing, but this may be too simple an idea. Breathing has four general functions: 1) Taking oxygen into the body 2) Removing carbon dioxide from the body, 3) Starting and maintaining pulsation in the body, and 4) Balancing the autonomic nervous system between sympathetic and parasympathetic. Mainstream healthcare concerns itself with the first two (at least in the context of 'disease') but ignores the latter two. For bodywork, however, these functions are equally important.
Some also believe that breathing acts to take in energy (in addition to oxygen) from outside the body. This is perhaps the most controversial way to look at the function of breathing. With Wilhelm Reich, this idea was subsumed into the larger idea of life energy, or orgone. Alexander Lowen did not emphasize this concept, and this article will not pursue it.
Oxygenation and Carbon Dioxide Exchange
One main goal of improved breathing is providing more oxygen to the body. Good feelings in the body rely on plentiful oxygen in the tissues. However getting more oxygen to the tissues is not as simple as a naive understanding might make it. Of course, the start of oxygenation is the exchange of gases between the lungs and the bloodstream. Because the concentration (known as partial pressure) of oxygen is approximately the same in the atmosphere as it is in plasma leaving the lungs (of any reasonably healthy person), it is often stated that it is not possible to take in more oxygen by improving breathing or changing breathing patterns in anyway. This is largely true, but misleading.
First, oxygen never unloads completely at the tissue level. Small increases in topping off oxygen at the lung level can have implications for the oxygen available at the tissue level. Oxygen diffuses into plasma more slowly than carbon dioxide diffuses out. The brain tends to guide breathing more from carbon dioxide level than by oxygen level. Rapid shallow breathing may satisfy the brain because carbon dioxide is kept low enough, but rapid shallow breathing can cut short oxygen diffusion to some extent. Counter-intuitively, oxygen enters the blood during exhalation, because that is when the pressure gradient is favorable.
Second, the real site of oxygen deprivation is the tissues, not the lungs. This deprivation has two mechanisms, a weakened 'Bohr' effect and anemia. Both have something to do with hemoglobin in red blood cells. Hemoglobin is an immense storage buffer for oxygen within the blood, otherwise the oxygen merely dissolved in the plasma would be used up quickly at the tissue level. However hemoglobin, to load and unload in the right places, needs a switch to control the binding of oxygen. This switch is carbon dioxide. Where carbon dioxide is low (the lungs, because of rapid diffusion) oxygen is bound, and where carbon dioxide is high (the tissues, due to metabolism) oxygen is unbound. This is known as the Bohr effect. However, chronic hyperventilation from rapid, shallow breathing undermines the Bohr effect. Slower breathing retains carbon dioxide which improves oxygenation at the tissues.
Second anemia (low red blood cells and hemoglobin) reduces the amount of oxygen available at the tissues. Chronic anemia, chronic illness, and chronic poor breathing are all correllated, but the cause and effects relationships are undelineated. However, almost all folk traditions associate life force both to blood and to breathing.
Acute Hyperventilation
Reichian and neo-Reichian therapy is 'famous' for instructing clients to lie down and hyperventilate greatly. It is often thought that this is about increasing oxygen, but as the above discussion shows, this is not the case. Actually the effect is the increase in emotional arousal that is caused by the temporary blood alkalosis. This increases emotional tone and helps disinhibit expression, but it does not bolster oxygenation, and it is not meant to be transferred into regular life. In this day and age where chronic hyperventilation is becoming the norm, one wonders whether this acute hyperventilation is still as effective in providing a 'different' experience.
Chronic Hyperventilation
Chronic hyperventilation is very common in our fast-paced culture. The blood then maintains its necessarily narrow pH range by adjusting calcium ions. Thus the set point for breathing is reset and changing back to better breathing may feel wrong at first. A mechanistic type of correction for chronic rapid shallow breathing is the Buteyko method. This method actually teaches hypoventilation, and while it can have limited benefits, it is actually contrary to all bodywork traditions. Better corrections are described below.
Autonomic Effects
Breathing high in the chest with accessory muscles leads to sympathetic dominance. Using the diaphragm to push down into the abdomen and pelvis balances autonomic tone back toward the parasympathetic. Pausing after the inhale (also known as holding the breath) leads to sympathetic dominance. Pausing after the exhale allows the involuntary inspiratory reflex to work which has a parasympathetic effect.
Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia
Deliberate Improvement of Breathing
What is always problematic for therapeutic traditions that work with breath, is how to employ a 'student's' conscious use of voluntary mechanisms to 'loosen' the inhibitory effect of 'forgotten' voluntary mechanisms. It is not possible to even pay attention to one's breath without changing it. In fact, here is a school of thought that deliberate conscious work on the breath is really to little avail, because any exercise is voluntary and just muddies things up further. Alexander Lowen was of this persuasion and his emphasis was on freeing emotional expression, which would bring about strong natural breathing indirectly. This is one of those many bootstrapping paradoxes in bodywork, since restricted breathing restricts emotional expression. While I do not believe that working with breathing alone is sufficient for permanent change, it does seem to me that the need for better breathing is so great, and the effect of even partial improvements are so large, that this area represents the 'low hanging fruit' of bodywork.
Improving breathing does not necessarily mean increasing breathing. The main task for most people is actually slow their breathing rate--breaths per minute-- to about six. If shallow breathing is also an issue (and it almost always is) then slowing the rate tends to enlist more basic breathing reflexes that take care of 'deepening.'
The response to a simple request to breathe "deeper" usually intensifies whatever pattern a person already uses, and increases the rate. That is why 'self-help' is difficult in this area. Better breathing benefits from a skilled enough observer who can point out what type of breathing is actually going on, and perhaps cue doing something different in the cause of breaking a habit.
Breathing consists of an inhale, an exhale, and a pause. All three must be considered. As a rule, inhales need to be made 'lower' in the torso, all the way to the pelvic floor. Exhales need to be spread out much longer and not forced. Importantly, the pause needs to be placed at the end of the exhale instead of at the end of the inhale. The pause should last until the breathing reflex 'kicks in', that is the inspiration should not be initiated prematurely by the will or by fear. If the above three things are accomplished, the rate tends to take care of itself. An optimal breath rate is said to be around 5-8 per minute, but this cannot be achieved satisfactorily by 'holding the breath.
Many breathers are in the habit of cutting the exhalation short (as if afraid of losing too much air) initiate voluntarily a shoulder- and accessory- led inbreath, and then pause before exhalation. This is in fact the startle response made chronic. The shortened exhale, the will based inhalation, and the holding of the breath all contribute to rapid shallow sympathetic-increasing breathing.
Despite a tendency to simplify better breathing into 'belly breathing', the chest below the shoulders must participate. The ribs must be able to lift slightly and spread apart. The tight back muscles that are endemic in our culture prevent the ribs from moving in their articulations with the spine. While perhaps only 30 percent of the breath is from chest expansion, this portion is important for co-ordination and unity. If the ribs form a rigid tube, then even if increased inhalation causes the belly to expand, the shoulders will rise anyway by pressure. The rigid tube will cause air to blow out both ends ('mushroom form'). If the ribs expand like a cone, widest at the diaphragm, they have a role in holding the shoulders down. The ribs must also be able return. A chest stuck in 'hyper-inflation' just result in more dead space and difficulty for diaphragmatic movement.
Pranayama
The Role of the Nose
A simple but remarkably effective practice is simply to always breath through the nose, even during exercise. Because the nose is very rich in nerves, this stimulates ventral vagal centers, and tends to slow and balance the parts of breathing naturally. Formerly it was folk wisdom to avoid mouth breathing, but these days mouth breathing is very common, and somehow considered rude to comment upon. Since talking causes mouth breathing, an implication is to avoid excessive talking.
Although nasal congestion is thought to be a reason not to nose breath, breathing through the nose decreases nasal congestion. Nasal congestion is not always caused by mucus or allergies as commonly thought. Rather the nose contains turbinates with erectile tissue that swells or shrinks. The turbinate system is often dysregulated due to stress or tension, and can be often re-regulated simply by persevering with nose breathing for a time.
The Role of the Diaphragm
The diaphragm is rigid in many people. A tight diaphragm reduces feeling and emotion immensely, and that is usually why it develops. A tight diaphragm is also usually very weak, and needs strengthening. The diaphragm is the dividing line between the ventral vagal system above and the dorsal vagal system below. For the diaphragm to be able to move down into the abdomen, two things are important. First, the abdominal wall and flanks--the entire lower torso on all sides, must be supple and able to expand. Otherwise, effort to breath more deeply will likely just affect the upper chest. Second the pelvis must be loose and flexible so that abdominal contents can move down into the pelvis. The pelvic floor should actually drop. Attempts to get breath into the belly when the pelvis is narrow and tipped forward may help partially, but will cause a ballooning that probably never feels natural enough to become permanent.
Paradoxical Breathing
is the situation in which the diaphragm actually rises during inhalation. This occurs when there a very weak or frozen diaphragm. The breather will attempt to inhale by raising the shoulders and elevating the ribs. At the same time the diaphragm is 'sucked' upwards canceling most of the potential space and resulting in a shallow breath despite the effort. Paradoxical breathing at rest may not be obvious but it results in a higher rate per minute of shallow breathing. During exertion, the sucking in of the abdomen will be more visible, and a lack of respiratory reserve is made evident.