Moving Into Harmony

MOVEMENT & BREATH: HEALTH - FITNESS - PERFORMANCE

Moving Into Harmony

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.

Turn Away from the Glitter of the False Promises

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A Poem by my beloved teacher – Jennifer Welwood

Renunciation

I share this poem with great respect. It serves as a invitation to seek good guidance that can show you doorways to your own way to freedom.

There is no person who can promise your challenges will go away, that life will somehow be easier and more comfortable, and definitely not fix your impediments and imbalances. There are no healers to proclaim their capacities to you…..run away, run away, run away (from Monty Python’s The Wholy Grail and the white rabbit). They only steal the power of your own possibilities to discover the true way to freedom. You must carry and put good work into what is yours to work with and available to you. To transform your own burdens requires capacities, and a good guide can point you in the direction from where you might re-discover them.

Give yourself time. Seek guidance before there is urgency, or worse yet…emergency, to shift the trajectory of your current experience. Find the vestige of your own possibilities with the proper guidance. I define my role as fostering independence by offering life-tested practices and methods over the casualty of anyone depending on me for their healing, health and navigating the adventures in your life.

All glitter is not the gold you desire. Your greatest wealth is always there waiting for you…..inside. How you seek and how you discover will lead you to your own given treasures, your capacities in this life to serve your life and others.

Want full Confidence With your Capacities?

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It’s a given, backpacking and thru-hiking in the wilderness requires a level of being physically fit to feel capable of accomplishing your dream adventures on the trails.

Your adventures also require some mental fortitude. Not the attitude to just keep pushing beyond yourself; that’s violence to one self, and you and your hiking partners will pay for that level of drive and incompetence.

Train smart, hike smart and be the best you can out there!

So let’s get to the missing link in being well equipped for your adventure.

The less understood, and often missing part of a training program, is breathing and how it’s physiological dynamics sustain your physical fitness day in, day out on a multi-day trail adventure.

Yes, breathing.

Breathing over lightweight packs, minimizing base weight, food, footwear, poles and planned itineraries.

If your breathing is not there to support your demands effectively, your body will have to adapt to the lack of support and eventually breakdown – injury or illness could end your trip prematurely.

And as I’ve seen, many people are overlooking the main aspect of breathing. It’s called over-breathing, or hyperventilation. And what you don’t know about hyperventilation will likely create a terrible experience, or at the minimum you’ll be suffering more than you need to.

So let’s talk about why your breathing pattern affects your experience on the trails and what will follow is a series of articles to help guide you in the direction of right breathing and right effort for building capacities and building confidence to go higher, and go further on your adventures.

It is vital to get the most effective access to what the breath can do for you by training smart with the breath.

Hiking smart with the breath entails training intelligently and competently with the breath:

  • Noticing the inefficient breathing habits that affect your everyday living by learning foundational breathing patterns, often new to most in daily living and during exercise.
  • Developing a felt sense of how breathing helps you be better in your day – greater flexibility, general ease of posture, increased ability to handle the demands of you day and less stressed, greater focus and concentration, enhanced clarity through the day, more productive, and greater endurance.
  • Unifying your foundational breathing patterns to yoru training or exercise programs. When you know how to breathe well depending on the demand – for example when you need to keep the mouth closed and when you need to open the mouth dependent on your perceived exertion from the intensity of the activity. Understanding and developing this capacity now will provide you the skillful means on the trails. And this gives you resilience and confidence on your adventure.
  • Promoting the physiological prowess it takes to travel to altitude, especially if you can’t train at altitude months in advance. You can train at sea level without big expensive technology. Training efficiently for altitude so the altitude doesn’t take you down….down the mountain. Understanding what the body does in it’s adaptations to the lower pressures at higher and higher altitudes (which makes it feel like you don’t have enough oxygen…and then what you do to compensate), and how to simulate this at low altitudes will help you gain the much required physiological capacities to help the most on your adventure.
  • Getting the most out of your legs by understanding the importance of the diaphragm. It’s a two way, intimately related phenomena between the legs and the breath, more than just what a good cardio routine will do. Also your spine and joint health are integrally linked to the function of the breath.
  • Gaining control on your breath’s rhythm, volume, force and mechanics as variables change on your adventure. Your mental and physical fortitude is intimately connected to your breath and it’s important you don’t go through your resources you need on your adventure.
  • Having a good bag of recovery breathing methods that help the body recover some of it’s vital resources for the next day, and the next, and the next.

The extreme value you place on incredible light-weight gear, the right supportive footwear, poles and clothing will only help you as far as your body will support you. By day 3, 4 or 5 is your body capable of continuing the demands to continue, so your mind is happy and satisfied with the experience you are having?

Or are you suffering and wondering about the days ahead? Are you feeling the beginnings of apprehension and concern/worry that your adventure of a life time is turning into a suffer-fest as your joints and spine feel beat up? These feelings are not normal for a multi-day adventure if your mind is questioning your experience.

Your physiology – primarily how you breathe (goes beyond the deep breath idea) determines your condition and your adaptability/resilience on your adventure.

50% of people suffering low back pain were found to have dysfunctional breathing patterns

(Chaitow 2004; Kiesel 2017)

And most people miss this opportunity because they don’t know how to effectively prime their physiology (besides eating good nutrient-dense food that is not heavy!) to be well suited for a long-distance trip.

Want to enjoy your adventure & life-time opportunity?

…….or just suffer through it and minimize the memories and opportunities available to you?

Want to be able to go off trail, off plan with confidence and explore that high peak that has your pulled to explore?

Feel assured you will make it over the high passes and descend with ease and confidence to enjoy that night’s camp?

Waking up the next day inspired for what your journey holds for you?

Being physically fit requires working with your physiological capacities to support the physicality and how you will perform on the trails. To travel in the mountains at altitudes unfamiliar to your mind and body requires adaptability that does not limit you in any way. ; and how your body responds to varied terrain and environments carrying a backpack is essential to a well-accomplished adventure. Do you agree?

Furthermore, your confidence to travel many days in the wilderness & back-country is dependent on how you feel physically and physiologically. Yes, good gear and itinerary are important planning. But without the internal well functioning body, your trip is not going to be worth the time and resources you put into it.

Prepare by training intelligently and you will find great success and accomplish your goals and maybe have the juice to do more while you are out there on your life-time adventure.

Enjoy your Adventure! Enjoy your Life!

Why not invest in how to gain access to your physiology, your capacity for your trip?

Training can not completely prevent illness or injury. Nothing can prevent un-expected challenges. Only the mind can adjust to the challenge that seems daunting.

Your mind affects your physiology. Your mind affects your breath. And the good news is your breathing patterns and function affect your mind.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

Most training will focus on you doing miles and strengthening your body to handle the rigors of multi-day adventures; and a handful of them will highly suggest you spend time in the altitudes you plan to travel in.

Did you know that your breathing physiology will determine your capacities for all of these? Your endurance, your muscle power and core strength for spinal support – carrying a backpack on uneven terrain, up & down hills – and be the primary factor for how well you accommodate, recover daily and function at altitude?

I am not talking about preventing acute mountain sickness or other medical conditions.

I am talking about your capacity to be in the mountains with your greatest capacity through training.
I am talking about having the confidence you can access higher terrain with less strain on your body and mind.
I am talking about enjoying your time on your adventure.

And 75% of the people I talk to do not what happens or why they have difficulty with their fitness or body’s capacities when they are at altitude.
And 90% of them do not know there are ways to train the body’s capacities with breathing to be better prepared and confident to go on their adventure.

And you can let go of the false myth that “going to altitude to train will enhance your chances of surviving at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking deep breaths will improve your breathing capacity”
And you can let go of the false myth that “having the lightest pack improves your chances at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking a drug before you go is your only assurance”
And you can let go of the false myth that “feeling out-of-breath is because you need more oxygen”

These are just not true!

So, why not invest in something so simple as learning to breathe well in daily life and during exercise, and start now with effective means you can do during your regular daily routine to enhance your physiological capacities, develop skillful action and live and adventure well!

And the time you might spend driving to the mountains because you think you can only get altitude training in is by going to altitude…..well let’s give you a more effective way.

Yes, you can read and watch videos about altitude simulation exercises. But do you know if your patterns of breathing now are conducive to engaging in stressor exercises to create the adaptation for altitude performance? Most people I work with are not aware of their daily breathing patterns and how they affect their ability to exercise and their ability to recover optimally during sleep. And most people do not know the trigger that cause them to over breathe that limits their physiological functional capacity and ability to adapt to stressor exercises like hyperventilation and breath-hold exercises.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

How to know your breathing’s functional capacities

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Tuning In requires feeling, a turning the dial of your attention and pointing to what you want to listen to. Knowing what to listen to from guidance is very helpful. I can recall when I started my meditation practice, I got lost in “silence.” As time went on my practice dulled and left me somewhat dull with life. Once I began to hear my teacher point at what we needed to pay attention to, my whole practice changed, and therefore my body and my mind….and my life changed.

Feeling, Sleep and the Breath are intimately connected and influence on another. Check out this article about this.

This is also true for the body. Having the right guidance does not mean something else may is wrong. The right guidance provides the right effort. In the Yoga right effort, means to bring together, which is the unifying principle in life. By bringing the mind in direct connection to qualities in the body one can make progress with their practice. The breath is housed in the body and all actions in the body happen because of the companionship with the breath.

So here are a few ways to fine tune your attention to the dynamics of the breath for your practice and your progress:

  • Feeling the breath move the ribs – volume
  • Noticing the rate
  • Noticing where in your chest the breath is
  • How you react to the feeling of breathlessness, the need to breathe – CO2 sensitivity

Feeling is a sense. Actually feeling, or sensing how you are being touched, is directly related to the dynamics of the life force energy (Prana, Qi, the Wind, and other names). Feeling is developed early in life, as early as being inside your mother, being held in a world of warm welcoming watery support (the 4 w’s I like to call it). This is one of our first impressions and it keeps us open and expanding in our development as a human being. The other is true too, that once the outside world is perceived as a threat, we begin to lose that powerful openness and expanding potential by withdrawing. I was shown this phenomena exists even before the heart is formed. (I’ll see if I can find some photos of the cells going toward the edge of the sac and collecting at the place where the umbilical cord will connect…..so, way early in our development.)

Sorry, I got a bit expansive in my awe of this phenomena and how much I desire to stay connected and open. I was also given the amazing wisdom from my teacher – “Feeling is the hardest thing to do as a human.” He would encourage me, when I was tied in a knot….a shape to allow my body through my interaction with the life force inside with each breath, he would kindly say “scratch the window.” Scratch the window……coupled with a poem during that time by David Whyte – Just Beyond Yourself.

Want to go a little beyond yourself and feel how the breath is working with you?

Start with Feeling. Most guidance will have you start with inhalation. I want to offer something different:

  • Start by feeling the ground that supports you. Can you trust and let go into that support below you and inside you?
    • Lying down on your back – feel from your head to your heels the ground supporting you. Can you let go into that support?
    • Sitting – feel the base of your pelvis centering on your sit bones without striving or holding AND feel aliveness in your ankles and feet (THIS is very important concept about the legs supporting you in sitting, and it comes from standing and squatting).
    • Standing – feel the feet on the earth and notice how they are on the earth (4POINTS); and how there is a descending support that comes from your letting the ground support you through the bones from the back body – tuft of skull to your heels; and front body, from your navel to your ankles….this whole region being allowed to descend into the feet. This is a practice within itself – a standing practice of finding what truly supports you. You can listen here for a guidance I give on standing.
  • In this descending process, letting go into sustainable support, can you notice your letting go in the breath? The exhale. Feel how the exhale comes from you letting go, descending.
    • The exhale can be felt in the physical body on the surface as a cascading descending feeling off the neck and shoulders – down the ribs into the belly.
    • A quality of spaciousness may be felt in the belly as you release. This keeps you from squeezing the belly and abdomen in attempt to move the exhale, and push it out. This will bring adaptations you do not want. Trust me, I did this for many years and the re-learning has taken some time and my body has had to adjust to unraveling what I thought was the way. I have learned from this BIG mistake (thank you!thank you!thank you!) in time and I know I can find my way back (I’m that little gnome at the edge of the trail whispering…..”go that way.”
    • The inhalation is determined by the exhalation and the space that is created. Then the inhalation gets invited into the doors of opening and in companionship with you fills you up where the body can take it. The mind has to observe this quality, because the mind can not comprehend all the intricacies and inter-related dynamics of what is going to happen on the next breath, so why use the mind to push the breath – why not be observant and feel what is moved and shifts with the motivation of the breath. This is the role of the life force, to move you and motivate you, and it will do what ever you ask for the activity you are in. Your true companion.
  • Then, at the end of the exhale, even when you don’t feel air leaving your nose, you might notice a pause. Please do not manufacture a pause. It is naturally occurring, and usually present when your BOLT score (see video below to measure) is above 15-18. So feel if that is present.
  • Then, in that pause, there is the origins, or initiation, of the in-breath. So from the belly, feel your breath originate below your navel and this motivation will give rise and expansion to the lower ribs. You can imagine your cup is being filled from the bottom up, but again please do not manufacture this, it is just an image not something your mind needs to do. This is your inhalation. From the low ribs to the tops of your shoulders and base of neck. Rejoice in receiving this breath and how it moves you.

Let’s discuss Rhythm. I mentioned above feeling the sequence of the breath. Now like the bass of the band, or the drummers beat, there is a rhythm. This is a rate, or pulse in the breath. In exercise physiology (and respiratory physiology) the rate is counted and described per minute. Best measured by a device or someone counting your breaths without you knowing they are watching and counting your breaths. The mind will get involved and your rate will not be accurate the moment you watch it or feel you are being watched….just the way of the mind. So, your respiratory rate (RR) is best measured by a device. I am working on a way to link into what you might feel is your natural rhythm and rate…..stay tuned.

Nasal breathing vs. Mouth breathing. This article can help. For now you can inquire into your way of breathing – through your day do you nasal breathe or mouth breathe? and, as you walk or exercise or get into a bit of an intense level of activity (can even be mind), do you mouth breathe or nasal breathe?

Your sensitivity to CO2 (the by-product of your metabolism) is a very important gas to understand how it works in your body….it is not bad for you.

I offer this simple measure for you to discover your sensitivity to CO2 and your breathing functions and capacities.

Want to learn more about how you can harness the power behind each breath you take, and how to make the most out of your health & fitness program? Check out these opportunities.

Article by Shawn M Flot, MPT. He is now a Certified Oxygen Advantage® Instructor. Combined with his 28year experience in Exercise Physiology, Physical Therapist for health and performance, and a dedicated Yoga practitioner is making for a power-house to help many people succeed in re-discovering their own health, healing and well-being.

The Amazing Health Benefits of the Breath – Nitric Oxide

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Nitric Oxide was originally discovered in 1986 by Dr. Louis Ignarro in his lab. And he and two of his colleges were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998. This naturally produced gas is as important for the health of the human body as Vitamin D. YEP!!!!

From Dr. Ignarro are the key benefits he found with Nitric Oxide. Through nasal breathing this substance is stimulated and circulated from the paranasal sinuses into the respiratory tract. The lining of the respiratory tract has a strong affinity for nitric oxide for support with immune function, tissue health and healing, and circulation/exchange of respiratory gases. WOW! NOW you know how smart the body is, and how the nose is intimately tied to your health.

Here is a lecture by Dr. Ignarro

This video goes over the sequence, modified for biomechanical advantages, injury prevention while doing them, and aspects of the breathing……and hummmmm-ing.

As for the importance of healthy nasal passages – the ole osteopaths, Dr. Andrew Still & Dr. William Sutherland, referred to the ethmoid bone (the passages from which the air through the nasal passages pass into the skull to vibrate the pituitary gland) are the “lungs of the cranium.” BOOM!

Here is another video/podcast with Dr. Ignarro with some great insights:

https://vimeo.com/56206930
This is one of the scientists that discovered the molecule – a great presentation

Are you strong enough and ready for your adventure?

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Breathing is essential to Men’s Health

A vital question for men and men’s health – Is your tent still erect at sunrise?
Are you up and ready to meet the the adventure of the day?
Or is it too much effort to rise to what’s lies ahead of you?
For men’s health this has many levels of relating to your health, vitality and feelings of security in your relationship. Even in the field of physical therapy, Men’s Health magazine explains how erectile function is impacted by breathing and the pelvic floor.

For women who care about their man’s health & well-being – how does your man rise in the morning? How is the tent post…..under the covers? or is he groogy, slow to move, run down and unable to be motivated for the day’s adventure?

This is a subject a lot of men and women are shy to talk about. Erectile Dysfunction, or ED as the mainstream try to streamline the taboo and insecurities around the word – erect. And if you shelter up in the wild backcountry, exploring great adventures, you understand the importance of a secure erect shelter, or tent.

For men’s health, the morning of a good erection is the sign of a healthy pelvis, and a great day of adventure ahead. How can this be you ask? Let’s explore this vital topic.

Rear view of two young people holding hands enjoy the morning scenery of the mountains on which the fog descended. View from inside a tent

And one the repeated message I hear when studying with Patrick McKeown – breathing expert, master teacher and author of several books on Breathing Health & Performance – is one sign of a man’s good health can be measured by the natural erection that occurs in the morning upon waking. Yes, a good sleep allows dependent on your breathing determines your ability to rise to all occasions and adventure ahead of you.

At this point in the interview Patrick McKeown, founder of the Oxygen Advantage, talks about breathing and erectile dysfunction

Sleep is the number one vital component for a successful and enjoyable adventure. It out-weighs the weight of the pack on your back, the food you prepare and devour, or how many miles you travel that day. Without the proper sleep, your body will not recover and the consequences of less than vital capacities leaves you at risk, less that able to perform, and worse …. unable to rise to the occasion when the adventure needs you the most.

What makes for good quality sleep? Let’s unpack the components that can make sleep optimal for you:

Quality

“I had a good night’s sleep”

How do you know? You may feel okay because you have habituated to the quality of sleep you are missing!

Do you wake up with a tent propped? Doesn’t have to be every morning but more than not, I suggest your erectile nature in the wakeup is indicative to your body getting the rest and circulation it needs. You can’t make love, have sex, when you are running from a tiger!

Refreshed feelings, clear head & eyes, flexible body, moist mouth, and a great BOLT score (click here to measure) are good measures to a good night’s restorative sleep. The BOLT score is especially important if you are exploring at altitude to see how well you are acclimatizing to the higher terrain and thinner air.

Breathing & Sleep

How your breathing at night has a major effect on how you recovered during sleep AND how much resources you have available for the day ahead.

How you feel and the circulation in your pelvis relates directly to how your breathing was in the night.

You may want to ask your partner you are sharing a tent with if there was noise. It can be from the mouth….VERY BAD!!! or it can come from a shut mouth……GOOD! but a very turbulent nasal breath……BAD!

I suggest to everyone to trial mouth taping during the day, to avoid freak out at night pulling the tape off your lips….ouch! and then mouth tape at night and compare how you feel….and perhaps if something is now holding the tent up.

Deep recovery and deep restoration during sleep require quiet and soft breathing. This is often a very under-valued part of your adventure. It can make or break your trip. Nocturnal hypoxia is the number one factor in people who get high-altitude sickness and don’t do well.

Day =>>> Night

How you breathe during the day determines how you breathe at night. The biggest change you can make is to breathe thru your nose unless your activity gets very intense. Surprisingly your ability to breathe thru your nose, especially at night is directly related to your pelvic health…. men’s health.

If you had a very taxing day and there was a lot of labored, heavy breathing, then the night time will be somewhat more turbulent or even loud.

It is best to cultivate a daily functional breathing pattern that incorporates the appropriate type of breathing for the level of the activity.

The gears of breathing are related to the intensity of the exercise or activity. If you can address habitual tendencies with awareness of how your breathe AND know what types of breathing to match the intensity instead of default you can remarkably improve your capacity and your ability to minimize the suffering, that unfortunately gets accepted when you are exploring the great outdoors with everything on your back.

Breathing is primary, and if it suffers the fate of unconditioned response, then you will suffer unnecessarily; your confidence goes down, AND more importantly you loose the memory of a good trip because your mind had to deal with you suffering; and surviving your unnecessary suffering does not make you a great explorer.