Daily Tip #20 - The Diaphragm Stretch

0:01 - Intro

Hello out there. I'm Shane from MATRIX. And today I'm bringing you Daily Tip #20. Now, if you watched yesterday's Tip, you'll know that I had mentioned this is going to be a little bit weird. -- Hi, bubbers! This is our cat buster. He loves yoga mats. So, I guess he's joining me today.

0:20 – Why Stretch the Diaphragm

And that being said, you'll notice that we have a completely different view and I have a mat out today. What we're going to be doing is we're going be doing a Diaphragm Stretch. It's very weird, but it's a very, very powerful drill. That can be very useful in stimulating your viscera and stretching your diaphragm. Both of those are going to enable you to do Belly-Breathing better. And it's going to help create some of that mobility and stimulation through your gut that we've talked about so much with the Vagus Nerve in keeping your immune system strong.

0:53 – Get Your Mat

Moving through this video, I'm going to start by giving you a little bit of the anatomy behind how the diaphragm works so you can understand how and why we do this. If you're not interested in that part, you can skip ahead. Or if you're joining live, now would be a good time to clear some space and get a mat so you can come down on the floor too.

1:12 – Diaphragm Anatomy

Your diaphragm. It's a muscle that attaches onto your lungs. It's above most of your gut, and it's a dome-shaped muscle. In its relaxed position, it's up like this. As it begins to contract, the muscle squeezes together and the dome flattens out. So what that does, is when you contract your diaphragm, it moves downward, drawing the lungs downward, which creates a vacuum to pull air in. So, your in-breath is when the diaphragm contracts. And as it moves downward -- if the lungs are moving downward -- the organs have to go somewhere. And that position is outward. That's why a good diaphragmatic breath is called a belly-breath and why the belly moves outward when you breathe in. That goes all the way back to Tip #1. What we're going to do is we're going to work on the reverse of that.

2:11 – Diaphragm Sensation

We're going to try and stretch the diaphragm so you can create some more sensation in through this area. And just like we've been working on the stretch-squeeze of our muscles -- same thing here -- we want to be able to have that full range of motion so the diaphragm can move most effectively. The diaphragm itself does not have a lot of sensory innervation. So you're not going to feel the diaphragm stretch. If you feel anything stretching, it's actually going to be around the attachment to the diaphragm. You might feel a pulling in of your rib cage. The diaphragm also has a central tendon that attaches to your spine -- into your low-back. There's a chance that you might feel a little bit of a tug in your low-back. Chances are the first couple times that you try this. You're not going to feel anything other than the need to breathe. That's what makes this thing awkward. But as you practice, as you get better at it, you might be able to start to relax when you're out of breath and start to actually experience some of the other sensations that are going on.

3:15 – Diaphragm Stretch Directions 

Alright. Enough for the anatomy. Hopefully, if you're joining me live, you've gotten your mat and you've cleared your space. Now it's time to give it a shot. I want to reiterate, this seems really weird, but it's really, really effective. Before you judge it, try it a couple of times. To do the diaphragm stretch, we're going to lie on our backs. You want to tuck the tail under so your hip-pointers are rolling back up toward your rib cage so that your low-back goes nice and flat. We're going to start with the hands at the side and then we're going to breathe in and take the arms up overhead. That's going to help lengthen. And we're going to be breathing in and expanding while we do that. Then we're going to exhale through an open mouth. We don't want pursed lips like we did with the Straw Breathing. We want a nice open mouth so the air can flow out easily. We also don't want to rush the exhale. If we exhale too quickly, then the lungs actually lock up a little bit and keep some of the air trapped in. Whereas, if we have a nice steady out stream of breath, we can empty more fully. The more fully we empty -- as we bring the arms down and around -- the diaphragm is going to move from its contracted position and stretch back up into a deeper stretched, more relaxed position than where you normally are in. The belly itself will now have more space to fall back down into. I'm going to demo it once. I'm going to talk through it the second time. And we'll do it all together third time. Here's the diaphragm stretch.

4:57 - Diaphragm Stretch Demo

5:20 – Recap of the Demo

So you can see, it sounds pretty weird. It feels pretty weird. It's a real challenge because you have to be willing to let go of all that air within your lungs. And again, that's helping you start to create some of that CO2 buildup that we've talked about in previous Tips before. In summary of how to do it, before we do it together. Breath in, arms overhead. Exhale through an open mouth, blowing out in a steady pace. Not rushed. Hands come back down as you do. Keep blowing out. Keep blowing out. If you're still making noise, that means there's still air coming out. Keep blowing out. Keep blowing out. When you don't think you can blow out anymore, blow out a little bit more. Then pause. Feel. Experience. When you have to breathe again. Let the air come back in and you should -- if you heard it in my demonstration -- there's a little gasp. That's that transition point. You will know you empty very nicely if that gasp happens.

6:22 – Do It Together

All right. We're going to do it together. One more time. Mine's not going to be perfect as I'm going to be talking to you through it. But let's all try it together. Laying down. Bridge position. Draw the pelvis underneath so the low-back goes flat. Lay comfortably. As you breathe in, take the arms up overhead. Open the mouth and start to blow out. Your arms will come around. Keep blowing out. Keep blowing out. Keep blowing out. When the hands come down, keep blowing out. If you're still making noise, you're still blowing out. Keep blowing out. When you don't think you can blow out anymore, blow out a little bit more. Pause Feel it. And let it go.

7:10 – What You Will Feel After 

If you did it well, you should be out of breath. Your face should be red. You would have heard that gasp. If it was your first time trying it, you probably didn't get the gasp. You might not have gotten any of that. That's okay. Try it a couple of additional times, you'll start to feel more stimulus. You'll start to feel more blood flow into the gut. Those are all good things for immune system. Your diaphragm will have stretched, so your belly breathing becomes easier. Plus, you have a better awareness around what's going on down there.

7:41 - Advanced Option

I'm going to do it one more time for you. This time, with a little addition. For as you practice, this is the next level, advanced phase to go. This is what this looks like. -- And it looks like Buster is going to be joining me for this one! -- Laying on the back. As we breathe in this time, arms come overhead and we also lift up the hips. Like a strong bridge. You've got to squeeze your glutes to keep the tail tucked. This time, once I've blown all the air out, I'm going to lower my hips at the end. And then it's going to give me even more of a stretch when I'm already in what should be a fully stretched position. It looks like this.

8:18 - Advanced Option Demo 

Breathing in. Breathing out.

8:44 - Summary

As you can see, I'm out of breath. I'm probably a little bit red. My voice was a little shaky. My body was shaking a little bit. That additional piece of lowering the hip -- once you're fully exhaled -- really does change the intensity of the sensation. Don't do that first. Give yourself some time to play with this. Practice it. Get used to it. But know that that there is that other level to go to. That's our last tip for this week. I know it's a little weird, but try it. The benefits are amazing. I'm not going to go through them again.

9:14 - Farewell 

I'm giving you the weekend off, but tune back in on Monday. We'll be applying this type of lack of oxygen, as well as some more lower body mobility into next week's Tips. So, those are things for you to look forward to. Have a great weekend and I hope to see you next week!