Take a Deep Breath
Tight pants, tight abs, and poor posture all can constrict your diaphragm—but yoga can set your breath free.
By Julie Gudmestad
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With each breath you take, a symphony of muscular activity occurs. As you inhale, some muscles contract while others relax. The result is an expanded space for the lungs, and thus for the breath. As you exhale, the breathing space shrinks—again, through a complex set of muscular actions. For smooth and effective breathing to take place, the muscles involved in the breath symphony must be fine-tuned and coordinated, just like the instruments of an orchestra.
The lungs don't have the power to expand and contract on their own: They are inflated by air pressure to the size of their container, the rib cage. The rib cage in turn is expanded or compressed by the surrounding muscles. The breath orchestra includes many different muscles in the chest, back, neck, and abdomen, but none are as important as the diaphragm, which plays a primary role in expanding the breathing space during inhalation and helping control the shrinkage during exhalation.
You can visualize the diaphragm as half a basketball that attaches all the way around the lower ribs. When the diaphragm relaxes, it arches up toward the heart. When it contracts, it becomes flatter, pushing down toward the abdomen. Most of the sensation you feel when you inhale comes from the outward expansion of the belly and lower ribs, a movement created by the contraction of the diaphragm. This contraction lengthens the space available for the lungs and expands the rib cage to the front, the back, and the sides, causing air to be drawn into the lungs. When you exhale, the reverse happens: The diaphragm relaxes, arching up again; your belly becomes flatter; and the rib cage shrinks, pushing the air back out.
Tight Belly, Tight Breath
Anything that restricts the movement of the diaphragm restricts the breath, especially limiting the ability to inhale fully. There are many conditions that can constrict the diaphragm, including wearing overly tight clothes or a belt cinched too snugly around the waist. Another common cause is slumped posture. Sit up tall and notice how the lower ribs lift up off the abdomen and the adjacent upper belly becomes spacious. Now slump forward, letting your spine round back and your head jut forward. In this position, you'll feel the lower ribs dig back and in toward the spine, compressing the diaphragm and the upper belly.
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