Breathe with me!

Littlefatfriend
Littlefatfriend Online Community Member Posts: 404 Pioneering
in Everyday life

Fear of the unknown is the worst mistake most of us sometimes make, but we're often not the boss of that.
It's not our fault.
Like cats, we're wired to run from red flags.
But we have a choice.
We can control that.

Very unlike cats we understand the nature of consequence. That we can change things in the future.

I wish I could explain the connection between emotion and breathing as well as this guy does, but many years ago similar people taught me about this and it changed my life for the better and for good. It's powerful stuff.

"Some doors only open from the inside, breath is a way of accessing that door"

https://youtu.be/4Lb5L-VEm34?si=MVkLC0ArV3G3Ob4f

Comments

  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Online Community Member Posts: 17,338 Championing
    edited December 2025

    Thank you for the link @Littlefatfriend - it took him a while to get to the point (tho I totally agree with his comments about grief). From a different perspective, as a physio student, I used to teach this diaphragmatic/abdominal breathing for my back pain group & ante-natal classes.

    Like many things, I was reminded that I needed to practice what I used to teach as I faced my own challenges later in life.

    If you watch a baby or young child you will see that they breathe using their diaphragm; something we as adults seem to forget. I do every now & again go on about diaphragmatic breathing on the forum as it can reduce both pain & stress. I was a bit surprised that I couldn't remember how to breathe 'wrongly' when I tried to help an interested member with their breathing on the forum some time ago….at least it had stayed with me how to breathe correctly over the decades.

    I'm not a fan of holding your breath to a certain count, then exhale with counting; breathing is natural, so think this diaphragmatic breathing can be tried without counting. Intention is important, so if counting helps then by all means do it. I intentionally think about my breathing when I try to relax & go to sleep each night, so concentrate on my breathing even more then. Breathing properly is certainly powerful stuff.

    There's also this link: https://www.uhd.nhs.uk/uploads/about/docs/wellbeing/Diaphragmatic_Breathing.pdf

  • Littlefatfriend
    Littlefatfriend Online Community Member Posts: 404 Pioneering
    edited December 2025

    Cheers chiarieds

    He begins by welcoming us to reflect.
    He references grief in order to encourage us to imagine an emotional
    experience most of us share, a profoundly upsetting and uniquely personal place we've (mostly) all been through. To draw us toward what he's talking about.

    That's slowly in purpose so we're thinking "with" him.

    If we can do that, we can most easily control our breathing and that really can change our minds. That's his point here. That's why he introduces it in that way.

    Outside of their brains I've never had any interest in children (since I was a youf) and I deliberately avoid knowing anything about them.

    Breathing is natural but so is bending my arm. Both can be exercised.
    Between the ages of 6 and 11 I was classically trained in choral singing. Like all of the martial arts that involved a lot of deliberately making noise until you run out of breath, then breathing in deeply. Literally exercising out lungs. It's very good for us.
    Like marathons, we can start with easy exercise and make ourselves better at it.

    The (complete) break in my back is at T4 so I can't do diaphragmatic breathing, but that will likely help too.
    Every breath we take, every move we make is good for us
    😇

  • bookrabbit
    bookrabbit Online Community Member Posts: 266 Empowering
    edited December 2025

    Are you positive you aren't breathing with your diaphragm? That surely is the autonomic default and it is chest breathing that overrides it as a bad habit. that adults fall into. Or if you are using your chest then would deliberately suppressing it make your diaphragm takeover. I wonder because obviously other autonomic systems function below the break or you wouldn't be alive.

    Once I realised how bad chest breathing was for anxiety etc I suppressed it and now it takes definite effort to do it.

  • Littlefatfriend
    Littlefatfriend Online Community Member Posts: 404 Pioneering

    I'm absolutely certain thanks bookrabbit.

    35 years (and almost two months!) ago I broke three of the thorax vertebrae in my back (T4, T5, T6), completely severing my spinal column at T4. About 2" below my nipples.

    Our diaphragms connect to the lumbar (L1-L3) vertebrae of our spines, 9 vertebrae below where the signals to and from my brain forever ceased to pass.

    Therefore I have no conscious control whatsoever over my diaphragm and my autonomic nervous system is also goosed below that point in my back.

    That's the reason I always have the emergency treatment for autonomic dysreflexia within easy reach beside my bed. I've never had to use it (touch wood) because I manage my bladder very carefully and this is also one of the reasons I drink at least 3-4 litres of water (or other liquids!) a day. It's good for us. But I'll always be at risk of AD and it can kill.

    Coincidentally, one of the reasons I'm able to not to do fear and I'm never anxious is because anxiety etc is driven by adrenaline which is produced in our suprarenal bodies, a gland beside our livers. That connects to our T5-L1 vertebrae, therefore it's not directly connected to my brain and I don't have an adrenaline function in response to emotions. The point on most people's bellies where they feel "butterflies" of anxiety is our suprarenal body. It's a ductless gland so it releases adrenaline directly into our bloodstream and it's very powerful stuff!

    Interestingly the signals which prompt it to work are often preconscious, ie faster than our awareness. If we hear a loud bang (etc) those signals will be sent to that gland before our brains are able to process the information that there has been a bang. It's really quite interesting if one likes that kinda thing.

    I know breathing from the diaphragm takes conscious effort, that's precisely why I can't/don't do it.

    Good luck

    😺

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