Breathing easy

Body: 

Hello Dear Ladies
I have been thinking and feeling about the breath and trying to understand what I feel , and I think our dear Odelia (who commented on how it can be hard to breath). What I am wondering is -- could the breath be feeling difficult because by chance we might be tucking the chin a bit too much? Maybe it is the breathing area in the throat that is feeling restricted. I am trying to fine-tune that feeling and am becoming more aware of when it does feel difficult, I am either overdoing it, or not quite right in the head and neck area. Do any of you have these issues? Thanks and best wishes to all of you.

Forum:

I find that I don't particularly tuck my chin. It just finds a natural angle where I figure it belongs, when everything else in in the right place....other opinions needed. - Surviving

This is such an important aspect of WW posture...thanks, MsNightingale and Surviving for helping to clarify proper placement of the head/neck.

I think some of the very best models for head placement are approx. 6 m.o. babies being held in their parents' arms. They just have this beautiful, classically human way of holding their head. The chin is held in and down, and the head and neck beautifully elongated throughout the back. Look around and see how we lose this very human quality as the chin begins to hang forward like Neanderthal.

Lo and behold, nature has given us a perfect gage for determining this placement: the voice box. Notice that if you raise your chin just a bit you feel slight tension in your vocal cords. Likewise, if you tuck your chin just a little too much you feel a little bit of compression. There is a "sweet spot" where your vocal cords are completely relaxed at their functional length. Tune into this and you will see it is another uniquely human anatomical quality that is self-evident. It has been my experience that the chin is much more pulled in than you might think - I'm always making that correction in the women I work with.

MsNightingale, I can rest my chin on my chest, and while my vocal cords are compressed, I can still breathe without difficulty.

I hope you have fun working with this...WW is endless awareness training.

:) Christine

I am on page 29reading the book for a 2nd time to see if I can learn how to do posture etc. It says " if the breath is allowed it's natural course, the lumbar vertebrea are pulled forward with inspiration and the pelvic organs pushed toward the lower abdominal wall. In this position the organs are compressed and pinned into place by pressure from the downward moving respiratory diaphragm" my question is what is natural course, as I presume this does not mean fire breathing. I am asking about this because I wondered if it means diaphragm breathing rather than fire breathing, and if diaphragm breathing is good for prolapse or if it's the right way to breath.

Hi Charlene – Firebreathing is a very specific exercise that you can do from time to time. It creates a vacuum that pulls the organs forward. You can read about it on pages 167-168, and it is demonstrated in all of the videos.

Whole Woman posture is an all-the-time thing. It is easier to understand from a video or from the detailed description that starts on page 125. In addition, if you go up above to the FAQ’s tab, and scroll down, there is another very detailed description with diagrams and pictures showing incorrect and correct posture. It’s very clear.

If relaxing your lower belly is difficult for you, then all the more reason for you to keep working on it. Just stand up straight and tell yourself that you’re going to relax the muscles of your belly, and just do it! Try assuming the posture in the order of steps that Christine describes. Good luck to you - Surviving

You are actually trying to do the diaphragm breathing all the time. Of course there are moments in your day and in conversation that you dont even know where your breath is (at least for me)....but in general you are trying to stop all shallow breathing where your chest rises up and down. You are replacing that with bringing the air into your relaxed belly. You can see in front of the mirrow when you stand there naked...that your belly is actually gently expanding when you bring the air down in. That is what you are striving to do all the time. It is not an exercise done here and there....it is life....just as the posture is. Good luck to you dear charlene and isn't it wonderful to reread that book. I am continually rereading it and getting more from it each time. Best to you.

Thank you both it seems a bit clearer now, and I will have another go. I am very slow getting The hang of it, and would think I probably would need to be more advanced for the fire breathing in case I would do it wrong. I will have a look at the diaphragm breathing as I know mine is far too shallow. There is so much to learn from the book and will probably need to read quite a few times to see how we were before the prolapse and what happened to cause it and how we can change it to be more comfortable. Sorry to keep asking so many questions. Charlene.

Charlene, you can ask as many questions as you like! I too, did not try firebreathing for awhile, not until some time in my second year. But many have done fine with it, without waiting that long! But the posture, that is different. That is the basis for this work. I think the pictures on the FAQ tab up above, really tell the story. The sooner you can latch onto that, the better off you'll be. A lot of the book is very technical and there are parts I didn't comprehend the first time through, or even the second. Now when I go back, it makes more sense. - Surviving