Movements Afoot’s Blog

by Dr. Martha Eddy

“Just found your site. I am a long time Rebirther and recently began teaching a
“Breathing for Relaxation” class at a senior center. There are 8 men and 2 women, all in their 80’s! I distributed a copy of our respiratory system so that we could track how physiologically our breathing works. Then as we talked about chest and belly breathing, one man has a most intersted question
which I am on a quest to give an informed answer. I hope you can help me.

“Where does the air go when we breath in and out of the belly
because the air has to go into the lungs?”

Great question and I need help with an accurate answer. Thanks much for any information.”
from a comment

Dr. Martha Eddy (Dr. Move): It sounds like you are providing a great service at the center.

In response to your students question -  “Where does the air go when we breath in and out of the belly because the air has to go into the lungs?”:

The belly and lungs interact in breathing because of the movement of the diaphragm – the horizontal, dome-shaped muscle that separates the abdomen from the chest since its attaches to the bottom of each of the ribs all the way around from the back of the body to the front arched region of the solar plexus.

The breathing (oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange) only really happens in the lungs
(and in the cells of the body)

but it is the movement of the diaphragm downward into the abdominal region
that causes a vacuum in the chest to “inspire” an inward breath.

This movement of the plunger action of the diaphragm can cause the belly to protrude – “stick out” and is commonly referred to as “belly breathing.” The upward relaxation of the diaphramatic muscle helps to push the air out of the lungs! When this happens the stomach flattens a bit.

The other day an elderly colleague of mine advised a group of us during a photo shoot moment to “Hold your stomach in. Take a deep breath.”. I said that’s a bit of a contradiction since generally the belly bulges out when we breathe in deeply.

However its actually great to learn how to activate the abdominal muscles AND breathe deeply. We call this three-dimensional breathing. It is what actually happens anatomically. Our teacher physical therapist Irmgard Bartenieff knew her anatomy and also was trained in the 3-D use of space for all human movement through a system called Laban Movement Analysis.

3D breathing is simply allowing the diaphragm to move downward to begin the inhale AND being aware that this plunger action happens throughout the full cylinder shape of our torso. It presses down evenly in the front, back and sides of our abdominal region. So if we engage our deep abdominals for better posture the movement of the diaphragm will EVENLY move our abdomen down and out. The result will be that not only our “belly breathes” but our lower back gets a massage from the movement into that area. This is important. So much back pain can be relieved by 3D breathing into all directions of the torso. It helps posture, keeps muscles balanced, and increases our respiratory capacity (more oxygen).

People trained as CMAs – Certified Movement Analysts in your area can help teach this. There is nothing like learning through direct experience with a teacher demonstrating and giving you physical cues.

I hope you find this useful, and pleasurable! Keep asking your great questions.