The Six Pillars of Health: Breathing

The most important yet overlooked functions of the Human Body is that of the breath. So subtle yet profound–an activity that goes on with or without conscious will, and if ceases to stop, we cease to live. So if such an indispensable activity of our body holds so much power, is it possible that if we tap into it through proper use of our attention, intention, and conscious control, we can then influence certain outcomes in our lives? Of course, and today I’m going informing you on ins-and-outs of breathing and what you can do to optimize it. First and foremost, let’s go over what we’ll be covering today:

1. Why Breathing is Important
2. Why it is Sub-Optimal
3. Implications and Ill Effects of Improper Breathing
4. Benefits of Breathing Properly
5. Optimizing the Breath; Techniques to Properly Restore Breathing

Why Breathing is Important: Each time you inhale, you are literally vitalizing your cells with the essential fuel it needs to perform its job. When you aren’t getting enough oxygen, cellular function is impaired, digestion and elimination is impaired, organ function is impaired, brain function is impaired, and basically… any other critical component in your life that requires energy to sustain itself will start to perish Because everything in our system is connected and interdependent, anything that is going on at a micro level will eventually manifest on a macro level. If I haven’t stressed the importance enough, oxygen is the most vital resource that we need. In the pillar of nutrition, I discussed that if you aren’t eating the right foods or getting the proper nutrients, your body begins to deteriorate. But minutes without oxygen, for the untrained individual, means you will die. Yes, you heard me you right. And if you didn’t, let me repeat that again: you will die. Luckily, before I scare you too much, not too many of us are in life-threatening situations where we can’t breathe, but many of us are in situations where aren’t breathing well. So before we go into the implications and ill effects of not being able to breathe properly (other than death – okay, I’ll stop), let’s go over WHY many of us are unable to breathe well now a days.

Why Our Breathing is Sub-optimal If you’re the average reader reading this, then there’s a high probability that you sit for quite a bit of the day, do not practice breathing exercises, have poor posture, and occasionally experience stress (if this isn’t you, then cheers to the good life ). There are other health related factors like asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and congenital factors and illnesses (like bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma) but we contribute in are the major components to why we experience sub-optimal breathing.

a. Excessive sitting and dysfunctional abdominals  Naturally, we were all born with ability to breathe with our abdominals; however, as we grew older and older we spent more and more time sitting. When we excessively sit (and sit with bad posture) our diaphragm is often restricted and not fully utilize. And just like how muscles can be inhibited or become dormant through lack of use, the same happens to our diaphragm. And because the diaphragm is so intimately linked to the ability to belly breathe, when its function is limited for a long enough time, our breathing will undoubtedly suffer as well. As I briefly mentioned earlier, excessive sitting is usually accompanied with sitting with poor posture. Poor posture is another major component as to why we are not able to breathe deeply and fully. Rounded shoulders, closed chest cavity, shallow breaths—these are all common symptoms of an individual who sits too much or has poor posture.

b. Poor posture wreaks havoc on our energy systems – The body prefers to be as close to perfect alignment as possible. To get a bit more spiritual, there are different centers in our body, also known as Chakras in eastern philosophies. When we have a shortened ribcage or enclosed chest cavity, our solar plexus and heart chakra is the first to get suppressed. When energy here is not fully expressed, is stuck, or isn’t cleared, we begin to experiences ranges of emotional stress pertaining to that Chakra. Common symptoms: low self-esteem, lack of courage, shortness of breath, and lack of “fire”. It has been said that our primal response in dangerous situation is clenched and shallow breathing. When you’re in the presence of a mammal that had the potential to kill you, the last thing you want them to hear is heavy panting. So take a moment and vividly imagine yourself in the safari deserts of Africa and 30 yards from you are a group of lions. What do you do? Can you feel your energy shrink up and everything get tight and quiet? And if so, that’s good—this type of fear response is absolutely normal. What’s not is a lot of people are living in this response because they’re constantly stressed at the desk.

>> Stress – Whether it is psychological or physical stress, the same response occurs: shallow and tight breathing. In most instances, our stress comes from mental and emotional phenomena’s, but this can also be caused from a stressed physical body. One will influence the other without fail, and will usually exacerbate the condition.

>> Cranial Deformities – As discussed in the section on nutrition, structural abnormalities are a result of malnutrition. If you suffer from problems with your cranial structure it is very likely you’re your breathing will be impacted as well. Now that we know all the major causes to poor breathing patterns, let’s look at the health implications that come with it.

Implications and Ill Effects of Improper Breathing
Before we go into the implications and ill effects associated with improper breathing, let’s first understand what’s at the root of it all. It’s critical that we aware of this because all of the issues presented pretty much stem from one problem: the inability to breathe deeply and fully. We know that there are two main components to breathing: inhalation and exhalation. We need to breathe in oxygen (the essential fuel our body needs to sustain itself) and breathe out carbon dioxide (the waste that our cells produce). Chances are, if we’re not breathing in deeply and fully, we’re not breathing out deeply and fully. What does this mean? A lack of oxygen and a buildup of CO2. This is the recipe for disaster (a.k.a a slow death).  When this happens, the environment in our body becomes acidic, and the longer it stays this way, the more toxic it gets. The problem will manifest itself in our body as pain; and if we don’t address it, slowly but surely things will deteriorate. Here are common symptoms of breathing pattern disorders:

 To top this off, breathing disorders has a cyclic relationship with the causes the created it. For example, if your breathing problems came from excessive sitting and poor posture, then poor breathing will make your posture worse (which in return affects your breathing). If your breathing is poor because of stress related factors, then poor breathing will make you more stressed. In essence, the ill effects of poor breathing exacerbate the conditions that created it. It can become a vicious, downward spiral. The body will do what it can to compensate, and one of the another common adaptation is to breathe through the mouth. However, breathing through your mouth only imposes another set health problems. A good 90% of our breathing should always occur through . Breathing through your nose is important because the mucous there serves as immunity/protection to pathogens. There’s also a moistening effect on the oxygen we breathe through our nose. And because a lot of people have breathing disorders, they begin to breathe in through their mouth. And when you breathe in through your mouth, you dry out your lungs, you do no filter any of the dust, bacteria, and airborne pathogens that are floating around. Have you ever wondered the causes of bad breath? A large part of it is bacterial. Also, people who breathe through their mouth have higher levels of cortisol because their body isn’t getting enough oxygen thus stressed. Being stressed means your body produces cortisol, and when you have high cortisol, your immune system becomes impaired, and when your immune system is impaired, you increase the risk of getting sick or developing illness. All of this from breathing improperly.

The Benefits of Breathing Properly
Now that you know the implications and ill effects of improper breathing, let’s talk about the of when you are breathing properly. Because you are essentially breathing in the force that gives your body life (life force, qi, prana, etc), by tapping into it you can promote and influence a lot of the life giving factors. Here’s some of the strongest elements that our breath ties into:

1. Rest and Digest – Also known as our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), regulating our breath enhances our rest and digest. We know this because when the opposite is on–our sympathethic nervous system–blood is rushing into our muscles to prepare us for flight or flight. This is that tense, tight, and alert nervousness you experienced when stressed. Breathing is short and shallow, and everything just feels restricted. However, when you slow down and really tap into your breath, you increase oxygenation and regulate the systems of the body… leading to deeper levels of relaxation, mental clarity, and peace. 

2. Harmony of Your Energy Centers – There’s a concept of biological oscillators (brain, heart and gut) that has been heavily researched by the HeartMath Institute. The idea behind is that we can achieve states of “coherence” through harmonizing these energy centers through respiration (breathing).

3. Influence Over Brainwave Activity – When we sleep, the physiological functions of the body are altered: “Sleep is a state that is characterized by changes in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and other physiological functions” (The Characteristics of Sleep @ Harvard Medical). As you can see, all of our energy systems are connected. But what I want to bring your attention to is the breathing. Our breathing is different when we’re alseep and so is our brainwave activity. When we’re awake, our brainwave is in beta, which is a frequency of high brainwave activity. However, when we’re focused, or deeply relaxed, we can slip into the alpha state and eventually the theta. In each of these states, our breathing patterns are different. Therefore, if you consciously influence your breathing patterns, you can influence brainwave activity.

How to Optimzie Breathing
So what can be done now to maximize such a potent process of our life? Well first, we have to understand how to restore proper breathing. In a sense, we have to teach ourself how to breathe again.

Learn to breathe with your diaphragm – As mentioned briefly, the diaphragm is often restricted and not fully utilized. We want to learn how to activate it again by learning how to belly breathe. To do this, sit or stand upright and take in a long drawn out breath by pushing your belly button out. Exhale and squeeze out  all of the air. Inhale and really draw in air into your belly, letting it expand like a balloon and repeating this process until you’ve felt like the muscle work has been worked.

Open up your solar plexus – If you’re still having trouble breathing deeply, open up your solar plexus by laying on a stability ball or foam roller. From this position, your chest cavity is no longer closed and you have a more open anterior chain. In this position, practice breathing with your diaphragm, drawing in air deeply into your belly and pelvis floor.

Now before we close, let’s take one more deep breath of air and celebrate the fact that we are alive!