Moving Into Harmony

MOVEMENT & BREATHING: HEALTH / PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS

Inquiry and Insights

Are you really “too busy” for your own well-being?

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No, but your tell yourself that.

The honest answer that will actually deliver help is to acknowledge – “I am not able to find a way to take care of myself right now.” And saying this with honesty and compassion, rather than from judgement, or shoulds, will potentially lead you in a different direction that actually might stir the hunger for your own value of your own vitality and well-being.

Recent investigations measured the subjects being studied noted that they were thinking about something other than what they were doing……47% of the time……which translates to the subjects not being present to the task at hand 47% of the time…..ALMOST HALF the time…..which translates to half the day is spent not with focus on what one is doing…….NUTS!

So when a vital resource like the breath and how it either serves you and nourishes you, or how it accelerates your unhealthy patterns and diminishes your vitality. If you are unable to attend for moments in your day to what is MOST vital to your health and well-being…..well, you are left with being dictated and overrun by less vital influences and your health will be compromised.

UNLESS you take right action. Bring attention….maybe part of that 47% of the time…….onto the breath and into your body. Then you actually might find access to a resource that truly wants the best for you and your well-being.

Interested?

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The truth about your breathing – the diaphragm Part 2

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Breathing is based on the ability to exchange gases. This exchange is accomplished by pressure and fluid dynamics.

The vital exchange of what is in the outside air, and the process of those essential ingredients for you to survive, AND to live efficiently in all activities you do. Health doesn’t happen. Health is a uncovering to continuously reveal the powers and capacities behind how you roll in life with your body and mind. And this requires Oxygen.

Oxygen is a gas.
And so is Nitric Oxide.
These are two very important essentials for life to be energized and supported. One is from outside and one is produced inside the lining of your nose.

The other gas of importance in the exchange for life is Carbon Dioxide – a byproduct of your energy production.

So why you ask is the diaphragm important in this process called Respiratory Physiology?

Because gas moves to and from by pressure, availability and permeability.

And when the diaphragm contracts before you engage with your inhalation. I hope you picked this up! Your diaphragm begins to contract BEFORE you ride the incoming breath, or consciously engage with the incoming air. This contraction sets up a cascade of actions by other muscles, tissues, joints and vessels based on a pressure gradient.

The diaphragm creates a larger space in the rib cage where your lungs are. As the diaphragm contracts:

  • it moves down,
  • muscles in between the ribs assist in up-lifting (a bucket handle analogy is often used for the ribs).
  • neck muscles assist in anchoring/stabilizing the head on the neck, and mobilizing the neck and upper ribs.
  • the spine “elongates” or flattens its curves - the upper spine, or thoracic spine, lessens it’s backward curvature = kyphosis, and the low back, or lumbar spine lessens it’s forward curvature = lordosis.
  • the glottis contracts to generate a pressure gradient so air doesn’t escape (or go into the lungs). My friend Mary Massery’s studies into the “pop can dynamic of postural control” is brilliant in another awe of the diaphragm’s potential in human development, mobility and movement.
  • the dilator muscle of the throat, in the pharynx and laryngeal region, contract to open up the airway.
  • membranes of the small air sacs, alveoli – “grapes”, and lower smaller airways dilate (with the help of Nitric Oxide) for greater profusion across a barrier – the endothelial layer – for gas exchange.
  • the pelvic floor moves downward to accommodate for the building internal pressure of the abdomen and pelvic cavities.
  • certain parts of the blood circulation gain pressure, while other parts decrease pressure to accommodate for the powerful force of the blood; and this is influenced by the diaphragm, the connective tissues around all organs and other tissues for proper fluid dynamics.

And all of these coordinated activities like a symphony, create a maximal function for the outside air to move into all the spaces of the lungs with the greatest ease and least amount of energy required. Yes breathing is one of the energy consumers of your body.

The most important factor is the diaphragm’s contraction creates greater space. With greater space the pressure inside your lungs – which is already sub-atmospheric pressure, meaning it is less than the pressure outside. With an increase in pressure gradient, air moves easier along the gradient from higher to lower. This allows for the greatest efficiency of breathing to occur. And this is true in the opposite way to easily and efficiently release what is not needed in the system as eliminating from the lungs.

I hope you can begin to appreciate what all happens in the act of each breath you are given. All the above mentioned drive all activities in coordinated functions. And the health of each cell, and each tissue function, is dependent on this very important cascade of actions.

Did you know that they way you breathe can be affecting the health of your spine – neck, upper back and low back – too?

Contact me for a full-system approach to how your breathing impacts your health and well-being.

Why the diaphragm is the most important muscle – Part 1

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The diaphragm is the most important muscle in our body. We can’t live without it or mechanical means are necessary to keep you alive. And the diaphragm can perform the important respiratory, or breathing, function with our volitional, or conscious, control and non-volitional, unconscious function (especially during sleep). How your diaphragm functions in the day determines it’s efficiency when you are sleeping.

The diaphragm is so vital to your health and well-being. Here are some facts to contemplate what it does for you:

  • is the hardest and most enduring muscle in the human body.
  • it acts whether you are paying attention to your breathing or not. In my personal and clinical experience when attention is elsewhere, the breathing habits take over unless they’ve been practiced and cultivated. This article explains the qualities of a healthy breath to support your physical and mental health.
  • contracting and relaxing at least 21,500 times per day (calculated at 15 breaths per minute – bpm’s, not rpm….haaahaaa, so if you breath more, then its more, and more, and more. If you exercise or are under stress, it’s probably 20-30 breaths per minute…yes can be doubled!
  • 5.5 million breaths per year – at least
  • living to be 85…..then you have taken almost half a trillion breaths to support your long life.
  • during it’s action it makes breathing easier from the ease of how the outside air can enter all of your lungs. And during the relaxation phase, returning to it’s resting length, it assists in moving air out of the lungs via pressure dynamics. This article explains breathing from a pressure dynamic, and the symphony of actions that occur, to help you to understand the harder you work at breathing the more exhausted you will be.
  • it helps support your posture, and is also affected by your posture. It also aides in stabilizing the spine and transferring forces to/from the limbs during all upright activity.
  • it pumps all the major fluids – lymph and venous blood – back to the heart against gravity and when we are sleeping.
  • it generates a motion and pressure, intra-abdominal pressure, that massages the abdominal organs, and contributes greatly to the fluid exchange for the brain, pelvis and legs. It also mobilizes the spine while you sleep.
  • it contributes to force translation of lower limbs to upper limbs for power efficiency in movement.
  • and more (this article lays out all the functions that I have learned over the 30 years of study, personal practice and clinical experiences.

Article by Shawn M Flot, MPT – Masters in Physical Therapy (1994). He is an experienced Certified Oxygen Advantage® Instructor, and Functional Movement Systems specialist. Combined with his 35 years of experience in Exercise Physiology, Physical Therapist for health and performance, and a dedicated Hatha Yoga practitioner, is making for a power-house to help many people succeed in re-discovering their own health and healing, being fit and living well for their adventures.