Breathing Essentials: How to Breathe for Life

This lecture explores several clinical implications that arise from poor breathing patterns.

Self Evaluation tools are questionnaires that look at the various symptoms of breathing poorly and are designed to rate your breathing capacity.

These are the specific questionnaires to be used.  Please fill them out now and at the beginning of each week of your program to see if you are progressing or not.

This lecture will discuss the rib cage and its function.

This lecture looks at all the muscles of breathing.  The diaphragm and the accessory muscles of breathing.  It also discusses the function of expiration and the muscles that accomplish this.

This lecture demonstrates how we should breathe anatomically and physiologically.

This lecture demonstrates how we should not breathe.  It goes into a discussion on symptoms of poor breathing, rigid rib cages, overinflation and poor breathing control as well as the effects of the autonomic nervous system.

This video demonstrates significant upper chest breathing, paradoxical breathing patterns and a very rigid rib cage.  The patient has minimal chest expansion and when she breathes you can see her abdomen moving inwards instead of outwards.  Watch yourself in the mirror.  Do you breathe the same way?

This lecture discusses how a dysfunctional diaphragm can alter our posture and trunk stability.

Breathing Essentials: Six Weeks to Breathing Better

This program should be undertaken with the following rules that are stated below.

You can take longer or shorter to do this program.  This program will not be difficult for some or it might be daunting to others.  It will be entirely up to you to determine the speed you complete this program BUT do not do anything that would be a disadvantage to your health.  Please use your common sense.

Rules:

1. Consult your medical practitioner or health care provider before starting or intensifying any of the following exercises.

2. Never go beyond your comfort level.

3. Never do anything that causes pain or discomfort.

4. Do not continue if you experience significant shortness of breath. If this occurs, contact your medical practitioner.

5. No excessive dizziness or lightheadedness. You may initially feel lightheaded. Stop and rest if this occurs. If you are lying down when this occurs, stay lying down.

6. Perform these exercises perfectly. Concentrate on just the exercise when you are doing them. Focus on your body. Tap your ribs to wake up the sensations to your brain.