Breathing out

Hi budahazya,
If you have Christine's book Saving the Whole Woman, please reread her chapter on Pelvic Organ Support. She explains the breathing sequence and the role of intra abdominal pressure so well. Look at diagram 2-9 and 2-13 and their descriptions of what is going on as we breath properly.

I really like this paragraph:
During natural inspiration the abdominal wall stretches out anteriorly ( forward) while the abdominal and pelvic contents are pressed down and forward over the pubic bone. The abdominal muscles must be relaxed for natural breathing to occur. The combined movements of the muscles of inspiration and the abdominal wall pull the lumbar spine forward, reinforce the lumosacral angle, and pin the pelvic organs into normal anatomic position.

Like I said, this whole chapter would be a great place to really get the concept of breathing down, and does require some study. Intra abdominal pressure is the key to get the best understanding of why the breathing sequence is so important. If we are not relaxing belly and getting ourselves into strong whole woman posture by pulling chest up, the intra abdominal pressure is going to work against us, forcing organs away from the lower belly, instead of pinning them in place as they should.
Hope that wasn't too confusing.

Buda, I had to learn to relax my belly/lower abdomen on the "in" breath, but I just breathe out normally when I exhale. I don't use my abdominals to breathe out. I tried using my abdominals just now on breathing out to see what would happen but it was uncomfortable and felt counterintuitive and tightened my lower abdominals, which after a few breaths was very uncomfortable. Unless I have missed something, exhaling (the out breath) is just breathing out as you always have. Hope this makes sense.

You are right about the exhale, Arizona. Christine says over and over to just let the exhale fall back naturally. It is not forced.

But of course, it should all feel natural, but most of us have been breathing backwards our entire lives! So, some thought should go into breathing in and allowing the abdominal muscles to move forward until it does start to feel more natural.

I remember in gym class when I was I kid, way back, how our gym teacher was teaching us how to breath. Wow, like I had been breathing wrong until I got to gym class?? Such a shame.

Buda, i had another thought when I reread your post. The "in" breath is a gentle breath, probably not much more than you did prior to WW. If you are overinflating your belly, or trying to push the air into your relaxed belly that will also cause you to have discomfort. Don't get discouraged, you can do this.

AG...gym class was a nightmare for me. Skinny kid with glasses, couldn't do a backflip to save my life. Swim days were awful (shudder). Nope, breathing in gym class for me was more like trying not to hyperventilate ;-)

I do remember specifically, 6th grade gym class where the teacher was teaching us how to breath. I was so confused, that I went home practicing it! Lol! Not so funny thinking of it now, but I was always confused about breathing after that. I tihnk I just reverted to chest breathing, because nothing felt natural anymore.
It was such a relief to find Christine's work and have her describe it finally what I should having been doing all along! Geez, what a lot of wasted time!!

Lol! Funny how stuff like that sticks with you. Belly breathing is our natural way to breathe and yet, I wonder what makes most of us transition to shallow breathing. I think it must begin when we are told to stand straight with shoulders back...yep, think that's it. Am in an experimenting mood today. Just tried it! Belly breathing is impossible for me to do with stiff erect body. The air hits me above just above the navel and smushes the diaphragm. Ugggg...made my stomach queezy.

Ha! Well don't do that then!! Yes, it is amazing how unatural it feels to take on the old posture when you have adopted the "even older" natural posture again.
Speaking of experimenting, I looked the the mirror today and sucked in my tummy to see how it looked. I looks digusting to me now, and I couldn't breath!

This discussion has me thinking of the breathing sequence of this work, it is all the same, but varies in the intensity.
Firebreathing is the most intense and forceful. You are breathing in forcefully extending abdominals and lower belly, and then breathing out you are forcing your naval to spine and blowing through pursed lips.

With pelvic rocks, you are breathing through your nose the whole time, rocking forward, breathing into lower belly, and then rocking back, breathing out, and sucking in belly.

With normal breathing, it really is a much more subtle experience, or at least should be. We naturally expand abdominals forward on in breath, and then it naturally falls back on out breath.

And, I see nothing wrong with taking some nice deep breaths in expanding all the muscles and facia making space for the organs to reside in the lower belly, at any time you feel like it.

I have often felt that as very important having profound uterine prolapse, making a space for my uterus to reside in the lower belly. I don't think that space was even available to me prior to this work, because of all the sucking in I was doing.

I do understand that feeling of the organs feeling like they are being forced out, even though you feel like you are doing the breathing sequence properly. I felt that most of the time early in this work. My other problem is that if my uterus is not in or moving toward my lower belly, the pressure just forces it to the vaginal opening. That can be very frustrating, but I now have it under control most of the time. For me, it is intrabdominal pressure that is going to hold my unruly uterus in place. I just have to make sure it is always moving in that direction.

What a great reference post AG. I too love taking deep breaths, kind of a "reset" moment for mind and body.