We have all been to that ballet class (or maybe every ballet class) where we are trying to think of this:
when our teacher walks by us and stares at us for a second as we are trying to look composed & not make eye contact & says “…don’t forget to breathe!”
Why has breath become the equivalent of a post credit scene at the end of a movie? Why is the literal thing that is keeping us alive just an afterthought? How can we use breath to ENHANCE our movement? If we change the order of where we place breath to the first thing we think about, will it make us move better? What are we trying to accomplish with holding our breath?
Martha Graham seemed to have considered these questions in her own work. Graham technique is rooted in the most fundamental movement of the human body- breathing. She was so far ahead of her time in so many ways…truly a genius!. During a high release in Graham technique, you inhale. When you are breathing at rest the spine actually also goes through a tiny extension & compression. During a classic C curve contraction, you exhale, which also happens to a tiny degree during our exhalation at rest. If you have ever taken a Graham class you know that the connection between the breath and the movement is completely essential. Just try to do a C curve contraction while inhaling- weird huh?
I believe that in order to embody movement fully, and get that ‘effortless’ look that dance is known for, you must be in control of your breath. But before you are a breath master on stage, you must figure out how your standard breath control is at rest.
How do I breathe at rest?
The main breathing muscle is your diaphragm. When the diaphragm contracts on your inhale, it lowers and flattens. It pushes down the organs and causes the belly to push out as well. When you exhale the diaphragm relaxes back up into its dome.
Easier said than done with compensation patterns written into our Nervous System, and reinforcing postures written into our Fascial System….⠀
But we have to start somewhere so see if you can make these things happen:
- As you’re breathing feel expansion from front to back as you feel your sternum and sacrum separate. ⠀⠀
- Feel expansion from side to side as both sides of the ribs lift like bucket handles⠀⠀
- Let your shoulders just ride the wave of the breath and stay relaxed- do your shoulders try and initiate?
- Unclench your jaw and breathe through your nose with the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth
- Lay in a child’s pose and feel the breath filling up the back of your lungs
Proper use of the diaphragm should result in 360 degree expansion of the thoracic cavity.
Sprinkle breathing practice in your day by just noticing how you breathe in certain scenarios. When you’re driving, when you are walking around the grocery store, when you are watching tv, and that simple awareness piece will be a great foundation for more complicated movement.
How do I breathe when the body is moving through different shapes?
So because we can’t count on our torso to be in true anatomical position all the time, we have to be able to breathe when our body is in different shapes.
Breathing happens because of a pressure gradient between the lungs and the atmosphere. Lots of space=low pressure. Not a lot of space=high pressure. This is the reason why the lungs expand/shrink- to create more/less pressure to facilitate airflow more efficiently.
But what happens when the lungs can’t expand/shrink? There are two main reasons that stop the body from creating more space- muscular compensation patterns, and chronic stress.
Muscular Compensations Patterns:
Injuries: ⠀⠀
Sometimes our bodies are stuck in compensation patterns that make 360 degree breath impossible.
Maybe you have had an injury that has caused you to change up your breathing patterns. Whether it be shoulder, back, hip, ribcage, neck, abdomen, or even your limbs, your body adjusts to try and heal your injury. Even if it isn’t something related to breathing directly, it could be changing up your ability to get a full breath.
Proper rehabilitation from ANY injury should always include breathing!!
External Cues:
Now take into consideration external cues- maybe you have heard a cue so much in dance you have trained your body to adapt to that cue and it leads to dysfunctional breathing.
“Suck in!”, “drop your shoulders”, “lace your rib cage together!”…..”and don’t forget to breathe!”
Uhmmm But all of those cues are making it so you can’t breathe….
These cues just don’t have biomechanics in mind at all. The abdominals work in partnership with the diaphragm, as the diaphragm lowers, the abs move forward to make room for the diaphragms’ descent. If you suck the abs in forcefully you are blocking the diaphragm from doing its job- so something else has to compensate to get air in- maybe the shoulders lift? Maybe the ribs splay out?⠀
“So what’s the ideal breathing situation? I can’t just let my belly ‘hang out’?!”- concerned reader
Well, if you are using your abdominals and shoulders to do other things, like dance, you can utilize lateral expansion of the ribcage, or backspace expansion, to get air in!
It’s all about options. You want to be able to breathe in tons of different ways so whatever position you are in the body is, it can easily breathe. Not freak out. The body prioritizes breath over doing the movement. Every time.
Chronic Stress Patterns:
Breathing compensations can also happen under chronic stress. When we are under stress, our sympathetic nervous system is in control. Our bodies are prepared for “flight/fight”. All nonessential processes come to a halt so our bodies can bring us out of danger. The opposite of this is the parasympathetic nervous system, which takes over in “rest/digest” mode.
We want both of these systems to be in balance in our lives, because both have a time and place but, especially with our current culture’s pride and value in overworking, our bodies are SNS driven and can’t relax.
Chest breathing is one of the effects of the SNS. If a lion is chasing you and you have to sprint away, you are going to be “huffing and puffing” to get away from it, using every muscle that you can afford to get air in. When you are out of danger, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and calms you down allowing you to take deeper restorative diaphragmatic breaths.
If we are never out of sympathetic nervous system mode, we won’t be able to get these good breaths. Sometimes it just takes intentional practice on your part to be able to calm yourself.
Like Mary Bond, author of Your Body Mandala says,
“..relaxation is not something that comes to you from outside- from a substance or a back rub. Relaxation is something you do with your body.”
If you need help with this- follow along with me as I take you through some stretches with the intention of breathing through different shapes.
How do I transfer breath to my dancing?
Even if you feel confident that you can breathe at rest, the question you should be asking yourself now is- does it transfer?
- Feeling out of breath after short bursts of work? Maybe you aren’t breathing well.
- Not reaching your fullest movement potential? Maybe you aren’t breathing well.
- Constantly being told- “stop holding your breath”? You definitely aren’t breathing well!
Our muscles are not part of a vacuum system. Your diaphragm isn’t all like “I breathe and that is what I do, don’t bother me to do other things”. It can have other functions too, one of them being a stabilizer of the spine.
Maybe when you’re moving, your body doesn’t feel very safe. So it recruits muscles (i.e. diaphragm) for stabilization duty.
As we talked about at the beginning, breathing happens because of a pressure gradient in the lungs. Well, the pressure can also be increased in the abdominals too, creating an inverse pressure relationship with the thorax and the abdominal regions. When the diaphragm descends to create more space for the lungs, it squishes all the organs together creating an increase of pressure in the abdomen.
This pressure can feel like you are engaging your ‘core’ and feel a little bit more stable. This is possibly a reason why people hold their breath when they are doing more intense movement. They need the stability in their core because they actually don’t have strength at all, so they recruit the diaphragm as a strategy to increase the pressure.
This isn’t typical core strength gained from crunches. This is deeper than that, your transverse abdominals! Try this video to see if you can get your TVA fired in tangent with your breathing.
Well, if you are still with me…yay! I haven’t even reached the breadth of what I want to say on breath, but this is a lot to inhale for now! What is your experience with breath and movement? How did your check-ins go?? Comment below on this post or connect with me on Instagram or Facebook for more #dancescienceapproved content! Until next time!