When I try to meditate, I feel like I’m doing something wrong. I start with long inhalations and exhalations, but throughout the meditation, my breathing gets shallow and I almost feel like I can’t catch my breath. I know I need to relinquish control, but I don’t think I should feel like this, right?

Sincerely,
Gasping for Breath

Dear Gasping for Breath,

Thank you for writing in! I think many of our readers have questions about the breath in meditation practice. I will offer a few simple insights that I believe can be of service to you on your journey.

Let’s start of by reflecting on the kind of mindset that you bring to the practice. Part of what humans naturally do in meditation is to install their usual mental operating system of filtering an experience through the lens of right and wrong. How I approach meditation practice is never close to all the way right or all the way wrong. It’s more of an evolving process where we have these amazing moments when we feel aligned, and non-amazing moments when nothing feels aligned. This is why we practice, isn’t it?

I’m not saying, “Well, anything goes!” While it is very important to follow the instructions of a qualified teacher, the various techniques that come from lineages, and the good teachings about “how” to meditate, I think we must also be gentle with ourselves in how we apply them. It is a good idea to give our best effort and practice with a healthy intention. But from there, we also must take a leap and trust in the practice to be the exact teaching that we need for that particular day. This is an advanced concept and practice in itself! To be OK with how the meditation is already.

This is why I encourage myself and my students to come to the practice daily. The daily practice provides opportunities to strengthen and grow every day. Trusting is also a courageous act to step away from the judging mind and holding onto expectations about where we want the practice to go. With that said, of course, there is always room for learning and refinement.

When it comes to breathing in the kind of meditation that I practice and teach (mindfulness), the general instruction is to let the breathing be natural and through the nose, if possible. If, on a given day, it feels better to breathe through the mouth, perhaps due to nasal congestion, then that is fine for that instance.

In terms of troubleshooting your breathing, without working with you in person, I can only offer a few general suggestions. The first would be to initiate your meditation with just a few long and slow deep breaths in through the nose, and, in this case, out through the mouth. Following this “opening” style of breathing, you would then let your breath return to a more natural cadence. The purpose of utilizing the opening breathing is to get yourself connected to your body and have a few deep feeling breaths to consciously and physically recognize that you are preparing yourself to enter a more focused and sacred space. Do your best to stay with the natural breathing and the remembrance that in the practice all is sacred.

Based on your question, I wonder if you are trying to stay with those longer inhales and exhales for too many repetitions? If so, perhaps it’s simply too much or unnatural for your body. The body already knows how to breathe, so let it do its job. By letting go of the breath, you may then be freeing up more mental, physical, and emotional resources to be more present and embodied in your meditation.

Related: The Perfect Way to Breath in Ashtanga Yoga

Another essential key in your practice will be to stay attentive to how the breath is moving and how that may be connected to your physical energy levels. In my own practice, I have noticed that when my breathing gets shallow, it is because I am fatigued and moving toward drowsiness and sleepiness. Everyone is unique, so this may or may not be connected to what is happening for you, but it is something for you to check out experientially.

When you notice that your breathing is not feeling good for you, check in on your energy, revitalize your intention, and then reset yourself and your breathing. There is nothing that says you cannot re-initiate through opening breathing and then resettle into the practice. Or perhaps your shift back can be more subtle, such as a simple mental acknowledgement that the natural breathing has stalled, and then come back to it.

My last suggestion would be to do your best to release any expectations or goals that you have for your meditation session. Do your best to let the breath be comfortable and natural, notice when it stalls, and don’t get caught up in judging yourself or the experience. And finally, always come back to a smooth natural cadence of the breath and continue the practice.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, I think most of us are programmed to bring our mindset of achieving, perfecting, and expecting into the practice, but those can mostly end up hindering our growth. I will close with a teaching by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a mindfulness pioneer in the West, whom I come back to often on my path. He writes in Full Catastrophe Living: “The best way to achieve your goals is to back off from striving for results and instead to start focusing carefully on seeing and accepting things as they are, moment-by-moment. With patience and regular practice, movement toward your goals will take place by itself. This movement becomes an unfolding that you are inviting to happen within you.”

I hope these few insights will help you in working with your breath in a wholesome and more liberating way and serve as a source of encouragement for you on the path.

Many blessings,
John

The post Am I Breathing Wrong When I Meditate? appeared first on Sonima.

The answer, according to experienced yoga teachers and scientific research, is no. But that doesn’t mean the breath isn’t helpful, or that what you’re experiencing isn’t real. Your breath is causing a change. What you are doing is becoming more aware of it.

“We are not literally breathing into that area, but focusing on our breathing more attentively (more evenly and deeply) while bringing attention to the area where we feel tightness,” says Andrew Hillam, Sonima yoga advisor and director at Jois Yoga in Encinitas, California. “Deep, smooth breathing has a direct effect of calming the nervous system and brings the mind to a state of attention, to what we are doing in the present moment. The result is that tension held within the body can be more easily released.”

A dive into the physiology of stretching further supports this idea, and explains why deep breathing is such an essential healing tool.

The Science of Stretching

There’s a popular notion that stretching is a calming activity, but from a physiological perspective, what’s happening within our body is anything but relaxing.

“Stretching has been shown to decrease parasympathetic input,” says Arnold Nelson, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at Louisiana State University. The parasympathetic nervous system initiates the “rest and digest” functions within our body, and serves as the “yin” to the “yang” of the sympathetic “fight or flight” nervous system. They are both always on to some degree, but when activity of one goes down, signals from the other are stronger. Studies back this, showing that blood pressure and heart rate both increase during stretching. The body’s demand for oxygen also increases. Oxygen consumption also goes up at the stretched muscle itself, producing heat and carbon dioxide.

In short: stretching is a lot more “fight” than it is “rest.” But in most yoga postures, our goal is to release tension, not create it. How do we push back against this physiological urge to “fight”? Enter the breath.

Related: The Power of Breath for Physical and Emotional Balance

“By modifying our breathing we are able to effect the nervous system, which has a direct effect on our ability to relax the muscles,” Hillam says. In other words, slow deep breaths increase parasympathetic activity. You calm yourself down even when your body is signaling to do otherwise. And then you can turn your attention to what’s happening within the muscle itself.

Bohr’s Effect, in Effect?

Let’s take a moment to dispel the popular myth that you take in “more” oxygen when you breathe deeply. If you were to take a tool that measures the oxygen saturation in blood called a pulse oximeter and test people on the street, nearly everyone would score between 95 to 99 percent. Even shallow mouth breathers. The exceptions would be people suffering from serious disorders, like COPD.

So even people who breathe very poorly have a lot of oxygen in their system thanks to the body’s remarkable ability to adapt and recruit extra muscles (like the serratus, low back and hips) to do extra work when a main muscle (the diapragm) isn’t doing it’s job. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on diaphragmatic breathing. You should, because doing so will use more of your lung tissue and allow the ancillary muscles being forced to work by inefficient breathing to take a rest. But the issue really isn’t oxygen intake. It’s oxygen transport.

Here’s where it’s helpful to understand a rule governing our circulation and respiratory systems that’s known as Bohr’s Effect. Named by Danish physician Christian Bohr, M.D., Ph.D., (and father to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr), the effect describes how the hemoglobin in our bloodstream release the oxygen they carry in the presence of carbon dioxide. Where there is an increase of carbon dioxide, such as working muscles, more oxygen will be released.

Since we know that muscles undergoing a static stretch produce more carbon dioxide, Bohr’s Effect would explain how more oxygen gets into those working tissues. So in a sense, we are “directing” the oxygen within our body by holding a position that puts a specific muscle to work. And as Hillam stated above, we are bringing more of our awareness to the process, becoming better able to notice the changes that take place.

“Breathing plus holding a position is very powerful,” says Sonima pain and healing advisor Pete Egoscue, who teaches diaphragmatic breathing as part of his postural restoration techniques.

Bring More Awareness to Your Breath Now

Hillam cautions that breathing practices are best performed with a knowledgable teacher.

“The breath is very powerful, and breathing practices can bring great benefit,” Hillam says. “But done incorrectly, [they] can also cause harm to the practitioner.”

A safe starting point, Hillam says, is to try breathing in and out through your nose only, focusing on making the breath deep and smooth without straining.

“The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali state that ‘yoga’ is bringing the mind under control and directing our attention in a sustained way, and that control of the breathing is necessary before being able to control of the mind,” Hillam says. “So a focus on breathing is very important.”

The post Why Does the Breath Heal? appeared first on Sonima.

McGill’s extensive research has led him to conclude that with enough bends, the spinal discs will suffer injury. Not might. Which is why he suggests skipping crunches entirely, and saving those trunk folds for the ones you’ll inevitably need in your daily life. Let’s call that new core training rule number one.

New Core Training Rule #1:
Don’t Bend So You Don’t Break

Even if we set aside the potential for injury, there’s another reason why bends and twists aren’t a great way to train the core: Those movements aren’t really the core’s main function.

“Sure, you can bend and extend and flex and rotate, but at the end of the day the core is probably more of a force transmitter than a force producer,” says Mike Robertson, co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training and creator of Robertson Training Systems. “That’s a big shift for a lot of people.”

New Core Training Rule #2:
Train the Core to Do the Work It Actually Does

While the rectus abdominis is responsible for flexing and bending the trunk, it’s only one of five muscles in the abdominal wall. What we commonly refer to as “the core” includes many more. Most of the time, the main function of this group of muscles is stabilization—keeping you upright while your extremities (arms and legs) move and shift. The core also transfers force from the ground into movement. Robertson, who trains professional athletes from nearly every major sport, says a good example of this is to picture a sport like baseball or golf.

“When you hit a baseball or golf ball, your core isn’t there to produce force,” Robertson says. “Your hips and thighs—those big muscles through the lower extremities—are what impart force into the ground. The ground basically reacts back, and your core is what gets that force out to your arms and into whatever implement you’re holding.” This is why Robertson seconds McGill’s suggestion to scrap sit-ups and the like, and instead employ moves like planks, dead bugs, and even push-ups.

“People may not think of a pushup as a core training exercise but it absolutely is,” Robertson says. “Any movement where your core acts as a stable pillar while you create motion with your legs or arms” will give you the effect you’re going for here. Even if you are already performing these effective moves, however, Robertson says there’s an all-too-common posture problem that can undermine your work. Thankfully, he also says that the solution is right underneath your nose. This rule may be the biggest game-changer of all.

New Core Training Rule #3:

Breathe Yourself Into Better Alignment

According to Robertson, many people are stuck in what he calls an “inhaled” or “extended” posture. You may never have heard those specific terms in regards to alignment, but you’ve surely seen the position: ribs hiked up and out, belly hanging down, pelvis slumping forward, with a deep curve through the lower back.

“A lot of our clients come in with this extended posture,” Robertson says. “When they do, it doesn’t matter what core exercise I give them. If they stay in that posture their abs are never in the right position.” To correct the problem, Robertson says he instructs whatever client he’s working with to first exhale fully, which can actually feel uncomfortable for some as strange as that sounds.

Related: The Intriguing Way Breath Affects Your Workout

“We’ll cue in through the nose, out through the mouth,” Robertson says. “Once the exhale is done, we’ll pause for three to five seconds. For people who’ve been stuck in the inhaled posture, when we get all of that air out, it’s very hard for them to actually pause, because their brain is instinctively telling them ‘I’m suffocating.’ But it’s not, and when you get all of the air out of the ribcage, the lower ribs can come down, the pelvis comes underneath, and everything will be in a better starting position. “So now any abs exercise that you do, if you lock in that position, you’re going to get more out of it,” Robertson says.

Once you’ve gotten your body into this “exhaled” position, the trick is to maintain it while you’re inhaling. To do so, Robertson asks clients to think about filling both the ribs and the belly with air simultaneously. “When we’re cuing diaphragmatic breathing, we’ll cue in through the nose, and when you breathe through the nose, the chest and the belly fill at the same time—and at about the same rate,” Robertson says. What you don’t want is for the “belly to just kind of pooch out and stick you back in that extended posture.”

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Robertson says his clients will spend the first three to five minutes of every workout breathing, finding this proper “exhaled” alignment, and then reinforcing the technique. They’ll spend another five minutes or so breathing at the end of the training session in order to turn off the sympathetic nervous system response and start up the recovery process. In between, the goal is to maintain that balanced chest-and-belly breathing from an “exhaled” position during every exercise.

“With the lower rib cage down, and the pelvis up underneath, the abs are in the right position,” Robertson says. “Now you can do all of those core exercises and get the most out of them.”

Here’s a quick step-by-step breakdown of how to incorporate this breathing technique into your next warmup and cool-down for better alignment and ultimately a tighter core.

1. Take the biggest inhale you can. Notice what it does to your belly and lower body alignment.

2. Exhale and let all of the air out of your lungs.

3. Hold that exhale for 3-5 seconds.

4. During that time, use your lower abs to lift the pelvis into neutral alignment.

5. On your next inhale, try to fill the ribs and belly with air at the same rate.

6. Focus on maintaining that engagement.

The post The New Rules of Core Training appeared first on Sonima.

If this sounds like something you’ve witnessed or experienced—whether you’re the one on the treadmill or the elliptical—you might have wondered, is the person who’s audibly panting getting a better, more effective workout than the one who’s silently chugging along?

Noiseless exercisers can continue to breath easy: The answer is a clear-cut “no.” Recent studies in sports science reveal that labored, erratic, or rapid breathing may actually hinder your movements and even cause harm.

“A cardiovascular reflex is activated when the breathing muscles are forced to work hard during exercise that restricts blood flow to the limbs,” says Alison McConnell, Ph.D., the world’s leading expert on breath training and author of Breathe Strong. McConnell also points out that this type of breathing compromises the stabilizing muscles in the trunk, which translates to weaker limb movements. This puts you at risk for injuries, especially in high-impact sports like running, where each step must absorb as much as three times one’s body weight.

“The diaphragm, [the main abdominal muscle below the lungs], is an important contributor to the increase in intra-abdominal pressure that stiffens the trunk and stabilizes the spine,” McConnell says. Without a strong and engaged core to manage the impact, runners feel the effects in their knees, hips, and back, confirms a 2010 study published in the journal Spine.

Related: Is Your Breathing Pattern Normal?

The risk of getting injured is only the half of it. You might also unintentionally trigger the fight-or-flight response with this kind of intense breathing, too, which can really make exercising stressful. When inhalations are rapid and shallow, called apical breathing, only the lungs’ upper lobes inflate. As a result, you might set off a stress response, a hormonal shift associated with feelings of anxiousness and panic, explains chiropractor John Douillard, the former director of player development for the New Jersey Nets NBA team and author of Body, Mind and Sport.

To avoid getting sidelined or going into panic mode, try slowing and deepening each round of breath so that the diaphragm is fully engaged. This form of breathing pulls oxygenated air into the lower lungs and activates the relaxation response, which elicits feelings of calmness, control, and focus. A body that is relaxed and calm performs more powerfully and efficiently.

This is where learning to breathe mindfully may not only improve the ease of your movements, but also greatly boost your fitness outcomes, too. This is especially important when exercising at high intensities. “As your rib cage opens and becomes more flexible [as a result of diaphragmatic breathing], the breath rate will slow down rather than speed up while you increase your workload,” Douillard says. This is particularly helpful for those exercising to lose weight since it keeps the body in fat-burning (aerobic) zone.

Use the following three mindful breathing techniques to enhance your workout. Practice them separately for at least one week each. Then employ all three together to create better fitness outcomes with less stress and exertion, and more ease and efficiency.

1. Breathe like a baby.

We’re born masters at belly breathing. But as we age, a stressful and sedentary lifestyle leads us to become habitual shallow breathers. To breathe like your first day on earth again, inhale slowly, extending the belly outward. This helps draw the breath into the lower lungs and extend the diaphragm. By fully inflating the lungs, you’re also taking in the maximum amount of oxygen possible with each breath. As you exhale, the belly draws in and the diaphragm moves upward. Since it may feel backwards to breathe this way, practice belly breathing while walking before using it in workouts until it feels more natural.

2. Find a rhythm.

During aerobic exercise—such as cycling, swimming and running—aligning your breath with your movements in a regular pattern creates more ease, flow, and aerobic efficiency. Do you have one area of your body that is chronically more tight, sore, or injured? That achy side is probably taking the brunt of mechanical stress during exercise. Rhythmic breathing can help equalize your movements and prevent favoring one side over the other.

Depending on the type of exercise, the pattern may be three beats (such as foot strikes during running) for the inhale and two beats for the exhale. This 3:2 pattern, for example, alternates between feet as they hit the ground at the beginning of the exhalation, which is when your core is weakest. This more evenly distributes the landing impact stress across both sides of your body, reports a 2013 study published in PLoS ONE. This technique also keeps you calm and relaxed even when performing difficult or high-intensity movements.

“Rhythmic breathing creates a pathway to a deep centeredness,” says exercise physiologist and running coach Budd Coates, author of Running on Air: The Revolutionary Way to Run Better by Breathing Smarter. “In the martial arts, this inner connection and centeredness allows more immediate and precise control of the physical body,” adds Coates, a four-time qualifier for the U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials.

3. Use only the nose.

Breathing only through the nose during exercise has many benefits. The snout’s smaller, narrower shape forces pressured, slower inhalations, which give the lungs more time to extract oxygen from the air you breathe. Plus, a study published in the Australian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport showed that nostril-only breathing during exercise mitigates the effects of exercise-induced asthma, allowing those with asthma to exercise harder while breathing easier. Keeping your mouth shut during exercise feels hard at first (a bit like you’re suffocating) and forces you to slow your pace until your nasal passages expand and adapt, which they will! When starting, perform nasal-only breathing in 15-second increments, then gradually build up to several minutes at a time.

The post The Intriguing Way Breath Affects Your Workout appeared first on Sonima.

The breath is one thing that is with you your entire life—from the moment you cry out as a baby to your final exhale. The body changes, and so does the mind, but the breath is always consistent. While working out, the breath is essential for endurance and strength. This postworkout meditation will help you appreciate your hard work, and enable you to cool down with attention to the breath. Scan the body to notice any areas of tension, and with your mind, let go of anything that’s not serving you.

The post A Meditation to Do After a Workout appeared first on Sonima.

Meditating before you work out or play a sport can be tremendously helpful for increasing focus and attention. In this meditation, Jamie Zimmerman, M.D., invites you to recognize the sensations in your body and acknowledge that you’ve made a commitment to nurture and strengthen your body by exercising. Before you begin your next workout, take an opportunity to notice what’s happening inside your body and thank yourself for committing yourself to health.

The post A Workout Meditation to Do Before Exercising appeared first on Sonima.