To breathe; it is the first and the last thing we do in our life. We can spend days without eating, or even drinking water, but no more than a few minutes without breathing, because breathing is the primary way to feed our cells.There is so much to gain from knowledge about this subject, which is, generally, massively ignored or misunderstood, perhaps because it is a neurovegetative process in our body, which we take for granted because it is always happening without us even realising or paying attention to it. But without breathing correctly we limit our development and potential.
Breath!
But for a while let’s focus on how to use our breathing properly and the effect it will have on performance in sports or in any other physical activity that you practise, by using some DeRose Method techniques.
The biggest part of our lungs is at the base, the diaphragm, the abdominal area, and this part is responsible for ⅔ of your full lungs capacity. To access and utilise this part of your lungs you must re-educate your breathing habits by doing a few exercises.
Lying down or sitting with your back straight, place your hands on your abdomen and, as you breathe, feel that when you inhale deeply your abdomen moves out, when you exhale your abdomen moves inward. Memorize this rule; the air enters, your abdomen moves outward, the air leaves, your abdomen moves inward.
Throughout the exercises inhale and exhale exclusively through your nostrils, without making any noise. At the beginning it might feel a bit awkward, simply because your body has forgotten how to breathe deeply.
After learning this rule, we can try another exercise to improve your lung capacity and further develop your diaphragm. This time inhale deeply, expanding your abdomen outwards, in 4 seconds, hold your breath with your lungs full for 4 seconds, exhale, moving your abdomen inwards, in 4 seconds, and finally hold with your lungs empty for 4 seconds. This is a square breathing exercise; 4 seconds for each part of your breath. Practise it for about 5 minutes. By doing this exercise, your body will respond much better when you are in need of more oxygen during your sportive activity.
When I am training I try to use nasal breathing as much as I can. It’s probably not what you learned from your instructor or personal trainer but I find it much more effective for the simple reason that I better control my breath and consequently my internal rhythm. But if you think that is too tough to either inhale and exhale through your nostrils, at least only inhale using your nose. Avoid inhale through your mouth; if you do you are going to get much more tired than if you were using your nostrils. The air that arrives on your lungs needs to be the temperature of your body to be better absorbed and by using the respiratory channels you will be “preparing” the air to reach your lungs filtered, and in a much better condition.
When I am going uphill cycling there is a huge demand of oxygen from my body and the only thing that makes me go faster is sending more air to my diaphragm. I even push my abdomen out to force more air on the lower part of my lungs and after I try to breathe out as slower as I can, therewith reducing my cardiac rhythm.
Explore your breath and discover an inner world!
DeRose Method Culture 