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BREATHING PROPERLY MAY BE THE EASIEST HEALTH HACK EVER—AND ITS BENEFITS ARE HUGE
If you’ve ever taken B3 class, you’ve likely heard an instructor talk about breath. Focusing on it, connecting to it, going big with it. But why all the cues for an action that happens seemingly automatically?
For how seldom we tend to think about breathing, it plays a profound role in our health—which is something Dr. Belisa Vranich, a psychologist turned renowned breathing educator, has thought about a lot. “Changing your breath truly does affect—immediately—the body, mind, and soul,” she says. “And, most important, the impact takes place at the cellular and muscular levels.”
Back and neck pain, low energy, sleep issues, digestion, cognitive problems: All of these, and more, can be worsened by dysfunctional, shallow breathing. Take a moment to inhale and exhale right now. If, when you inhale, your shoulders move up and your belly hardly moves outward at all, you’re a “vertical breather,” which means you’re only using a fraction of your lungs, while overusing your neck and shoulder muscles. “It’s a common misconception that if we suck in our abdominals all day long, they’ll be stronger,” says Dr. Vranich. “But it pushes the breath from the diaphragm and the largest part of our lungs up into the shoulders, which is completely inefficient and puts us in an anxious state. Our bodies associate shallow breaths with stress, so we’re essentially stressing ourselves out.”
The good news? Our bodies want to breathe correctly, and kicking our bad habits is not only, as Vranich puts it, “one of the easiest life-hacks ever,” but it also comes with major health benefits, like lower blood pressure and heart rate, balanced acidity and less inflammation, reduced stress, stimulation of the lymphatic system, and more oxygen to nourish our brain and muscles.
So how do we make sure we’re breathing correctly? “At its simplest, relearning how to breathe is about moving your breathing back down to the lower part of your body, where it belongs,” Dr. Vranich says. Here’s her step-by-step breakdown of how to take a proper stress-busting, from-the-belly breath:
- Get set up. “Sit in a chair and come away from the back of it. Tip forward, and in the same way you would when squatting in class, bump your seat back behind you, tipping your tailbone out.”
- Inhale big. “In this position, inhale and let your belly expand, and relax your glutes. Your shoulders shouldn’t move—it’s all going to be in the hips.”
- Exhale out with force. “On your exhale, roll your hips back underneath you—kind of like a seated Cat-Cow—narrow your waist and draw your belly button to your spine. Even squeeze your lower abs and ribs, if you can. Breathe out until it feels like your lungs are completely empty. Shoulders are soft.”
- Listen and watch. “Make sure that the rock back and forth is pronounced, and realize that your breath goes along with the movement. Inhale is expanding and relaxing, exhaling is squeezing. Constant gut-sucking doesn’t help your core get stronger. In fact, it maxes out how strong your abdominals can get. But when you let your belly go, and then squeeze the muscles in, you’re getting a good rep.”
- Practice, practice, practice. “The belly breath really is just the beginner breath that helps break down the habit of keeping the middle of your body braced. Every time you move your belly, you’re actually “teaching” your diaphragm to get activated when you breathe. Five breaths a minute is ideal, but first, focus on letting your belly go and moving at the hips—and once you have those down perfectly, aim for five or six breaths a minute. Turn your awareness inward: You’ll find that it feels good. You’re not imagining it.”
For more information on improving your breath, check out Dr. Vranich’s book Breathe, and her website. To see how you can incorporate proper breathing into your workout, check out Lisa’s video below.
Move with Lisa from barre3 on Vimeo.
If you’ve ever taken B3 class, you’ve likely heard an instructor talk about breath. Focusing on it, connecting to it, going big with it. But why all the cues for an action that happens seemingly automatically?
For how seldom we tend to think about breathing, it plays a profound role in our health—which is something Dr. Belisa Vranich, a psychologist turned renowned breathing educator, has thought about a lot. “Changing your breath truly does affect—immediately—the body, mind, and soul,” she says. “And, most important, the impact takes place at the cellular and muscular levels.”
Back and neck pain, low energy, sleep issues, digestion, cognitive problems: All of these, and more, can be worsened by dysfunctional, shallow breathing. Take a moment to inhale and exhale right now. If, when you inhale, your shoulders move up and your belly hardly moves outward at all, you’re a “vertical breather,” which means you’re only using a fraction of your lungs, while overusing your neck and shoulder muscles. “It’s a common misconception that if we suck in our abdominals all day long, they’ll be stronger,” says Dr. Vranich. “But it pushes the breath from the diaphragm and the largest part of our lungs up into the shoulders, which is completely inefficient and puts us in an anxious state. Our bodies associate shallow breaths with stress, so we’re essentially stressing ourselves out.”
The good news? Our bodies want to breathe correctly, and kicking our bad habits is not only, as Vranich puts it, “one of the easiest life-hacks ever,” but it also comes with major health benefits, like lower blood pressure and heart rate, balanced acidity and less inflammation, reduced stress, stimulation of the lymphatic system, and more oxygen to nourish our brain and muscles.
So how do we make sure we’re breathing correctly? “At its simplest, relearning how to breathe is about moving your breathing back down to the lower part of your body, where it belongs,” Dr. Vranich says. Here’s her step-by-step breakdown of how to take a proper stress-busting, from-the-belly breath:
- Get set up. “Sit in a chair and come away from the back of it. Tip forward, and in the same way you would when squatting in class, bump your seat back behind you, tipping your tailbone out.”
- Inhale big. “In this position, inhale and let your belly expand, and relax your glutes. Your shoulders shouldn’t move—it’s all going to be in the hips.”
- Exhale out with force. “On your exhale, roll your hips back underneath you—kind of like a seated Cat-Cow—narrow your waist and draw your belly button to your spine. Even squeeze your lower abs and ribs, if you can. Breathe out until it feels like your lungs are completely empty. Shoulders are soft.”
- Listen and watch. “Make sure that the rock back and forth is pronounced, and realize that your breath goes along with the movement. Inhale is expanding and relaxing, exhaling is squeezing. Constant gut-sucking doesn’t help your core get stronger. In fact, it maxes out how strong your abdominals can get. But when you let your belly go, and then squeeze the muscles in, you’re getting a good rep.”
- Practice, practice, practice. “The belly breath really is just the beginner breath that helps break down the habit of keeping the middle of your body braced. Every time you move your belly, you’re actually “teaching” your diaphragm to get activated when you breathe. Five breaths a minute is ideal, but first, focus on letting your belly go and moving at the hips—and once you have those down perfectly, aim for five or six breaths a minute. Turn your awareness inward: You’ll find that it feels good. You’re not imagining it.”
For more information on improving your breath, check out Dr. Vranich’s book Breathe, and her website. To see how you can incorporate proper breathing into your workout, check out Lisa’s video below.
Move with Lisa from barre3 on Vimeo.
