Have you ever wondered what’s happening in your body when you breathe
deeply and why it can feel so relaxing? Of course, our bodies are always breathing
and it’s something we do unconsciously. But when you can bring conscious
awareness to your breath and deepen your exhale, it can be possible to experience
deeper relaxation. This skill can be particularly important if you need to regulate
your anger during conflict and ensure you don’t escalate things further – whether at
work or at home, it’s an essential skill.

In fact, deep and slow diaphragmatic breath can be one of the most effective
and important things we can do to help ourselves regulate stress.
So let’s first discuss the anatomy of our breath.

When you inhale your diaphragm moves down pushing your belly forward and
filling your chest and lungs with air. When you exhale, your belly moves back and in
and your lungs empty the air. Your diaphragm is connected to your heart through
interconnective tissue all over your body or fascia so that when you breathe your
heart is gently massaged. This massaging action, in part, facilitates oxygen flowing to
your heart.

Understanding how your diaphragm works can be helpful in practicing really deep
breathing – the kind that can help your relax and regulate in a moment’s notice. So,
the diaphragm is a muscle in the shape of a band circling your body below your
heart and attaching to the front of the spine. The actual definition of the word
diaphragm is any structure or wall that separates two spaces. Our diaphragm
separates our heart and lungs on top from our stomach and intestines below. The
primary muscle responsible for 75% of breathing is the diaphragm, which is
assisted by the intercostals between the ribs and the abdominal muscles in front of
the belly. Secondary muscles responsible for breathing are higher up – they include
the scalenes, neck, and chest muscles.

When you practice deep diaphragmatic breath, you’re activating your
parasympathetic nervous system – the part of your nervous system that calms
you down. When you breathe higher up in your chest, you’re activating your
sympathetic nervous system – the part of your body that revs you up. In effect,
you’re readying your body to flight or fight. This is how the body should be working –
these two systems talking to each other – our sympathetic nervous system readying us
for action and our parasympathetic nervous system calming us down.

However, when you experience stress or trauma and your sympathetic nervous
system is activated and you begin chest breathing you must also allow time to
recover – to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. And you can do this in
part by diaphragmatic breath. When you don’t allow time to recover, chest
breathing can become both cause and symptom of stress. You’re stressed so you
begin chest breathing. You’re chest breathing and you feel stressed. Chest breathing
happens when your secondary muscle group becomes primarily responsible for

your breath – remember those are your scalenes, neck, and chest muscles. This can
cause muscles that aren’t ideally equipped for breathing to become over-tired and
stressed – which can lead to chronic pain. (And here again, it becomes a cycle. You’re
in chronic pain because you’re chest breathing and you’re chest breathing because
you’re in chronic pain.)

Want to learn how to breathe deeply?

One of the best ways to learn deep diaphragmatic breath is by placing one hand on
your heart and one hand on your belly. As you inhale, simply notice whether the
hand on your belly moves – that’s what we’re aiming for. Set your intention for the
hand on your belly to rise. If it doesn’t, that’s okay. You’re learning a new skill and it
takes time. Notice whether the hand on your heart rises and falls as well. The aim
here is that the hand on your heart is only slightly moving while the hand on your
belly is more noticeably moving. This means you’re really engaging with your
diaphragm and helping your body relax and regulate.

Remember that the key to healthy breathing is not to always belly-breathe but
to allow your body time to recover after a stressful event and to return to
diaphragmatic breath.

If you’d like to learn more about how deep breathing could help you, call me at
512.669.0395.