Abdominal Breath
Abdominal Breath, also known as diaphragmatic breath, is the breath that brings the body back to homeostasis. It’s a relaxed form of breathing in mammals that occurs naturally whenever they are in a state of calm with no danger present. Babies and children when in safe and supported spaces sink into this breathing rhythm very easily. As we grow into adulthood, chronic stress and overwhelming stimuli make abdominal breath very difficult to return to which leads to a whole host of health issues for the body and mind.
In Tantric practice, this breath form is used to begin with due to its efficacy in calming the body and bringing focus to the present moment. A practice without a calm and collected self is barely a way to practice and can actually be damaging rather than strength and life promoting.
In highly stressful environments like many of us are used to, learning how to return to abdominal breathing as often as possible is extremely beneficial. We can train our bodies to adopt this breath even in frenetic circumstances and with it our actions yield more effective results. Why? It clarifies mental and emotional focus and promotes actions that arise from conscious responding rather than biochemical reactions. This is because it interrupts the body’s ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode by triggering the body’s ‘rest and digest’ mode.
It is performed by contracting the diaphragm, the thin muscle stretching across the thoracic cavity at the base of the ribs, as calmly and deeply as possible to draw in air. The chest and belly gently expand at the intake of air and soften back into place at the expulsion of air. The key here is to relax, to breathe deeply and fully focusing solely upon the in and out of the breath and nil else even though the mind always threatens to take us elsewhere.
In a bit of theoretical detail, the sympathetic nervous system is a branch of the autonomic system which gets sparked into action by fast paced, highly demanding environments with hefty expectations. It governs the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode. The vagus nerve, which channels through the diaphragm, belongs to the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system governs the ‘rest and digest’ mode. As the diaphragm contracts and softens around the vagus nerve in a relaxed rhythm with abdominal breathing this communicates to the vagus nerve that all is safe and well inside and out. This in turn, activates the parasympathetic nervous system which commences soothing and self-regulating of the body and organs. Relaxed, abdominal breathing is a way of tricking the body into thinking all is safe, even if an environment is hectic, so it functions and digests experiences at optimal levels.
The zone of apposition, the vertical distance between the diaphragm at full expansion and contraction, is often impeded in individuals by irregular, shallow breathing and poor posture. Abdominal breathing helps to regulate and increase the zone of apposition by opening the diaphragm. An opened diaphragm means greater control of the nervous system, especially due to the vagus nerve, as mentioned above, as it receives maximum stimulation across its surface area from the diaphragm.
Abdominal breathing is a great starting point for developing biofeedback, which is learning how to feel the body responding to an action undertaken and developing subtle control over that response by the power of the breath. This is a Tantric principle as Tantra is about connecting to and mastering our body and our responses in action to our greater environment.
When your breath is open, full and free it’s as if the sky can live inside of you, as if you can take all of it inside of yourself. It’s a wonderful sensation, to feel so spacious and free from within.
