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breathing while strechlying on the back

rotem
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breathing while strechlying on the back
Hi esther,
It's almost a month since the course in Israel... I find the work very intensive, interesting and challenging.
I have a question concerning breathing: I noticed that as I pay attention to the way I breath, my breathing tends to be more in the chest and less in the belly then my habitual breathing.
Is it a good idea to intentionaly breath this way, or is this breathing change a gradual and automatic change that happens on its own as a result of the ribcage structure changes?
thanks!
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Hi Rotem,

Good to hear from you. The shift happens automatically as it is happening for you. Don't try to make your breath happen any particular way - first of all, that's impractical and secondly, it is unnecessary except occasionally as an exercise as in Pranayama, the Yogic breath practices. As you reorganize your architecture, a gradual process where each shift feeds other shifts, the relative resistances to the expansion of the lungs will change. As your abdominal muscles get stronger, and your pecs, intercostal and long back muscles get more relaxed at baseline, your lungs will expand more easily into the chest and back than the abdomen. You want your abdomen to be able to move with the breath (when you are doing more oxygen-demanding tasks and you want every possible avenue of expansion available, or when you need the control that the diaphragm gives you for singing or playing the saxophone, for example), and this is a good reason to do breathing exercises, but I don't think it makes sense for abdominal expansion to be the easiest way for the lungs to expand.

Congratulations and keep up with the good work! Please do let us know about any further benefits you are experiencing since the course. I remember you doing well.
rotem
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I would be glad to write to you. Is there an Email I can use? Some of it is a bit personal for a forum, and anyway It might be  too long  :-
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esther at egwellness.com is good.
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