Daily Tip #24 - Ladder Breathing
0:01 - Intro
Hello out there. It's another gloomy day here in Rhode Island, unfortunately, but that's not stopping me from bringing you Daily Tip #24. I'm Shane from MATRIX. We're going to continue with some breathing work in today's Tip. But unlike yesterday when I asked you to stop breathing, today we're going to really work on your breathing competency. Throughout these Tips, we've learned just how important breathing is. From providing relaxation, to helping us with our gut function -- because breathing gets the organs moving -- that in turn helps the immune system. It's one of the main fuels for your brain, so that you can think better, clearer, stay focused, stay positive. Not to mention that, like many other things, it's just super important in life. You can go for up to a month or weeks without food. You can go days without water. But you can only go minutes without breathing. So, we might as well be really, really good at it.
1:02 – Importance of and New Breathing Skills
What we're going to work on today is learning how to breathe into all the different parts of your breathing chamber. There's lots of different muscles that help us expand the rib cage, expand the lungs to bring the air in. We're not going to go into those details, we're going to do it more generally. And then we're going to take that information and put it into two of the best stretches you're ever going to feel. When it comes to breathing, we can think about breathing into different parts of the body because those different muscles activate. And we can think about breathing into different sides of the body. Even though you can't isolate to a side, completely. You can certainly emphasize it because of the way our muscles work. Just like you can move one arm while the other arm stays still.
1:48 – Lower Breathing
The first thing we're going to do today is learn how to breathe into the lower part. We've done belly breathing, but this time what I'd like for you to do is just place your hand on one side of your belly. The other hand on your backside. See if you can start to create some breath, three-dimensionally, into that space you've just created. Use the belly breathing that you've learned. Press in a little bit with your arms and take a breath or two. Hopefully, as you do that, you can actually feel, not just your belly moving out, but your rib cage moving back a little bit as well. If you weren't able to, just keep practicing it as you move through this lesson today and as you practice it into the next few days ahead.
2:37 – Middle Breathing
The next step is to work on the rib cage. And you want to think about this expanding outward. With all of these, a nice picture to work on is imagine you're filling up a balloon. Your hands are putting some pressure on and as that balloon fills, it pushes your hands outward. Let's bring your hand up into the rib cage. Just pull in tight. And again, breathe in and see if you can get the rib cage to expand out into your hand.
3:06 – Upper Breathing
The last piece that we're going to work with is getting into the upper chest. Now, a lot of people say no upper chest breathing, it's stress inducing. That's all true, except when you're doing it with purpose and intelligence. When you've already filled up the whole chamber and you're trying to get that last little piece, it's a tool we really need to use. Particularly when we're out working hard, playing sports, working in the garden, whatever it may be. So, for this one -- it's tough to bring your other hand on the back -- so at the very least, bring one hand up onto your upper chest. And if you wanted to, you could lean against the wall to create that compression so you have that balloon to fill up into. Take a breath into your upper chest now. Awesome.
3:52 – Summary and Fascia Intro
Just to reiterate -- on all of those -- you should be able to fill up three-dimensionally. And you should be able to isolate it into the area that you're working. It doesn't mean other parts aren't going to fill up too, but you should be able to get more into the area of focus. All right, so now that's building complete respiratory capacity. Breathing into the lower, the middle, and upper part of your lungs. We can now use this to enhance stretches within our body. And in our body, we have these things called fascia lines. They run -- in different cases -- from the feet all the way up to the head. And they play a huge role in keeping you stable, your posture, how you move, and how you feel. I'm not going to get into that, but just know that they're very important. And we can stretch them out and make them operate better by creating big shapes with our body.
4:51 – Side Opener Stretch
The first one of those that we're going to work with today, is this one of the side fascia lines. Because this is a full body line that runs from your foot all the way up and out through your fingertips, we're going to create a big C-shape with our body. So, take one foot, cross it behind the other. If you need something to hold on to, that's okay, make sure you stay stable. And if you want to leave this part out and just work with your foot level, that's totally cool too. From there, take your hand out to the side. Flex your fingers up towards the sky. And then start to take your arm overhead. What you'll start to notice is you'll feel a stretch from your ankle all the way up and through your hand. Or at least some points along that line. Try to get as long as you can. And then think about creating a little bit of rotation about the heart. Pull the bicep a little closer to the ear. Already you should be feeling the stretch. And now from here, try to breathe once down into the lower part that we worked on, the belly. You should feel that enhance the stretch. Then try to breathe into the rib cage. You should feel that change the sensation of the stretch there. Try to breathe up into the upper chest. And now, the best one of all, think about breathing from the bottom and filling all the way to the top. A nice long inhale. Ah! Then take your hand away. Shake it out. And when you're done, that should feel pretty good. I don't want you to be unbalanced, so we'll do the other side as well. Again, crossing the foot behind, optional. Heel falls away. Arm to the side. Fingertips to the sky. Keep that 90-degree bend in your wrist as you take the arm up like you're going to push your hand on the ceiling. Really reach up. Rotate about the chest. Bring the arm a little closer to the ear. Breathe into the lower side. Breathe into the middle of your side. Try to isolate more into the upper portion. And then try to fill all the way, bottom to top. Ah! And release that one out. Ah! You should feel pretty good, pretty balanced on both sides. That was opening up the sidelines of the body and hopefully you experienced how using the breath can enhance those stretches.
7:37 – Front Opener Stretch
Now we're going to work on the front lines of the body. This is one -- because we're going to be leaning backwards a little bit -- you really might want to hold on to something. This part again, working with the feet is optional. If it's uncomfortable being on the top of the feet. If when you bring your foot behind you, you get a little bit of a foot cramp. You can leave that part out. But ideally, we bring the foot behind us. Think about creating a little bit of tension through the top of the heel. With the pelvis, start to press forward. Take the opposite side arm from your foot and bring that up towards the sky. Flexing the wrist just like we did before. Try to push your hand up on the ceiling. Get as tall, tall, tall and long as you can. Arc back just a little bit. It doesn't have to be big. Try to pull the arm a little further behind you. Now, breathe into the belly on the side of the leg that's behind you. Breathe into the rib cage on the opposite side where the arm is up. Breathe into the upper arm's chest. And then, if you can bring them all together. Ah! The arm and chin help pull you back out. Shake it out. And then, just to wrap things up, we'll catch the other side. Foot going behind you -- if you choose -- so you're on the top of the foot. Very light, not a lot of pressure. Let the thigh push a little forward. Pelvis pushes forward. Opposite side arm, hand out like a stop sign. Then take it up to the ceiling. Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch it tall. And if you can, let yourself arc up and back a little bit. It should be a big stretch. Holding on if you need to. Breathe into the leg side lower ribs. The arm side middle ribs. The arm side chest. And then complete the line all the way up and across. And release. Shake it out. Ah!
9:53 - Summary
So, that is our Ladder Breathing exercise. Ladder because you're climbing up these different rungs of your respiratory chamber. This builds competency. It gets the viscera moving. It gets oxygen to the brain. It's absolutely wonderful. And you'll notice that -- as you're in these different shapes -- certain areas are easier to breathe into while other areas are harder to breathe into. And that's what happens in real life. When we're bent over doing things we still need to breathe. But where can we get the capacity for that breath? So, we're learning breathing competency.
10:32 – Adding Gravity Assistance
The last thing I'll note with these drills -- if you really want an experience -- is once you get comfortable with being in these shapes, comfortable with breathing, you can then begin to leverage holding on to something with your hand. If you can grab onto something overhead in the side opener and then let gravity start to drag your body along, you'll get an even bigger stretch that you'll enhance even more with the breath. Same thing happens with the front body. If you can hold on to something and then let yourself start to lean forward into it, it creates an even bigger opening. Start small. Work with just the parts of breathing. Add in the different positions. And then add in the gravity assist if you want it. You'll love these. They will make you feel great. And they're going to stretch you out from head to toe. Enjoy!
11:22 - Farewell
And don't forget tune back in tomorrow, 11 o'clock. We'll give you Daily Tip #25!