By Al Wadleigh, GCFP
Article Summary
Good breathing changes with movement, emotion, attention, and circumstance. Habitual tension or a rule about the “correct” way to breathe can reduce that adaptability. Noticing how breathing participates in the organization of the whole self can reveal more possibilities without forcing a particular pattern.
What Makes Breathing Good?
Your breathing when running differs from your breathing when relaxing and watching television. It changes again when you are grieving, laughing, eating, lifting something heavy, or making love. Each situation asks something different of you.
“Ideally, your breath is flexible and adaptable to any situation—every experience, whether of emotion, thought, or movement, requires a different organization of your breathing.” — Al Wadleigh, GCFP
This adaptability matters more than breathing “correctly.” A breath that serves you while resting may be unsuited to running up a hill. Good breathing gives you enough freedom to respond to both situations.
How Breathing Becomes Less Adaptable
Many of us pay little attention to breathing until it feels restricted. Our movement habits and emotional experience influence how freely the chest, abdomen, ribs, and spine can participate.
Stress and anxiety can stiffen the chest and abdomen. Sitting for long periods and concentrating can also change breathing. One study of computer-based data-entry work found differences in respiratory measures when compared with relaxation (Schleifer & Ley, 1994).
The informal phrase “email apnea” describes a familiar version of this experience: while concentrating on an email or screen, someone may hold the breath or breathe less freely without noticing it. The phrase draws attention to what can happen when concentration narrows.
We may also hold our breath when anticipating something challenging, such as picking up a heavy object, solving a difficult problem, or meeting someone new. Repeating that organization often enough can make it habitual.
The Problem With One Correct Way to Breathe
Another difficulty develops when we are instructed to use one “correct” way of breathing. Throughout my years of practice, I have met many students who were advised to always belly-breathe. They made a rule about it and tried to follow that rule in every situation.
A useful possibility becomes limiting when it must be used all the time. Choosing one way of breathing to the exclusion of every other way can require unnecessary effort and reduce the spontaneity that allows breathing to change.
Feldenkrais explored many organizations of breathing in the Alexander Yanai lessons cited below. Each lesson investigates how breathing changes with position, movement, and the relationships among different parts of ourselves.
I am not against learning particular breathing practices. Pranayama has a long tradition of deliberate breathing explorations. I also practice the Wim Hof method, which uses cycles of fuller breathing and specific breath holds. I enjoy it while understanding that it is a practice for a specific setting, not a rule for how I should breathe all day.
A Brief Breathing Experiment
As you read, notice your breath without deliberately changing it. Did something shift as soon as you brought attention to it? Notice whether movement is more apparent in your abdomen, chest, ribs, or back. What moves first?
The purpose is not to correct your breathing. It is to notice how quickly breathing can change with attention. When you return to reading, it may organize itself differently again.
How Feldenkrais Lessons Explore Breathing
In the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education, we create the conditions for you to feel the parts of yourself that participate in breathing. Your skeletal structure, muscles, diaphragm, ribs, spine, abdomen, and pelvis relate differently as your position and activity change.
During Feldenkrais® lessons, you explore breathing in different positions and in coordination with movement. Comparing these possibilities can reveal previously automatic relationships and make breathing easier to vary.
“The lesson creates the conditions for learning how your breathing changes with the rest of you.” — Al Wadleigh, GCFP
Good breathing does not depend upon preserving one ideal pattern. It depends upon having enough possibilities to meet the situation. Whether you are running, laughing, concentrating, lifting something heavy, or resting on the couch, your breathing can change with what you are doing.
References
Feldenkrais, M. (1994, May). Alexander Yanai Lesson 17: Breathing [Lecture]. International Feldenkrais Federation, Paris, France, in cooperation with the Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Feldenkrais, M. (1994, May). Alexander Yanai Lesson 21: Contracting the Abdomen While Exhaling [Lecture]. International Feldenkrais Federation, Paris, France, in cooperation with the Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Feldenkrais, M. (1994, May). Alexander Yanai Lesson 35: Stomach and Chest First [Lecture]. International Feldenkrais Federation, Paris, France, in cooperation with the Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Schleifer, L. M., & Ley, R. (1994). End-tidal PCO2 as an index of psychophysiological activity during VDT data-entry work and relaxation. Ergonomics, 37(2), 245–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139408963642
Frequently Asked Questions
How can breathing be good if it changes all the time?
Good breathing is adaptable rather than fixed. It changes with movement, rest, emotion, attention, and the practical demands of each situation.
Why might concentration change the way I breathe?
Concentration can narrow attention and reduce the movement available in the chest, abdomen, ribs, or spine. Some people notice that they hold their breath or breathe less freely while working with email, messages, or screens.
Is belly breathing the correct way to breathe?
Belly breathing is one useful possibility, but no single pattern suits every situation. Treating it as a rule can reduce the adaptability that allows breathing to change with activity, position, thought, and feeling.
Can a specific breathing technique still be useful?
A breathing technique can be useful when it is treated as a deliberate practice for an appropriate setting. Difficulty arises when one technique becomes a rule that excludes other ways of breathing.
What do Feldenkrais lessons explore about breathing?
In Feldenkrais lessons, breathing is explored in different positions and in coordination with movement. These comparisons create conditions for noticing how the ribs, spine, abdomen, pelvis, muscles, and skeletal support participate together.
Tags
adaptabilty, alexander yanai, belly breathing, body awareness, breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, email apnea, Feldenkrais Method, movement awareness, posture, Somatic Education, stress relief
