Breath Holding
Beautiful day, unfolding
Uncluttering the mind, unmolding
Even the bird song, no scolding
This moment of breath, no holding... Amana Aile Shebar
Many do not think they hold their breath but on closer observation discover that, they do. They block their breath in certain situations but are unaware that they are doing that. Attempts at effortful deep concentration, or focus can cause it; uncertainty about a course of action often equals hesitancy in action and breathing; when attempting a new task one may breath hold until they have enough time to master it with ease PLUS the mastery may never occur. Many simple day to day actions can invite breath holding like bending to tie your shoe; fastening your bra; pulling open a stuck door; trimming your beard; bending to get something from the lower shelf of the refrigerator; reaching up to pick a piece of fruit from a tree branch. It is not breath holding per se that is the problem. It is excessive breath holding.
CHILDREN AND BREATH HOLDING
As children we hold our breath
to control the level of fear, anger or even love or excitement. This becomes
chronic and if nothing is done about it, it stays with many through their
entire lives. I sang solo for my entire student body at
age 11 and then received several beatings and lost my ability so sing.
http://www.breathing.com/articles/mypath.htm For 40 years after that I yawned constantly,
felt tightness in my chest, was often anxious, could not "hold
on to/contain" high energy, was always in a hurry and could
not catch my breath. I could not sing any more either.
You do not have to be traumatized to lose your breathing. Even "normal" parenting can create chronic tension in a sensitive child. As an infant or child, hearing NO!! when you are about to pull a pot of boiling water on top of your unsuspecting little head, or DON'T!! loudly as you totter toward a steep flight of steps or throw your food across the room for the tenth time stimulates the "startle reflex" that Thomas Hanna talked about. Repeated often enough and this sets in to causes your entire body to remain tightened up to foster potentially very irregular breathing patterns.
To get an example of how this effects your breathing, tighten up every muscle in your body. Now try to breathe in. Can't do it very well can you. This is a severe example of what has happened. Do this tightening enough times and trust me, you will not breathe very well even when you try to relax.
SO CALLED "HEALTHY BREATHING"
TECHNIQUES
Beware of breath-holding exercises.
Most of us got into emotional, energetic and personal power breathing trouble in the first place because of some
sort of breath holding. The breath holding "hunger-for-air" illness model
approach conditions the body to function with less air and this can have temporary
benefits but I have not seen it to increase a coordinated lung volume, breathing ease,
and nervous system balance to any great degree. I
believe that if you breathe bigger, easier and in balance, the oxygen cost of
breathing goes down. If you hold back your deepest easiest
effortless breathing, if you arrest the natural ebb and flow of
healthy respiration, the oxygen cost of breathing goes way UP.
YOGA AND BREATH HOLDING
Yoga is so good for you it should not be hindered by poor breathing.
I often hear of yoga teachers and personal
power experts advocating a pattern of say the 2:4:6:4 ratio; 2
inhale: 4 hold : 6 exhale: 4 hold; or 2:4:16:4 ratio; or whatever numbers
they think are good or fit their ego. I totally disagree and caution
everyone to not hold their breath nor try such difficult lengths of
breathing extensions. Listen to those people's voices. See if they sound
deep, full and resonant or dry and raspy. I often see chronic migraines,
seizures, and anxiety connected with those forms of breath holding. Also
breath holding causes us to tighten our throats causing or worsening vocal
dysfunction as well as restricting the thyroid and thymus glands (thyroid =
energy and metabolism: thymus = T cells). These techniques cause tension. It is to me a
HUGE mistake for most people. I often see its damaging results in Pilates
teachers and their students. Many teachers swear they are doing it
right that is until they open up their minds enough to let me or one of
my students
work on them and show them where the deepest easiest breathing is.
As long as you disregard the oxygen cost of breathing you overlook the fundamentals of enhanced reflexive natural breathing and its innate vitalizing and healing potential.
Using breath holding techniques, one tightens up the upper chest, diaphragm, throat, jaw, tongue and face. These tensions add to or create vision and voice problems and gasping on the inhale. The body gets less oxygen and may build up excessive carbon dioxide (for some this can be initially beneficial but with potential long term repercussions) . Many become more inclined to mouth breathe and then snore into sleep problems due to the sudden and intense need for air that breath holding causes.
Breath holding techniques to raise CO2 levels can cause chronic tensions and vocal restriction. This is why I often use a special biofeedback instrument to monitor CO2 levels during breathing development trainings because I occasionally ask them to slow their breathing for a specified time and want to make certain this does not throw off their optimal CO2/O2 balance.
Most of us have excessive tension in our present day to day living. So with breath-holding to increase CO2 the tissues may get more oxygen but due to the tensions, the oxygen cost of breathing may skyrocket. This is often a delicate balance best monitored by a skilled health professional trained in Optimal Breathing Techniques and using our Biofeedback Breathing Trainer
ATHLETES AND BREATH HOLDING
Sports related asthma is becoming epidemic. I understand that many
swimming coaches train students to not breathe. Your cells, particularly your muscle cells, undergo a chain of
reactions known as cell respiration. "Respiration" in this sense, does not
directly mean breathing, but rather a breakdown of the body's main source of energy,
glucose. (sugar.)
Your cells can perform two types of respiration: aerobic (meaning "with oxygen") and anaerobic (meaning "without oxygen"). Aerobic respiration is the usual and preferred way for your cells to produce energy, but when you hold or in any way make your breath less so, you are depriving your body of oxygen and your cells have to resort to anaerobic respiration.
When that happens, the energy-producing process is kicked over to an alternate pathway called lactic acid fermentation. That burning, sore sensation you feel right after vigorous activity? That's a build-up of lactic acid -- it hurts.
To compare you could say that aerobic respiration yields 40 ATP, adenosine trisphosphate. This is the molecule your cells use for most of their energy. Lactic acid fermentation yields 2 ATP.
Fermentation will happen to some of your cells when you workout. But as I understand it, when you hold your breath, this lactic acid fermentation occurs in all of your oxygen-deprived cells, and it makes that burst of energy you want very short lived -- not to mention potentially painful. More about: Sports induced breathing problems
So, make sure your breathing is as big and easy as it can be. Then go have a great workout. WE counsel to undo the tension and restriction from physical work(outs) with our 176 DVD. There are several breathing oriented exercises using weight training equipment outlined in the Secrets of Optimal Natural Breathing Manual.
BLOOD PRESSURE
Holding your breath when you perform stomach crunches may cause your blood
pressure to spike higher than it normally would during resistance training.
In a study, people who voluntarily held their breath during abdominal
exercises had higher peak blood pressure elevations compared to when they
breathed during the exercises. I suspect that a significant number of
strokes may stem from this. More about breathing integration with personal training.
Then there is Valsalvas maneuver where the people hold
their breath to force out a bowel movement and die on the toilet from a
heart attack.
EYESIGHT & BREATH
HOLDING
Don't hold your breath while using your eyes"
"The eyes MUST have oxygen. One can turn oneself temporarily blind by
holding the breath long enough. Mostly breathe freely; not studied,
controlled, or even thoughtful breathing, but easy breathing such as a dog
enjoys when it throws itself on the floor to sleep. Breathing exercises
can be most helpful but should send one towards better breathing. Many do
not.
In my eye-training studio I once worked with a cataract case whose vision we had improved by our method to such an extent that I called in a doctor, who worked sympathetically with us, to examine the eyes with his powerful ophthalmoscope. One eye the doctor found to be entirely cleared of cataract. The lens of the other eye was still a little too cloudy to see the retina - to get the red reflex. 'Take a long breath' I said to the pupil. The doctor exclaimed aloud that that single breath had temporarily cleared the last vestige of film in the eye, so that the retina could be seen readily. Each time the pupil remembered to breathe, the remaining shreds of sediment were dissipated. Each time he held his breath a little murk clouded the lens once more. If deep breathing will do this for a seriously affected eye, one can realize how great the benefit to normal or nearly normal vision." "How to improve your sight" by Margaret Darst Corbett.
From Optimal Breathing School Core Faculty Member Donna Gross.
"About breath holding effecting the vision? It seems to all come down to staying relaxed and comfortable. Clear vision needs constant movement to function correctly. There is a perpetual vibration that, in effect, causes the illusion that everything you are viewing is in a state of movement. This oppositional movement of the world in front of your nose, is essential to clarity. As soon as we hold still, the vision fails to remain clear and the mind fails to recognize the input. That is why blinking and breathing and brushing your visual field with your nose are the first steps to good vision. When we hold the breath, we hold still. This effects the vision immediately. Also, less O2 exchange effects the vision immediately. The tension needed to hold the breath can also diminish clarity. Happy eyes work effortlessly, and a generous easy deep breath relaxes the eye muscles, leaving them free to vibrate effortlessly, follow your attention and interest, and support your amazing imagination. DGLatest studies related to breath holding
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