Yogic Breathing

Introduction & Overview

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Questions about how to breathe are really questions about which muscles to use in order to expand the lungs and draw air into them. – Rolf Sovik

Confusion Likely without Foundations

• Avoid teaching the techniques discussed here until students have had the benefit of becoming well-established in the foundations.
• Please scroll down to see a progressive series of lessons beginning with Respiratory Anatomy and the Nervous System and moving through cautions and best practices for teaching about the breath; the causes and effects of breathing issues; becoming proficient in promoting conditions for natural breathing; and how to guide students in conscious breathing.
• Without those foundations, students will likely be confused or overwhelmed by the technicalities of yogic breathing presented here.

Clavicular Breathing

• Clavicular breathing is the isolated use of the neck and upper torso for breathing.
• Clavicular breathing is an inefficient process.
• It’s most commonly seen in people who have conditions that limit their ability to draw in a deep breath, such as emphysema. (Rolf Sovik)

Thoracic Breathing

• Breathing primarily with the chest muscles is called thoracic breathing.
• While typically used to recover after exertion, it’s not efficient for everyday breathing.

Although there is a certain logic to breathing with the chest muscles — that is where the lungs are, after all — it is not helpful to use these muscles as the primary tool for everyday breathing.  The effect is to arouse the sympathetic nervous system and to maintain levels of tension that sap energy and dramatically increase your susceptibility to emotional disturbances. Overusing the chest muscles for breathing is a subtle but major cause of physical and emotional distress. – Rolf Sovik

Diaphragmatic Breathing

• While elements of clavicular and thoracic breathing are present in everyday breathing, the diaphragm is the key muscle for normal breathing.

Yogic Breathing

• The term “yogic breathing” appears to have subtle differences in meaning among different sources but generally refers to diaphragmatic breathing.
• It may also include a variety of particular conscious actions such as progressive contraction of abdominal muscles for a conscious exhalation and breathing into the back body.

See Also

• Respiratory Anatomy

Watch Out For

• Signs of improper breathing include tension in the neck and upper body.
• There may also be tension in the jaw or face, or a headache.

SYMPTOMS OF IMPROPER BREATHING

How do you know when you are breathing improperly? In general, you’ll feel a great deal of tension in your upper body. You’ll tend to accumulate tension in your neck and shoulders and between your shoulder blades in your upper back. You may feel tension in your jaw, facial muscles, and around your eyes, possibly in the form of a headache. These are but a few of the symptoms of poor breathing, which can be as extreme as the sensation of having a heart attack. No passive massage or physical therapy will remedy this chronic tension for it will be recapitulated the moment you continue breathing poorly. – Donna Farhi