Troubleshooting

How did you do with the exercise?
If you're like most people, you had trouble doing it, because breathing in the bad old short, shallow way is such an old habit with you. Don't let that bother you. It just means you need persistent, patient practice. Here are some troubleshooting tips to help you past the usual difficulties.

• If you have trouble redirecting your breathing from your chest to your stomach, practice isolating your stomach muscles first. Practice pushing your stomach out, then in, without breathing. As you get good at that, begin to pair it with your breathing.
• Try in a variety of postures. When you're sitting down, you may find that leaning back in the chair, or leaning forward with your forearms on your thighs (like a tired boxer sitting in his corner) makes it a little easier than sitting up perfectly straight.
• Try lying on your back. You can put a heavy phone book on your chest to make it easier to focus on using your stomach muscles.
• Try lying on your front, with a pillow beneath your stomach.
• Practice in front of a full length mirror, to see what you are doing.
• If you are unable to breath comfortable through your nose, due to allergies or any other reason, you can inhale through your mouth, but you have to inhale even more slowly this way, in order to avoid gasping and gulping your air.

You'll know you've mastered this technique once your breathing feels more relaxing and soothing. Get into the habit of noticing your breath every hour, at the top of the hour, during your waking day. And then switch to the deep breathing for a minute or two.

Do this for a week or two, and you'll be well on your way to changing your breathing for the better!

My clients usually want to know if they have to breathe this way all the time.

The answer is no.

Just focus on mastering the technique through regular, brief practice. And add it to your first aid list of steps to take when you have a panic attack. Over time, I think you'll find that you use this kind of breathing more and more as you make this your new habit. But you can let that happen naturally just by following the suggestions above.

My clients also express surprise at the idea that there is more than one way to breathe, or that breathing is something one must learn about. Have you ever watched a newborn baby breathe?

Newborns are all belly breathers. It's how we're built. But in our culture, we tend to put a high value on a flat, tight stomach, and we teach this to children, especially little girls.

So, many people change their style of breathing as children, in response to the messages they get at home, in school, and on the playground. They hold their stomach tight, and breathe from their chest. And ten or twenty years later, they don't remember they ever breathed any other way.

In a similar vein, my clients sometimes feel self conscious about doing this breathing, and worry that they will be doing something unusual that brings unwanted attention their way. If this is a concern of yours, try this: Begin noticing how other people breathe. I think you'll find that there's quite a bit of variety, and nobody cares!

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This page was last modified on 6-10-2004.