Breathing (Patreon)

• LMA Curriculum 

We could live for an extended period of time without food if we had to. We can also survive for days without water. But we can only last a few minutes without air. This is exacerbated when we exert ourselves.

Our bodies were designed to constantly consume and use air. As a result, breathing affects every aspect of our being: from clarity, athletic performance, movement, health, to gene expression. It is arguably our bodies' most important role.

Breathing is necessary for bracing, and bracing is necessary for power without injury. It's also essential for memory and concentration.

I've been addressing the breath in all of our units, but breath is something that requires its own learning unit. Breathing is both theory and practice. We automatically do it, but how often do we think about it?

How you breathe and move are linked. If you slouch, you can't breathe as well, but if you can't breathe well, it's hard not to slouch. Muscles, bones, and the nervous system support the respiratory system just as the respiratory system supports all those other systems.

If you're nervous, you can't breathe. If you can't breathe, you can't calm down. Breathing regulates or worsens our emotions. It's bidirectional and synergistic.

Water helps to calm us down, along with maximizing oxygen utilization in our bodies. Air needs water; water needs air. The combination of both is our blood.

Normal (quiet) breathing uses the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Heavy breathing requires the additional use of the upper trapezius, scalenes, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapulae, and pectoralis minor.

You need strength to breathe deep. Deep breathing develops strength. The diaphragm is a muscle that needs strengthening.

We understand breathing is essential for stamina. Poor cardiovascular strength means you quickly tire out during exertion. Cardiovascular strength means taking more productive breaths where you're taking in more oxygen and channeling that oxygen more effectively throughout your whole body. But when you don't have that strength, when you can't take deep productive breaths, not only is there not enough oxygen, but it also means your lungs have to steal blood, oxygen, and energy from other body parts so that you may live. Then not only are you out of breath, but you're also dealing with muscle fatigue. It's an oxygen deficit and crisis.

The solution isn't to train your muscles harder; it's to breathe better and stronger and strengthen your cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory systems. This is why cardio was the first priority of this curriculum. It gives you the runway to do everything else. But strengthening your heart and lungs is only half of it. Now you have to learn how to use them and in combination with the rest of your body. You only get one body, and that body is only one unit, not multiple individual units strapped together.

Breathe deep, low, and expansive. Breathe all the way down to the bottom of the lungs, then expand in all directions. You have the most room to grow at the bottom of your lungs because that's where the ribs least restrict your lungs. Think about a long balloon. When you blow on it, it doesn't just expand to the sides. It also expands in length. So your lungs can also expand down. Promoting digestion, relaxation, and a sense of peace.

Your breath expands your posture like a balloon. Shortening your posture compresses the balloon. You need posture for better breathing, and you need better breathing for better posture. You need core strength for posture and breathing. You need posture and breathing for core strength. Developing all that doesn't mean isolating each piece but integrating them together during every exercise. The band plays together or not at all.

Remember, you are not pieces of a person. You are one total person. There is no point where your mind ends and your body begins. It's all one and the same. You are noncategorical and non-conforming. You are a living, breathing experience.

When you breathe up into your shoulders, it can tighten your upper body and even cause tension headaches. All of which will cause more tension, creating more tense and shallow breathing. Synergy works both ways, to make things worse or to make things better. Regardless, you'll breathe, so synergy is being created either way.

In normal breathing, exhalation is automatic. All it takes is the prime muscles of breathing to relax. Which is why when we panic, we can't breathe. If we don't breathe, it heightens anxiety.

Breathing is an automatic function we can override and take over, but it's sometimes difficult to intervene. This is why we need conscious practice, not only to have the practice to override but also to develop the strength necessary to override.

Heavy breathing takes work and relies on the abdominals to compress the thoracic cavity and push air out. Without the necessary strength and practice, heavy breathing will tire us out and make us feel like we're running out of air. To avoid being caught in this state, we must think about breathing and practice conscious breathing.

During times of duress, you may have to force yourself to breathe or to slow down and breathe deeply.

For normal breathing, you breathe into your belly and diaphragm. But during heavy forced breathing, you'll need to rely on the secondary muscles to lift the rib cage to expand the lungs further. So it's belly, intercostal, and chest. The ribs should lift and expand forward, backward, and sideways. Your lungs should do the same, but also down and up. Three-dimensionally.

For normal breathing, if you can, breathe through your nose. Breathing through the nose helps promote deeper breathing, removes pollutants, and has a calming effect. It's also hard to breathe quickly through your nose.

This is why nose breathing can be inappropriate during heavy exertion. There are times you need quick breaths and forced exhalations. You can't take breaths quickly enough through your nose. You can't force exhale through your nose. You can't use nose breathing to contract your core.

To create tension, you need pressure. To create pressurized air, you need to use your lips or teeth. You'll notice athletes using pursed lips or their teeth to breathe. Even if they were never taught these techniques, they would often self-learn through trial and error and a natural understanding of their bodies. It may sound like they're blowing out a candle. Hoo. It may also sound like a chh, shh, or sss sound. It can even sound like a growl, perhaps during a heavy lift. Sometimes it can even be a yell, as you hear in martial arts. They're all attempts to force exhale with pressure. The yells create more explosive short breaths.

In martial arts yells, you'll hear all sorts of variations depending on the speed of the technique. You can only move as fast as you breathe. If you're moving faster than you're breathing, slow down. Slow your breath if you're breathing faster than you want to be moving. If you're moving faster than your breath, speed up your breath. If you're breathing faster than you're moving, speed up. What's important is your movements and your breath being in concert. Being out of sync means dysfunction.

In martial arts, for quick short movements, you might hear chh, shh, sss, but also hah! You'll also hear certain cries that have two sounds. It can sound like ee-yah, he-yah, gee-hap, ass-sah, and uuu-ahh.

When you hear two sounds in a yell, that's two exhalations for even greater power. The initial exhalation creates energy, and the second creates even more energy. You often hear this during a kick. The initial exhalation is when the kick is coming up, and the second is right at the point of contact. To use a video game analogy, think of it like charging up your special move. Uuu-ahh!

The reason for keeping your lips and teeth close together when breathing isn't just for more power and control. For combat, it's also about jaw positioning.

Keeping your teeth close together and your jaw aligned allows you to take a better punch. Biting down on the mouthpiece is all about jaw alignment. The more your mouth opens, the more the punches hurt you.

Pressurized breathing also hardens the body. This is your shield against body shots. Breathing, therefore, can force maximum tension, but also maximum relaxation. And it can do both quickly.

You need relaxation for speed. You can't have quick relaxed punches unless you breathe with your movement. Like a whip, it's completely relaxed, then tightens at the point of contact. Or with double exhalations, there is a moment of relaxation between the two breaths that creates more speed and then more power when it lands. Breathing does it all and when controlled, does it productively.

In sparring, when you need to be tense, you better tense, and when you need to be relaxed, you better relax, and you better be able to do both instantly. That takes control. Control takes practice and strength.

For combat, posture also means your stance. Without breathing and cardio, you can't maintain stance and balance. It's a discipline; not only the discipline to breathe while in stance and staying in stance, but also discipline as in practice.

With less explosive movements like push-ups or bodyweight squats, you inhale with the load and exhale as you exert force. Think of yourself as a rubber band. Inhale as you stretch the band, and exhale as you return to the starting position. Inhale as you go down, and exhale as you lift against gravity.

With a slower and less strenuous movement like a bodyweight squat, you can inhale through your nose and exhale through pursed lips as you squeeze your glutes and core on the way up. It'll be hard to squeeze your abs and glutes while exhaling through your nose.

As a general rule, abs and glutes always squeeze together. Think of it like a vice, the front and back both need to tighten.

But, if you're already tired, breathing in and out through your mouth is also fine and normal. Likewise, if you have a stuffy nose or sinus issues, breathing through your mouth is totally fine. With the planet being what it is, we shouldn't be married to the idea that everyone can breathe through their nose.

Maximizing breathing, however, is not just about practice and strength. It also means loosening up restrictions to breathing. This means flexibility, mobility, rest, and recovery. Self-care and rest can be radical. So do those things that soothe you. Consider even using a foam roller to self-massage. Fortunately, breathing exercises can also help to relax and soothe our bodies.

Let me go over some examples.

Lie on the ground with your knees bent. If you're near a wall, put the bottom of your feet against the wall, so your knees are bent 90 degrees. Put one hand on your chest, the other on your stomach. Breathe in for as long as you can, and exhale for as long as you can. At first, in and out through your nose, but if you can't and need to open your mouth, it's not a big deal.

With each breath, the goal is to expand your stomach first and then your chest second.

So now take two breaths in, first into your stomach and then into your chest, then one long exhale out through pursed lips like you're blowing into a balloon until you have no breath left. But don't arch your back. Instead, keep your back flat on the ground. Otherwise, you're not really expanding.

This exercise is the opposite of double exhalation for explosive force. Instead, this is double inhalation to create more relaxation. Your hands are there to monitor the expansion and then the contraction. Your stomach and chest should be pushing into your hands, then caving in.

When you exhale, force all the air out of your body. Even when you think that's enough, there's still probably some trapped air left. Deep inhale and deep exhale so that your next breath is brand new.

I like to pretend someone is pushing all the air out of me as if I were a balloon.

Use a timer and only do this initially for a minute, then work your way up. Even ten breaths is a lot. You might get tired or light-headed in the beginning because this level of oxygenation is new. So breathe normally for a while before trying to get up. And when you do get up, get up slowly. After doing this exercise, you might notice more clarity, sharper senses, and everything looking brighter. You might even feel lighter, physically and emotionally. Air does that.

Try to carry this exercise with you through the day with deeper and more productive breathing and a taller posture. This is how lying on the ground can help to straighten and lengthen your posture. And train you to breathe into that posture.

I do this breathing exercise when doing push-ups, planks, and bridges. It really strengthens your core and teaches you what squeezing your core really means. It should feel like your core is a fist squeezing your spine in place. Securing, protecting, and massaging it. This also saves time. You shouldn't need to do specific core exercises because everything should be a core exercise because every movement requires breathing.

Remember, breathing is bracing, breathing is posture, breathing is length, and breathing is movement.

When recovering during strenuous activities or when you only have a short time to recover, you can do a mini-version of deep breathing. Do two quick inhales through your nose and exhale deeply through pursed lips. Sniff, sniff, exhale. Sniff, sniff, exhale.

You can also lift your arms as you take a deep breath in, then exhale hard as you drop your shoulders and shake your arms out. You can do a few of these. Forced relaxation. The idea is to cause even greater tension to shake it out. It's also a good exercise to teach you what a relaxed body or muscle feels like. We're so used to tension it's hard to tell we're tense. So when you release it, you know what a relaxed body feels like. Then you can be more aware when you're not relaxed and catch yourself tensing up.

In combat, there are many moments you need to tense up. But in your normal day-to-day, you want to be relaxed. Being tense all the time is bad for your health. Being too relaxed in combat might be bad for your health, but not in the rest of your life. You need to be tense and relaxed, but it's not 50-50. Most binaries are asymmetrical. This doesn't just apply to breathing and the body but to how you should perceive the world. The US and another country can be in conflict but the power is never 50-50. The harm men and women can do to each other is not 50-50. The same for Black and white people. The same for cishet and queer people. There are lots of revolutionary ideas one can learn from liberatory physical practice.

Just as when you're exerting force, exhale to create relaxation. For example, when you stretch, you might inhale to generate length and posture, filling the balloon, then exhale to create relaxation, deflating the balloon into a new length.

Whatever you do, you'll be breathing. So practice beforehand and think about it during. Lots of magical things happen when you think, breathe, and move.

– Sam