Breathing From Your Core

I am going to take a wild guess here that you have never considered your diaphragm or your pelvic floor as apart of your “core” , but they each play a vital role in supporting the pelvis and spine and each apart of the Core Cylinder and the Deep Front Line. The Deep Front Line is a group of muscles and fascia that work together like a unified team of support. When this team is online and working together they provide a powerful network of stabilizing muscles that support the spine, pelvis, and head as you stand upright and move through space. In the simplest of terms we can trace the Deep Front Line through these landmarks:

• Big Toe Mound

• Inner Thighs (adductors)

• Pelvic Floor

• Psoas (a large and deep hip flexor)

• Diaphragm

• Sides of the Neck (scalenes)

• Jaw Muscles

• Tongue

Yes…..your tongue is connected to the core….more on this in another article.

Working with the diaphragm for core stability is a dance as it provides core stability and respiration and just like all muscles it will adapt to what we ask of it. Forward head posture will quite the core musculature and cause the diaphragm to work more on posture than on respiration. This can in turn cause our breathing pattern to get stuck in a state of hyper ventilation where yawn often and gasp for air creating an imbalance of c02.

Just like the ancient Yogic texts have always recommended modern science is proving that to remedy this you don’t need to focus on the inhale but rather on the exhale. The diaphragm should be able to preform both of these equally!

When the diaphram is tight it is telling the body that you are not safe and because the core and respiratory connections to the pelvic floor it can also become tight.

Conscious breathing practices that focus slow and steady exhalations while utilizing the diaphragm and pelvic floor can be the missing link to rewiring deep core connections, easing back pain, and down-regulating the nervous system.

Double Diaphragm Breathing is a great way to quickly down-regulate the nervous system and cultivate healthier breathing patterns, leading to positive effects that can ripple throughout the entire body.

• Rest in a reclined bound angle pose with blocks underneath your knees and the spine angled upwards with the support of a bolster, blocks, or pillows

• Begin to tune into the natural rhythm of your breath

• Observe any sensation or movement you notice in your pelvic floor

• Take a deep breath in and pull the inhale into the belly and all the way down to the pelvic floor, allowing the tissues to open, soften, and release with the inhale

• Exhale as slowly as possible, not allowing all the breath to spill out too quickly, if this feels challenging try exhaling through the mouth as if you were exhaling through a straw or blowing out a candle

• As you exhale imagine the pelvic floor drawing back in and up towards the belly

• Take continuous rounds of this breath here for 5-10 minutes

Next up…. re-establishing strength and connections to the pelvic

Butterfly Curls can help you feel and strengthen the fascial connections that link the inner thighs, pelvic floor, Psoas, and diaphragm.