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The Optimal Breathing
Window.
(OBW)
Stop right now and, fighting for EVERY BIT OF BREATH YOU CAN,
breathe in as deeply as you possibly can while you feel the tension and strain
that will accompany that. Let your eyes get very wide open, your shoulders raised and
your neck muscles bulged out. This is tension central. ...................
THEN
Exhale letting the breath go.
Call that
uppermost in breath a 10 -The uppermost deepest (too deep) breathing
included in Total Lung Capacity TLC.
Now take
a deep breath but stop when it gets full, but not
strained……………….. (demo
included in the new 176 video to be published
2011 and taught at our private sessions and
practitioner trainings.) Then breathe naturally.
Call that
comfortable uppermost in-breath an 8.
Now
breathe into your “8” and just let the breath escape
in a relaxing exhale. So if you were to breathe out more,
you would have to force it. Call that point a 3. Then breathe
naturally.
Now
breathe in to an 8, and let the breath go to 3, then immediately exhale,
forcing
the breath out with your belly muscles like blowing out the candles
on a birthday cake
to as close as you can to no breath left at all. Feel the
strain and tension in your body
from 3-0. Let the breath come in and breathe
naturally for a few breaths
Try that again. In to 8 ……then relaxed out to 3, then foced out to 0.
Breathe naturally. (3-0 = Expiratory reserve volume ERV)
Call that
uncomfortable lower-most out-breath a 0. 0=Maximum expiration.
10 to minus 2 = TLC Total lung capacity. TLC has little value in this
demonstration so we purposefully overlook it.
SHALLOW and EFFORTED BREATHING
Example here
of a woman who is stressing her voice. breathing and perhaps her entire
body.
To clarify, many do not
breathe very deeply, so they mostly breathe in to
say 4 or 5 (or overcompensate to 10 inviting a similar accumulating tension,
and breathing
restriction and eventual shallow breathing).
Then they use
or "spend" 3, 4, 5, or more of the air while speaking or singing,
and end
up
some place between 0-2.9, in other words, below 3, the point where tension
also begins.
This repeated tension causes a great deal
of accumulated restriction in the same
areas as does the abdominal startle response: the belly, chest, neck,
shoulders,
throat, jaw, eyes and forehead.
Then one is so out of breath (below 3) they pull in or gasp the air,
causing
friction
and further tension. The cycle keeps repeating and worsening
with every
sentence.
So when I say breathe during practice between the window of 3 and 8 or
3.5 & 7.5
as a
softer form, you breathe to 7 or 8 and never strain on the inhale,
then
make sure that when you speak you
do not go past 3.5 on the exhale.
In this way you begin to
develop a habit of staying
mostly between 4-7 or 8 and speaking may then become a vehicle to remain
calm. Your sentences may be
short in the beginning but that is better than setting up for maintaining
the
tension(s) referred to above.
OPTIMAL BREATHING WINDOW MARKERS and "Overbreathing"
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Watch the Teeter Totter. See how it needs a balance of belly and chest energy to maintain the purple or BALANCED mixture of the two extremes .
The overflowing red on the test tube to your right represents the stress caused by what is often labeled over-breathing or hyperventilation. Remember that above 10 and below the 3 is where tension lurks. Use the OB 3-8 Window as a guideline and know that breathing too much in the high chest where little to no air exists causes or worsens all the symptoms we know such as asthma, anxiety, panic, many forms of headaches and phobias plus a plethora of vaso-constriction derived and often life threatening causes. Perhaps even brain cancer. Over-breathing implies that we breathe too much. It is an illness model paradigm not a wellness model one. Breath is life. There is a direct relationship between breathing and aliveness. I do not want people being afraid to breathe deeper. Deeper in the parasympathetic yes. Deeper high chest sympathetic NO!. |
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| So that you do not think that exhaling as much as you can to OBWindow-0 means that all your air is gone, there is still a certain amount of air left in your lungs needed to avoid their collapse. This is called Reserve Volume or RV. This test tube shows that for the purposes of this video, RV is below the OBWindow of ZERO | |
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Over-breathing without any
clarification implies to not breathe more. It even counsels
one to breath hold .
For you carbon dioxide fans
who believe it is necessary to maintain certain levels of CO2 by
breathing less, or under-breathing or extending your breath holding
capabilities, consider how one can breathe 30 times a minute and
still have adequate CO2 levels and not go into a panic and actually
feel quite energized. I can do that any time I want. This
overbreathing concept may be helpful at times but it gives one the
wrong idea about healthy optimal natural breathing. More about the Autonomic Nervous system and breathing. Develop your breathing now. My speaking clinic. |
Conventional Lung Volume
Measurements with OBWINDOW insights are in the workbook included with this
video
* Tidal Volume (TV).
Quiet (at rest) breathing. OBW3 usually to
OBW4 or 5 with the minimum at OBW3
* Total lung capacity (TLC). The amount of air in your lungs after
you inhale as deeply as possible. OBW10
Inspiratory reserve volume.
(IRV)
The difference between (TV) and (TLC). It
varies depending on if you begin at OBW3 or higher.
Missing is OBW8 Gentle Inspiratory Volume GIV or Unforced Inspiratory
Volume UIV
* Forced vital capacity (FVC). This measures
the amount of air you can exhale with force after you inhale as deeply as
possible.
* Forced expiratory volume (FEV). This measures the amount of air you
can exhale with force in one breath. The amount of air you exhale may be
measured at 1 second (FEV1), 2 seconds (FEV2), or 3 seconds (FEV3). FEV1
divided by FVC can also be determined.
* Forced expiratory flow 25% to 75%. This measures the air flow
halfway through an exhale (FVC)
* Peak expiratory flow (PEF). This measures how quickly you can
exhale. It is usually measured at the same time as your forced vital
capacity (FVC).
* Maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV). This measures the greatest
amount of air you can breathe in and out during one minute.
* Slow vital capacity (SVC). This measures the amount of air you can
slowly exhale after you inhale as deeply as possible.
* Functional Residual/Reserve
capacity (FRC). OBW3 This measures the amount of air in your
lungs at the end of a normal exhaled breath.
* Expiratory Reserve Volume (ERV) = OBW3-0 The difference between the
amount of air in your lungs after a normal exhale (FRC) and the amount after
you exhale with force (RV).
* Reserve Volume (RV) The amount of air
left in your lungs needed after maximal ERV to avoid their collapse.
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