Hi,
My name is Inge and this session is part of The Recovery Solution,
An integrated plan for burnout and chronic stress recovery.
Before we move into next practices,
I want to explain something very simple that most people were never really taught.
And this is how breathing actually works in your body.
Often when we have been stressed for a while,
The muscles in our neck,
Shoulders and back become very tense,
While at the same time our system is flooded with stress hormones.
This leads to shallow and fast breathing for two reasons.
First,
Stress itself naturally increases breathing rate.
When your body is in survival mode,
It prepares for action by speeding up and deepening the breath.
When it is also sitting still,
Like most of us do when we work behind a desk,
Our body breathes fast and shallow with very little movement.
Imagine sitting behind a bush hiding from a lion or spotting prey,
Waiting for your moment to go in.
Zero movement,
Hyper focus,
Shallow,
Short,
Silent breath.
Second,
Chronic stress tends to tighten the muscles around the trunk,
The chest,
The upper back and the sides of the body.
This also has to do with sitting still in a certain posture while tensing up all the muscles that normally would facilitate breathing.
When these muscles and the fascia become tight,
It becomes physically harder for the lungs and the diaphragm to move freely.
So physically,
Breathing becomes smaller and more effortful.
The following two practices are designed to help you rediscover a deeper and more relaxed way of breathing with the help of gentle movement and stretching.
But to understand why those movements help,
It's useful to understand the mechanics of breathing a little bit better.
Most of us imagine breathing as something that happens mainly in the chest.
We think the lungs fill up,
The chest rises and that's breathing.
But the real driver of breathing is a muscle called the diaphragm.
The diaphragm sits underneath the lungs and separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity.
You can imagine the diaphragm as a dome-shaped structure,
Like a parachute or a jellyfish.
Choose whichever image feels most intuitive to you.
This dome is attached all around the inside of your lower ribs.
When you inhale,
The diaphragm contracts and moves downward.
And as it moves downward,
Something interesting happens.
It gently pushes the organs in the abdomen downward and slightly outward.
That is why during relaxed breathing,
The belly naturally expands.
But the diaphragm doesn't just move the belly.
Because it is attached to the ribs,
Its movement also creates expansion to the sides and to the back of the rib cage.
So the ribs widen slightly to the sides and even a little towards the back.
So healthy breathing is actually a three-dimensional movement.
The belly moves outward,
The side ribs expand and the back of the rib cage subtly widens as well.
When stress tightens the muscles around the chest,
The upper back,
The sides of the body or you're constantly bracing your core,
That three-dimensional expansion becomes restricted.
The diaphragm tries to move but it simply doesn't have as much space to descend.
So let's take a few deep breaths together to feel this movement,
Starting with the belly.
You may sit or lay down comfortably.
If you choose to lay down,
Place something under the knees.
Let your knees gently fall to the side and place something underneath your head.
If you're sitting down for this,
Place awareness on your feet.
Make sure they are under your knees so your legs can comfortably sink into the surface beneath you.
Let's take a deep breath.
Inhale deeply through the nose.
Let the belly expand like a balloon.
Exhale.
Gently pull the navel towards the spine.
Inhale.
Belly expands like a balloon.
Exhale.
Gently pull navel to spine.
Inhale.
Belly expand.
Imagine the diaphragm moving down.
Exhale.
Navel to spine.
Imagine the diaphragm shaping up like a dome into your chest.
Inhale.
Belly out.
Exhale.
Belly in.
Inhale.
Diaphragm down.
Exhale.
Diaphragm up.
Inhale.
Become aware of the side ribs.
Exhale.
Relax your shoulders.
Inhale.
Let the side ribs mindfully expand and release.
Exhale.
Let them come back to neutral.
Inhale.
Ribs expand.
Exhale.
Back to neutral.
Focus on the upper back.
Inhale.
Let the shoulders relax.
Breathe in between your shoulders and exhale.
Relax and release.
Inhale to the back body and exhale to neutral.
As you inhale,
Imagine the diaphragm moving down and to the sides.
And as you exhale,
Imagine it doming up into the chest cavity.
Inhale down and to the sides.
Relax your ribs.
And exhale,
Shaping back up like a parachute or a jellyfish.
Inhale,
Moving flat and to the sides.
And exhale,
Relaxing up.
Good.
A few more like this.
Inhale.
Let the belly expand and the side ribs release.
And exhale.
Pull the navel to the spine.
Let the diaphragm shape up like a dome.
Inhale slowly.
Let it move.
Let it flow.
And exhale.
Feel your breath like a wave,
Belly and ribs and shoulders connecting through this one big movement of your diaphragm.
Allow your body to just ride the wave.
Stop trying to do anything.
Just allow it to unfold.
Be the witness.
In our next practices,
We will use gentle stretching and movement to create a little bit more space in the areas that often restrict breathing.
We're not trying to force the breath.
We're simply creating a little more room for the diaphragm to move.
These small changes can make breathing feel much more natural and spacious.
So when you're ready,
We will move into the next session and explore that together through movement.
Have a lovely rest of your day.
