Diaphragmatic Breathing

I've just got back into a regular meditation practice and the first question that sprang to mind was “What is the right way to breathe? Do I use any of the Pranayama methods?” Casting my mind back to the time – years ago – when I was first taught how to meditate, I could not recall my teacher giving any instruction on the matter. So I have researched the question afresh and the answer appears to be diaphragmatic breathing – the breath the body automatically uses during relaxation and deep sleep. This sort of explains why my first yoga teacher didn't think it necessary to mention it, but it is nice to have it spelt out (thank you Swami Janaeshvara Bharati for doing that).

The concept “diaphragmatic breathing” is very often used as synonym to “abdominal breathing”. I do not think merging the two is helpful, and I will personally use the former to designate breathing powered by the diaphragm only, without abdominal or any other muscles involved.

The diaphragm is a wide muscle dividing the thorax from the abdomen. It is shaped like  an upside-down bowl, whose concavity increases on the out-breath. On the in-breath, the diaphragm contracts, flattens and pulls down, increasing the volume of the thoracic cavity and pushing downwards the digestive organs underneath. As a result, the upper abdomen passively expands (without any abdominal muscles having to engage in the movement). The lower ribcage also flares out passively, solely as a result of the diaphragm's contraction, with no thoracic muscles needing to be activated.

Practising diaphragmatic breathing

The aim of the exercise is to make your breath as deep as possible by contracting the diaphragm only. Awareness of abdominal and thoracic muscles you have developed using other breathing methods helps – the better this awareness the better you will be at leaving those groups of muscles  relaxed during this exercise.

I have personally found that it is easiest to practice diaphragmatic breathing in a seated posture. While lying down, the abdomen sinks a lot further at the end of the out-breath, which in turn calls for a deeper in-breath and the temptation to engage the abdominal muscles. Perhaps lying down is useful at a second stage of practice, to add an extra challenge.

1. Sit comfortably on a chair or on the floor, in a sitting pose.
2. Start by focusing on an out-breath. Breathe out as far as you can and wait for the inhalation reflex to kick in by itself.
3. On the in-breath, feel your diaphragm pushing down into your abdomen. If you need to develop more awareness of your abdominal and thoracic muscles, placing one hand on your lower belly and the other on your upper chest can help – these parts of your body should not move during diaphragmatic breathing
4. Relax into the exercise.
   Diaphragmatic breathing is the most relaxing of all types of breathing, so the more you practise it the more relaxed you should feel.

A Peek at Taoist Breathing Practices

I find it interesting and sometimes useful to look at disciplines similar to yoga, like chi gung and tai chi. I have recently read through “Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body” by Bruce Frantzis, a Western Taoist master who spent over a decade training In China. His book does a great job of explaining Taiosm to the Western reader.

In the “Breath and Chi” chapter I found a set of exercises for increasing the efficiency of your breathing. What I like about this technique is that it works directly on the normal, day-to day breathing. The aim to increase lung capacity by training the muscles of the abdomen and thorax in order to make the in-breath fuller and the out-breath more complete. The exercise can be practised pretty much anywhere, unlike Pranayama techniques, which you can't really practise in public, at least not without drawing attention to your humming or Darth Vader-like noises.

Here is a very brief summary of the exercises involved. They are practised lying on your back or in a comfortable sitting position.
 
1 . Expanding your abdomen forward
Place both hands on your belly. As you breath in, observe which part of it of it – lower, middle or upper belly – expands the most. Focus on the area (or one of the areas) where there is less movement and try to make it expand as far as the most mobile part of your abdomen. Practise this one exercise till you master it. It could take several weeks – the approach is 'it takes as long as it takes'. Then move on to the next stage:

2. Expanding your abdomen sideways
Place your hands or lightly closed fists on the sides of your abdomen. Notice if your abdomen expands sideways when breathing in. The aim of this exercise is to bring movement into the sides of your abdomen, so that they expand with each in-breath.

3. Breathing into the back of your abdomen (or Breathing into the kidneys)
This is a very important exercise from the Taoist point of view, as the kidneys are considered the source of vitality. It helps to lie on the floor with  your knees bent and the soles of your feet on the ground, at least at the early stages of this exercise. In this  position it will be easier to gain awareness of your back's movement.

4. The complete abdominal breathing
Once you have mastered each of the three exercise above, the next step is to put them all together – on each in-breath, the abdomen expands on all four directions.

5. Breathing into your upper back
Taoist practice does not advocate breathing into the chest – an important difference from what yoga considers to be good breathing. When expanding the thorax on the in-breath, it is therefore the back that expands to accommodate more air. When practising this exercise, the shoulders should be relaxed. Feel the shoulder blades spread away from the spine on each in-breath.

A couple of points to bear in mind during all the exercises:

• In Taoist spirit, the breathing should be a continuous flow (no holding your breath at any point).
• Any strain should be avoided. In fact the author emphasises the 70% rule  - breath at 70% of your capacity throughout these exercises. When breathing into your kidneys even more care should be taken – start at 40-50% capacity and gradually build up to 70%.

There are of course a lot more detailed instructions in the book and they are worth a good read. This book has made me reconsider my idea of complete breathing. I especially like the lower and upper back breathing and I have started incorporating them into my yoga practice.

Breathing Through Bending Poses – A Very Useful Tip

This is gem I picked up from one of my yoga teachers over the years. I've not heard it talked of anywhere else. Even this one teacher mentioned it just once, in passing. I think it is a brilliant idea and it  deservers to be better known and put to use.

I find it useful for developing all bending poses, backwards or forwards, seated or standing. And it is wonderfully simple:

1. Elongate the spine on the in-breath
2. Deepen the bend on the out-breadth

These are a few advantages of this technique:

• It helps me keep my body relaxed and fluid while working though poses.
• It keeps the breathing deep and easy – holding the pose no longer risks to strain the breathing. Instead, the breading becomes a tool for developing the pose.
• It focuses the mind on one point – the breathing, and really helps me fend off  stray thought about work deadlines and everything else I really don't need to think about during my yoga practice.
• I don't need to worry about how far I'm able to bend when I get into a pose. Instead, the initiation of a posture is more about achieving the correct alignment of the body and remembering all those do's and don't. Deepening the pose is something to work on while executing it.

All in all, a very useful simple technique. Have I convinced you yet?