Breathwork, breathing exercises, prānāyāma, whatever it is, the first step is to get clear on how to breathe. Meaning, as nature intended this human body to breathe efficiently and work well.

Diaphragm- Deep- Belly- Breaths. Which is it? Is “diaphragmatic breathing” a reasonable term for proper breathing? And if you don’t really know for sure where the diaphragm is in the body and what it attaches to how do you know if you are even doing a “diaphragmatic breath”?

First, all inhalations use the diaphragm, by default. Their motor innervation (i.e. nerves to make it do some action) are the phrenic nerves. When the brain’s respiratory processing center sends an impulse to breathe it follows that the motor unit for the diaphragm receives the command.

Second, the issue then is not if the diaphragm is being used or not BUT rather is the diaphragm being properly and effectively used?

Third, the diaphragm is a muscle, one of the most powerful in your body. Yet many people have a poorly developed diaphragm, which translates to less than adequate inhales that rely more on chest activity.

Fourth, seeing more movement in the chest, especially at the beginning of the inhale, leads one to say “you are breathing poorly and not using your diaphragm.” Though technically a little incorrect the message is good.

Fifth, so how can you identify then if it is a good “diaphragmatic breath”? You will see movement in the soft tissue of the upper abdomen followed by the side ribs. This follows, almost traces, the line of attachment of the diaphragm to the costal arch (front rib cage), where the pressure extends into the soft tissue of the upper abdomen.

Hopefully that is clear. A question that often follows such a description is if this is also a “belly breath” and would it still be if the expansion happened below the navel? Essentially, is a “belly breath” the same as a “diaphragmatic breath”?

First thing to note here, however, is that a “belly breath” is quite often a poor quality breath if done with force or depth, inefficient as the whole abdomen is collapsed and moves – hence “Belly”. A big inhale with emphasis on a rounded (and dropped) abdomen limits the diaphragm and how the ribs get involved in the act of breathing.

Yet when sitting in a very quiet position, usually when concentrating on a topic (like reading this:) or in a meditative sitting practice, then the only movement is “belly”, meaning around the navel. Ironically, this “belly breath” is passive, light, soft where the only observable movement is the “belly” at the navel. Interestingly it occurs so nicely because the diaphragm, being well-trained, is working so well.

So the passive, soft “belly” breath movement is really a minimal but well-trained diaphragmatic breath.

When you do a partial to fully active “diaphragmatic breath” then the control in the “belly” changes – supported below navel and moving above navel. That is a well-trained “active diaphragmatic breath” that could be termed “managed belly breathing”.

No doubt you have been told, and perhaps have even given the advice, to “take a deep breath”. But what does it mean? Under which conditions does taking a big deep inhale even work? Ironically most people say it to others when stressed out or anxious. Yet emphasis on the inhale in such sitations is not so helpful.

Typically if I am in a situation where someone really needs some breath advice, as opposed to vernacular use of “take a breath” (aka chill TF out), then I guide them to slowly and deliberately exhale. A good exhale means an improved inhale will follow.

In this case “DEEP” refers to the descent of the diaphragm which allows for best expansion of the lung tissue and suction of oxygen carrying air in to “deeper” recesses of the lungs thereby covering greater surface area of lung volume, reaching more alveoli (air sacs in the lungs).

To be able to take this “deep breath” requires good use of your diaphragm, so a good active “diaphragmatic breath”, whereby the soft tissue of the upper abdomen moves or expands slightly, followed by lateral horizontal movement (i.e. sideways) of the lower ribs. Below the navel stays supported.

This is a deep well-managed belly breath, really a “diaphragmatic breath”, which is a deep breath due to its effect in the lungs: DEEP. This capacity reflects itself in quiet passive breathing with minimal movement at the navel, but its effect is free “to drop” and in this case becomes passively “DEEP”.

Having learned how to breathe it is fair to ask, what is breathwork? It has become a popular word lately. It can refer to a plethora of breathing exercises. However, I would emphasize breathwork more so under a type of breath training. And this training leads to an improved diaphragm and well-defined act of breathing.

The Year of the Dragon could be your year of the breath through the nose. And why not? Recently podcasts and TikTok are alight with nose breathing and mouth taping. GQ, the popular men’s magazine, named 2023 the year of breathing through the nose, or when many (in this case men) kept their mouths shut!

Some questions around nose breathing have been posted to us at Samahita. I will offer some succinct answers:

• Benefits of nose breathingThe nose is designed to filter, humidify, and regulate the temperature of the air entering your lungs. But most valuable is it regulates the force, speed and volume, allowing you to breathe as per need, reducing issues of over-breathing and hyperventilation. The movement of air around the nasal passage and sinuses means the inhaled air interacts with a greater surface area of endothelial tissue, with one benefit being a greater distribution of Nitric Oxide which supports the flow of blood.
• Why is it hard to breathe through my nose?Because the nose offers more resistance to the  flow of breath than the wide open mouth. In that sense it is more refined. As noted, the surface area of the inner nose is quite large so incoming air swirls around a set of ridges (turbinates) and even passes into the mixture of sinuses. Quite phenomenal.
• Can you offer some help for breathing through the nose?The biggest factor is awareness. It takes time to build a habit. But if it is an “approach-oriented goal”, meaning an action or resolve you take on to do, then you can make it possible. I like to say “mouth open, lips closed.” This means a relaxed jaw-mouth structure where the lips touch, tongue is free, and the air flows in and out of the nose. Can you feel the lips touching? All the time? This is a powerful place to start. And may really be all that is needed. More discussion is needed on specifics people may be experiencing, like blocked nose, etc. You could even tape your mouth at points during the day to help with awareness. More on that below.
• Mouth breather vs nose breatherIs there a time for mouth breathing? Yes, most definitely as an emergency mechanism. When you run out of breath the first thing you might do is breathe in and out the mouth. On a practical level, as your physical exertion increases, such as picking up your running or biking pace, you may need to switch from breathing out your nose to breathing out your mouth. However, that is best done to match the metabolic process. What does that mean? You switch to mouth exhaling when it’s just too much to keep breathing out your nose, as opposed to starting off from step one mouth breathing.
• Mouth taping benefitsA bit yes and a bit no. If you discover you are a mouth breather then it may be quite a revelation when you first use during sleep. The tape used is light but can still cause a panic if you are not used to it or you wake up and need to gasp. Or maybe you have visuals of Neo in The Matrix suddenly finding he had no mouth!!  See, it’s just all an illusion. Anyhow, back to reality, if you have really trained yourself with nose breathing int the day, as i have found, then the tape a night offers little to no benefit. So assess for yourself. Try it out for an hour while awake and see how it goes.

Wishing you a great year of Dragon nose breathing (though I recently heard some made up breath technique called dragon breath, so not that, just nice nose breathing.)