The Importance of a breath hold and why would you do it in yoga or at all. Valsalva maneuver is a momentary breath hold or a bearing down depending on where and why you would be doing this breath. Before I go on to explain I will quickly recap the other two fundamental breaths. The relaxed breath the diaphragm should be moving in 3-dimensional manner. The first 2/3’s of the breath should the rib cage expanding right and left and downward; the last 1/3 would be a slight upward

Paradox breathing: This is a type of breath that is used when we need the abdominals contracted for stabilization. It is no longer ideal to use the abdominals in the aid of breathing. The breath now will be more expansive at the rib cage and the diaphragm moves higher up into the chest. Chest breathing is a normal response in these situations to protect the spine but you are still breathing. This is commonly referring to as a stress breath. We make the mistake that a stress b

Yogi’s, What is Relaxed Breathing. I stopped using the term of diaphragmatic breathing when describing a breath that is relaxing a few years ago when I learned more in depth the mechanics of breathing. The diaphragm is the primary respiratory muscle in the body regardless of what type of breath you are taking. Just because you are taking in a nice big breath in doesn’t mean that it’s relaxed. And to take a chest breath doesn’t mean it’s only relationship is about the ‘bad’ st

Did you know that the way you hold yourself affects the way you breathe? Most of us can see that rounded shoulders, rounded upper back (kyphosis), forward head posture plus a distended abdominal wall is poor posture and thus disrupts breathing patterns. While consciously over correcting your posture can do the same thing, these people will hold the abdominal wall tight as if it were armor or trying to look thin. The common dysfunctional breathing patterns that are found with