In the first week of my online course and in the first session I see clients in person we always investigate what’s going on with their breathing - where they breathe from, where they feel their breath moving, where it doesn’t move and what’s the interaction with the pelvic floor especially as they begin to move and load their body. Why start with breathing? And what does it matter?
For some women in the post-natal phase their breath gets stuck into only going forward because their mid-back gets tight and the hangover from carrying a baby means they are more open at the front. This can lead to some back pain and aches, a tendency to overuse the shoulders to help lift the ribs at the front and a change in the way the head and pelvis align to support the body.
By encouraging the breath to expand the ribs in all directions - 360 breath - we are getting more movement in the side and back ribs and everything feels a bit more comfortable. It also means the abdominals can do the work they need to when we need them - picking up a child, lifting something heavy on one side, pushing furniture or just doing our jobs and daily life - if we have the physical resilience to breath and brace at the same time then we can create strength when we need it and not just when we are in a super controlled position. So first of all we work on feeling the breath all round the ribs with various ways of creating feedback to aid that feeling, then we make it more challenging - moving in and out of standing, kneeling, curling and flexing positions - and then add in load with spring resistance or holding weights or a moving surface.
The benefit I see with clients as we progress, and as I’ve seen with my own body, is we are able to stand taller, breathe deeper and longer and have more feeling and connection in the pelvic floor. This means that we are able to experience the full range of loading on the pelvic floor - expansion on the breath in, and contraction/connection on the breath out - which helps massively when it comes to understanding any issues, changes in function as we age or through the monthly cycle and our response to different situations.
So how do you feel a 360 breath? I always start lying down with knees bent, feet flat, however you can also do this sitting right back into a chair with your back supported. Put your hands on the sides of your ribs with fingers forward and thumbs back. Now breathe in nice and deeply and feel where it goes. You want to feel an even inflation of your ribs into your fingers at the front, your palms at the sides and your thumbs at the back. It may be that you don’t feel much movement into your thumbs, as I said above this is common due to posture changes in pregnancy. Awareness is key here, so understanding that you don’t feel an even expansion is the first step, then aim to move your ribs more and expand more, and you can get into positions which will help shut down the front or sides of your ribs in order to feel the sticky areas a bit more. This deep squat position will help to shut down the front so you have no choice but to breathe into the back even more.