Are You Breathing Correctly?!

Are you breathing correctly?

Diaphragmatic breathing is key to proper core activation. If you find yourself dealing with tension headaches, tightness in your upper back or upper traps or chronic tightness in your low back, then you may not be breathing in the most ideal stereotype. We are going to slow down and talk about diaphragmatic breathing.

Diaphragmatic breathing is using your diaphragm as you inhale and exhale. We want to use our diaphragm to its fullest potential when we breathe because it helps to turn on certain stomach muscles. Follow along to see if you are using your diaphragm in the best way possible. 

To start off, lay on your back. We want to keep our low back flat against the surface we are laying on so if you need to bend your knees that is an option. We are going to place one hand on our stomach and one hand on our heart. As we inhale, we should feel our stomach fill up with air and as we exhale, we should feel it fall.

When we perform proper belly breathing we should feel the transverse abdominus muscle activate. That muscle acts like a girdle and it goes around and protects our back. Proper activation of our transverse abdominis activates muscles called multifidi. These are little muscles that run along our spine and help to protect our spine. 

This exercise is very important for not only proper breathing, but also proper core activation.