Heads Up on Your Body

Breathing Into the Back

In previous posts, I’ve talked about the rib cage and how the uppermost ribs are actually above the height of your collar bones. When you envision that in your mind, do you think of just the front ribs? Realize that its called the “ribcage” for a reason- its three dimensional. The cage of the ribs houses the lungs, which are also three dimensional. It is easy, when imagining the ribs, to only think of the ribs in the front because we have more contact with our fronts than our backs. We can usually either see or feel our front ribs… not so easy to see or feel the back ribs.

Now that we’re finally think about those ribs in the back, try inhaling up into those upper back ribs. Feel them rise and fill up with air, as if they are lifting your spine up along with them and adjusting your posture. Try to mantain your new height as you exhale, try not to shrink back down!

This type of breathing is so amazing, I love doing it but always have to remind myself to. This is where we should always be taking our breath, but its so easy and habitual to just barely inhale and exhale, let alone fill the upper back with breath. This type of breathing is helpful with so many ailments: headaches, upper back and neck tension, anxiety, traffic jams, etc.

Not only does fully filling with breath help to eliviate tension, it really enhances pilates. Connecting in and up with the abdominals goes along with filling in and up with breath. Both of these movements take your spine upwards and give your tailbone something to drop away from.

Try it next time you do the hundreds… or try it right now!

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