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| I have been taught 3 part breathing a few different ways and the exhalation is the part I question -
I have had instructors teach to empty from lower belly, then the air from the rib cage, and then expelling air from the chest region (the same as the inhale) -
I prefer to breathe like that, however, I have been reading various instructions online and I am finding that many are explaining just the opposite:
On the exhalation, empty from top of lungs to the bottom - opposite of the inhalation.
Does anyone have the correct answer? Or is this one of those things where it's pretty much up to the one doing the teaching??
Thanks!
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| You cannot specifically empty your lungs from the top or the bottom. You can only increase the air pressure within the lungs by allowing the diaphragm and intercostal muscles (and therefore ribs) to go back to their original shape (like a rubber band that you stretch and then let go back to its original shape) and the air naturally exits as air pressure always tries to equalize itself. You can also pull your abdominal muscles in and up, which pushes your internal organs in and up and helps push your diaphragm back to its unflexed position with more force.
When you inhale, you flex your diaphragm muscle and it goes down, which expands the size of your lungs. Your intercostal muscles between your ribs push them up and out like the handle on a pail. These two mechanisms expand the area of your lungs and since the air pressure in your lungs is now lower than the outside air, your lungs fill with air to equalize the air pressure.
The three part breath is not about how you actually breathe, but rather an exercise in paying attention to your breathing process so either way is fine. (Air is only in your lungs which are in your chest, not your abdomen.) On inhale, you cannot change your lung size more than your flexed diaphram and expanded ribs will allow and on exhale, you can only equalize the air pressure, not actually empty part or all of your lung capacity. What you have some limited control of is what part of the chest cavity you consciously expand first or in which order. The other things that I mentioned are still happening, you are only accentuating a certain aspect of the normal breath that we take unconsciously. |
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| Thanks for your knowledge and for reminding me about air into the lungs - we (well, I do) tend to refer to breathing into the belly and forget to mention that the air is really in the lungs  Today in class, I tried to focus on having everyone breathe deeply into the lungs but noticing how the belly rises and falls with the inhalations and the exhalations.
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Three Part Breath
