"Breath is a whole-body activity." 

 

 

~ Jill Miller
yoga teacher and best-selling author

Guess what movement we all do 20,000 times a day? 

Scroll down to the bottom to find out!

Would you rather read your way to the bottom? 

Let's begin to unpack the Full Body Breathing video. 

For such a short clip, this video is jam-packed with many valuable insights. We'll take a brief anatomy tour today and next Wednesday and save the how-tos for sometime after. Slow and steady wins - in races and other places!

Chapter 1

0:08 - 0:23 

Chapter 1 talks about the seven different nerve plexuses.  

A plexus of nerves is an intersection where several nerves meet. It can be thought of as an electrical junction box. 

Various nerves come together, are sorted, and then travel to their respective muscles or anatomical structures to communicate signals to and from your brain.

Even though there are only two (some texts mention four) recognized major nerve plexuses in the body, this video mentions seven (starting from the top):

• Hypothalamus
• Pituitary Gland
• Thyroid Gland
• Cardiac Plexus

• Solar Plexus
• Hypogastric Plexus
• Sacral Plexus

This chapter also connects breathing to the autonomic nervous system. 

There is a deep intrinsic feedback loop between the autonomic nervous system (responsible for digestion, elimination, heart rate, and breath rate, among other things) and how we breathe. 

Chapter 2

0:24 - 1:13

Chapter 2 illustrates four different diaphragms or horizontal muscular membranes:

Cranial Diaphragm

Cervical Diaphragm

Thoracic Diaphragm

Pelvic Diaphragm.

Watch chapters 1 and 2 to see how the nerve plexuses and the diaphragms all move together - or, rather, are all moved together by the breath. The video calls it "the ensemble of synergy."

Chapter 2 also illustrates the movement within each diaphragm (did you know that breathing can move the facial bones?) and the link between our breath and the pelvic floor. Hint: they move together.

Chapter 3

1:14 - 1:36

Chapter 3 shows the most important respiratory muscle - the thoracic (or respiratory) diaphragm.

The respiratory diaphragm separates the chest and abdominal cavity.

It is located around the bottom ribs and spreads from left to right and front to back at this level.

Notice the large openings in the dome of the diaphragm. 

The food you eat must pass through the diaphragm to reach the stomach; the blood supply to all the tissues, organs and limbs below the diaphragm has to pass through these openings.

The heart is attached to the top of the respiratory diaphragm, and the diaphragm is connected to the spine via two long "legs." Remember these "legs" when we investigate the most influential muscle in the hip flexor group next Wednesday.

I hope I've given you a somewhat better idea of what is involved in full-body breathing. We'll continue our anatomy tour next week. 

Here is, once again, the full version of the video: