Waterwheel

We have made a to-do about getting your basic breathing down from the tight narrow upper chest into your wide elastic lower ribcage. Deep breathing is more efficient, more rewarding and produces more miles-per-gallon (if you were a car).

However, it is important to activate and be aware of all areas of your lungs. During Waterwheel you will direct the incoming air into your MID-CHEST, just behind your breastbone. Accurate placement is more important than how much air you take in so there is no need to swell up like a weather balloon. Waterwheel is more about quality than quantity.

1. Sit on the front edge of a straight-backed chair. Fold your thumbs into your palms and lay the backs of your hands on the chair seat behind you, palms up and fingers pointing backwards (index fingers close together if possible).
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose and gently blow out the outgoing air. Keep your shoulders low and motionless and your bellybutton absolutely still.
3. Let the incoming air fill up the space just behind your breastbone. Imagine that is the only place where you have lungs. Guide the incoming air there. Continue for as long as the exercise is comfortable and pleasurable.
   

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

The Bone Stack

Breathing is Posture’s prisoner. Remember that neither ribs nor lungs are capable of drawing a single breath on your behalf. Your basic chest-box is brought to life by the performance of the intercostal muscles (stretched between your ribs) paired with your diaphragm (the muscular floor of the ribcage). And, of course, your brain runs the show.

These primary breathing muscles need space and freedom to perform! When their movement is cramped and crowded you get less and less oxygen. Less oxygen makes you feel more and more like slumping. A lose-lose situation.

Good posture produces the greatest amount of oxygen while spending the least amount of energy to get it. Good posture translates as bone balanced lightly upon bone, with as few muscles as possible engaged in the support of that balance.

A slump is actually tiring since your muscles have to remain slightly contracted to keep you from falling face down into your minestrone. Remember that you head weighs from 12 to 20 pounds. If it is pushed forward off your bony spine then it is your poor tired neck and shoulder muscles that have to hang onto it, hour after hour after hour. Headache? No surprise.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Late-Night Snack Attacks

Who hasn’t enjoyed the guilty pleasure of a big bowl of buttery popcorn, a comfy couch and a late movie? Buttery popcorn is probably OK for an occasional treat. But the comfy couch tends to scrunch you down into a position less than ideal for moving food easily into the stomach. The movie is your choice (although Texas Chainsaw Massacre is likely to mess with your dreams).

It takes a couple hours to chew food well, move it down your esophagus and into your stomach. If your popcorn, the dish of Rocky Road and a big slice of cold pepperoni pizza (yes, I was watching) is half-chewed, spread out along the esophagus, the food will lie in there undigested most of the night. There is always the troubling possibility that a lump of food will throw your esophagus into spasm or cause you to choke.

There is the possibility of coughing up food or stomach acid in your sleep and aspirating it into your lungs. I know it is a lot to ask that you chew each bite carefully while you are watching a horror movie. You need and deserve these occasional guilty pleasures but would you at least consider sitting up a little straighter and watching your movie at eight instead of midnight? Thanks.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Fight the Hump

We begin life in a curled-up fetal position and as the decades fly by, our bodies begin to drift back into that initial pose. As long as the vertebrae are balanced more or less one atop the other, gravity’s pull is straight down through the center of the stack. But when you slouch (either unavoidably or carelessly) you lose the bone-over-bone balance. When there is no longer a strong bony stack under your heavy head and shoulders, you are losing the tug-of-war with gravity. Once your head is no longer balanced over your tailbone you are heading for a heap of trouble.

Fortunately, scientists have come a long way in understanding the part osteoporosis plays in our posture. We are learning the importance of monitoring the intake of calcium and vitamin D, of resistance exercise, of bone-density testing, of the role of strong and flexible support muscles. Prevention and awareness are your most effective weapons. Don’t wait till your spine is riddled with tiny fractures and atrophied discs.

Remember that ideal breathing springs in part from an open, flexible, relaxed, erect ribcage. The ribcage should be balanced directly above the pelvis. Deep lung tissue is devoted to oxygen deliver and it relies on ribcage muscles and the diaphragm to do the pumping and squeezing to actually move the air. It is a daily battle to retain your height and good posture as you age but the battle is important. A compressed warped ribcage leaves you with compressed warped breathing.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Breathing and Your Aging Spine

Our spines shorten and curl forward as we age, almost as if we were returning to our original fetal position. The loss of bone calcium (in men as well as women) coupled with years of careless posture and injury threaten the core architecture of the human body. And since we are now living so much longer, it is a challenge to stay out of permanent pretzel-posture until we make it to the finish line. It is difficult to breathe effectively when your back hurts.

Since the main support pillar of your torso is the stack of vertebrae at the rear of your ribcage, the breakdown of bone quality in those bones will certainly rob you of your youthful and functional carriage as well as your easy, free, rewarding breathing. Your lungs are only as good as the cage they are carried in.

Long years of straining forward at the computer, carrying a heavy purse on the same shoulder, bending over equipment, sitting like a wilted daisy, are finally written forever on one’s body and can no longer be erased in spite of all good efforts. As always, prevention is the best strategy.

Refuse to shrink with age. Stretch. Bend. Research your hormones and your nutrition. Discuss bone health with your doctor. Your body remains deaf to all your best intentions regardless of how frequently, loudly and eloquently you declare those intentions.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Increase Energy and Productivity

Your supervisor should admonish you for spending long UNINTERRUPTED hours with your
nose to the grindstone. That outdated work model is based on factory production and actually DECREASES your effectiveness in today’s information and service market.

Your employer would be better served if you followed a work pattern BASED ON THE WAY YOUR BODY AND BRAIN FUNCTION. Uneducated mill workers in the 1800s (mostly young women and children) were pushed until they dropped and were considered disposable cogs in the factory machine.

Today you are an educated, trained, motivated employee with the luxury of self-awareness. You are NOT disposable!

• Neurologists seem to agree that every brain needs to be “reset” every 20 – 40 minutes to maintain peak performance. “Reset” can occur with a quick change of venue, like walking to the window or down the hall. Set an alarm to remind yourself.
• To stay fresh, mentally and physically, you need to maintain a reasonable flow of oxygen and you must keep the bloodstream clear of the body’s spent fuel. Sitting too long results in shallow inefficient breathing. You grow tired and fuzzy-brained way too soon. Take frequent deep breaths.
• Hunched posture distorts your spine (especially your neck) and compresses your lungs. Stand up often, stretch and reposition your body correctly. Never rest your seated body on your tailbone. Keep your ears over your shoulders and your shoulders in line with your hipbones.
• Your eyes are NOT designed for a single focus at a set distance. Look away from the monitor frequently to a point in the far distance, then middle distance.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Shoulder Lift

We carry way too much stress in the small complicated muscles of the neck, jaw and shoulders. You might not notice this at first because tension creeps up on you so gradually that it begins to feel “normal.”

The Shoulder Lift is an easy relaxing exercise that can release much of that tension BEFORE you get smacked with a whopping tension headache.

As always, tend to your posture so your breathing doesn’t have to push against a “posture dam.”

1. As you inhale, float your LEFT shoulder smoothly upward as if it were riding on a well- oiled track toward the ceiling. Then let that left shoulder slide DOWN as you breathe out.
2. Inhale as you float your RIGHT shoulder upward. Exhale, sliding it down again.
3. A shoulder rises when you breathe in and comes down when you exhale.
4. Alternate sides. Keep all movement smooth and fluid. Your neck remains long and relaxed.

Establish a smooth easy breathing pattern BEFORE you begin to move. The breath always rules and the movement follows the rhythm of the breathing, not the other way around.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Posture Quick-Fix

Deep lung tissue is devoted almost exclusively to delivery of oxygen directly into the bloodstream and to the simultaneous pick-up and carting away of carbon dioxide. This 24/7 job is so complicated and important that Nature pretty much leaves all the other air pumping, filtering, warming, moisturizing chores to other parts of your anatomy. Your lungs lose full and proper expansion when your spine and ribcage collapse like a beanbag. Lazy posture means poor lung function. Poor lung function leaves you tired and vulnerable to illness.

The slouch, the slump, the sprawl inhibit the amount of air that can move easily in and out of your chest. Less air – less fuel. Less fuel – more fatigue. More fatigue – more slouch.

Experiment: Sit in a typical slouch with your weight rolled back onto your tailbone and your shoulders forward of your ears. Count the seconds it takes for an inhalation. In contrast, roll your weight forward onto your thighbones and off your tailbone. Reach GENTLY upward with the CENTER TOP of your head. That center point is on an imaginary line that would run from one ear, over the top of your head to the other ear. Place your elbows in line with your side-seams.

This time, count the seconds it takes for an inhalation.

This “taller” position is something you can do frequently to help maintain your energy level. Watch yourself in the mirror and notice how much younger and more confident you look in the corrected position.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Toss the Toy Soldier

Apologies to drill sergeants everywhere but “Stomach in! Chest out! Shoulders back” sucks. While this particular posture makes a soldier appear leaner and meaner on the parade ground, it reduces his ability to function efficiently. Unfortunately, this concept has seeped into general society and has long been accepted as a guide for good posture.

“Stomach in” pushes the abdomen in and up and restricts the movement of your diaphragm (your most valuable breathing muscle). “Chest out” pushes your breathing up from the wide elastic lower lungs into the narrow restricted upper rib cage. “Shoulders back” pressures your throat, vocal chords and neck arteries. Also a rigid ribcage locks down the intercostal muscles between your ribs.

Good posture results in spending the MINIMUM energy to produce MAXIMUM fuel with less overall wear and tear. It appears that a Masai warrior can walk forever and spring into action at an instant’s notice. No military-style posture there. The same could be said for martial arts masters.

Stand and move while gently reaching upward with the center top of your head as if your head could float above your spine. Relax your jaws and shoulders. Keep your elbows in line with your side seams and unlock your knees. Relax your tummy and breathe deep, low, and slow. Now you are ready.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.

Open Cage

It is unfortunate that most of us don’t have a clue how a good deep breath actually feels. Blame poor posture, stress and increasing lack of awareness for the negative drama played out in our bodies.

After awhile, you brain accepts and records your constricted breathing and poor posture as the norm. Once a brain-map is in place, the body will return to that path of least resistance unless you make a conscious effort to do otherwise. The Open Cage is a chance to get some easy oxygen, to stretch out your spine, to fan open your ribs and to re-map your brain as to ideal posture and efficient breathing.

1. Lie on your back across a bed with your knees bent down over the edge of the mattress. Let your lower legs and feet dangle toward the floor (about hip-distance apart). Hold one wrist with the opposite hand (elbows bent). Your hands will be a few inches above the top of your head with your palms facing the ceiling. If they don’t drop down easily on the bed, prop them up with a pillow.

2. Breathe slowly and deeply without any attempt to manipulate your breathing. Just be aware. Notice how much more air you are taking in when your ribs aren’t scrunched down against your delicate lungs.

3. When you finish, roll over slowly onto your side and push yourself up with your arms and hands.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.