Wait a minute, I already know how to exhale. I do it hundreds of times a day, without even realizing it! Why would I need to learn how to exhale?
Good question.
As I work with my patients, the comment I often get is, “wow, I didn’t realize that I was never really exhaling!”
But how can that be? Read onwards, my friend, and I’ll explain it all.
When we breathe, we have many degrees to which we can move air in and out. There is simple survival breathing, which is just enough air to keep us alive, some may call this a “shallow breath.” This is how many of us breathe when we are still and not moving.
If we spend a lot of time still and not moving, or if we have life events that put our nervous system in a state that tells us we are not safe, and we should be as still as possible as a survival mechanism, we can get stuck in a shallow breath.
“Form follows function and function follows form” is a tenet of how our physical structure adapts to our environment. When we don’t breathe deeply, our ribs and surrounding structures don’t move. When our ribs don’t move, it’s harder to breathe well.
Oh, well the solution to that is easy, just breathe deeper!
For some reason, our common societal belief is that to breathe deeper, we need to take more air in.
While this is true for some people, it’s definitely not true for many. And, almost EVERYONE needs to first get air OUT before you can effectively get air back in.
This Ribcage is Too Big!
Some ribcages are “hyperinflated.” Barrel-chested, military posture, ribs pushed up in the front, all these positions indicate that there is some dead air hanging out in those lungs, for who knows how many years.
How are you supposed to get new fresh air in if your lungs are already full of dead air?
These people can’t get air OUT.
Think of it this way. Your lungs are a balloon (this is a gross analogy, but just go with it 🙂 ). You fill the balloon with air (inhale), then let a tiny bit out (exhale). Next breath, you need to fill the balloon with air again because you need oxygen to survive. But still, you let out just a little. Over time, that balloon will get bigger and bigger, despite feeling like you need more and more air!
Of course it would feel like you need to inhale, because each breath in is so small since those lungs are already packed full. But what you really need to do is get that dead air out!
Getting a complete exhale, all the way to the bottom, gets that dead air out. For these individuals, when they feel that they have exhaled completely, they are often surprised to find that there was still more air in there to exhale.
Once that dead air is out, the ribcage and diaphragm positions can return to normal, and functional breathing can be restored.
This Ribcage is Too Small!
Some ribcages become rigid and small, collapsed in on themselves. They can’t get air in OR out. Their diaphragms can’t do the magnificent action they were designed to do, simply because there is no room to do it.
People with this kind of ribcage absolutely need to invite some expansion into their lives, but in order to do that, a diaphragm needs to be awakened and revitalized.
Achieving a complete, relaxed exhale triggers the reptilian brain to restore the breathing pattern that is primally wired within each of us.
Getting all your air out in a relaxed way is like a reset button for your nervous system.
When you reset in this way, you don’t need to try to get air in, it just flows in! You may need to do some specific exercises to open and expand your chest wall and lungs and bronchi (in certain places and directions, but I won’t get into all that here), but by simply getting your air out, you’ve already done an amazing thing for your whole system.
How does air just “flow in” after a complete exhale?
When you exhale completely, you let all the air out of your lungs. This creates a vacuum- air HAS to flow into that space due to the laws of physics- air will flow from an area of higher pressure to lower pressure.
It’s like when you open a hot oven and all the heat blasts out- the high pressure hot air must flow into the lower pressure cooler room. You don’t have to do anything the make the hot air flow out, you can’t even stop it flowing out! It just happens.
When we try to actively pull air in, we end up using accessory muscles, i.e. your neck. Just trust me on this one, you don’t want to breathe with your neck. Your neck has enough work to do already managing your head on the rest of your body. Using your ribcage to breathe is a much better way to go.
This Ribcage is Juuuust Right.
The human body is an amazing design! Sometimes it’s just hard to get out of our own way and let it do what it needs to do.
Allowing air to move out completely has so many more benefits than simply restoring ribcage and diaphragm position (although the restoration of those contributes to all these other factors I will share with you).
Benefits of Exhaling Well
- Decreased heart rate (by stimulating “rest and digest” nerve fibers).
- A more balanced inhale to exhale ratio, which reduces stress levels.
- Reduced states of hyperinflation.
- Improved digestive action of the gut.
So the question is, why wouldn’t you wan to exhale well?
Remember, exhaling is about softening, releasing, and letting go. Sometimes (or a lot of the time?) this can be harder to do than tensing, clinging, and holding on. So give yourself some patience and grace as you work towards a fuller exhale, and eventually a more expansive breath (and life!) as a result.
Here is a short video on how to get some air out, based on the primary breathing method from the Postural Restoration Institute, or PRI for short.
Be well, my friend!
Kindly,
Dr. Derya
