Stomach In?

Hi Mike

You’re right! I agree that you really can’t suck your stomach in to inhale. It doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. (See what I mean about following a script?)

You could go and check out the video Effective Breathing In Hot Yoga because that has an explanation that may satisfy you and provide a more comprehensive answer to your question than one in typewritten words.

Let me know how it goes!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Mike

Yeah baby, I hearya! Sometimes it’s just not worth pressing the point.

In my experience sucking in the belly on the inhale sets off a chain of events that simply creates havoc.

>> Firstly doing that goes against the whole ‘belly out on the inhale’ thang – you know, the kind of breathing we’re generally (but not always) advocating. 😆 As such the student inadvertently sets up paradoxical breathing and encourages (unconsciously of course) the sympathetic system to kick in. So there’s a stress link right there.

>> The body has a natural trigger to that stress and you can see this stress reflected in the body. You know, shoulders hunching, chin dropping, torso collapsing and associated effects in the arms (in many students).

>> It’s incorrect thinking about opening the ribcage. As we both realize it’s actually drawing the ribcage in and down which works against the rib cage expanding in chest breathing.

>> It encourages too much thought and not enough presence.

>> And on the inhale I believe you want to EXPAND the body to create that feeling of stretch in the spine and create the physical length in the spine, in the torso, in the muscles – all the structures. There’s even more to consider when it comes to intricate relationships of muscles and breathing (and natural reflexes).

>> And just as I think you should not suck the belly in on the inhale, you don’t really try to stick the belly out either. As your arms move upward you start to elongate the torso and the abdomen. So the action of the pushing out of the belly is actually no longer evident or even possible as the arms start to raise up above a certain level. That’s where what you do allows for that chest breathing action described in the above video to create the increased ability to fill your lungs (chest breathing!). There’s a physical stretch that occurs through the whole body. So what counts for me is relaxing on the inhale and sucking it in on the exhale! I actually cover this in detail in the Pranayama Pose Tutorial (just FYI!).

Thanks for asking 😉 and yes it would be great to meet you too!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Freia

I haven’t yet taken a look at the links yet. So I thought I would tell you the first thing that came to mind…

Yes you are right. It is important to use your girdle or brace muscles for core strength. There’s no question of that and I am not at all disputing the activation of core muscles in my above answer.

The whole ball game changes when you coordinate that movement of the arms (and head) into the mix. In order to get that physical stretch of the torso and get maximum opening through the chest, under the arms, the shoulders and keep the torso/spine upright etc while getting a good deep full breath in the lungs, you can’t do that pronounced suck in the stomach action. You can engage your core muscles – but that’s not the same thing as drawing in the belly in that wholesale way.

Does that make sense? Willing to hear your opinion … as always

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi!

It absolutely makes sense, Gabrielle. Your detailed and clear response was awesome (as usual)! The articles I linked to really reinforced your post, as they also emphasize this HUGE difference between sucking your stomach UP and IN (meaning your diaphram can’t expand properly) and kind of pulling your abs towards your spine in order to stabilize your core. I think this is what you explained very very well. I just posted them because they too were clear, and said what you said just in another way.

Unfortunately, the Bikram’s dialogue (monologue?) has its instructors state “up and in” or sometimes “up” (depending on the instructor) which means that the poor student isn’t able to get enough air in and is left without any insight as to what exactly they are trying to accomplish.

I just thought it was interesting that this kind of breathing is becoming prevalent in alot of disciplines other than Bikrams. Years ago, I took a Pilates beginners class and we spent 3 (THREE) one hour sessions lying on a mat and learning to breathe in this way. That’s all we did in those classes. Now, keep in mind that by the 4th class, most of the students had dropped out of the course because they were bored out of their MINDS (MORE freaking BREATHING again? When do we do the PILATES??? OYE! I QUIT!), but I digress…

In any event, I have a feeling that Pilates has taken this breathing technique from Hatha yoga. When I heard the instructions for Pranayama breathing in my first Bikram’s class, thanks to my old course in Pilates, I understood that internal core stabilization was the goal rather than seeing if you could push your diaphragm up into your throat! Unfortunately the usual Bikram’s student doesn’t have this benefit, and the dialogue (monologue?) really is of no specific help to the usual student.

Again, reason number 52,630 why I love love LOVE this site! One can actually ask a question and get a coherent and encouraging answer from a subject matter expert! Some other sites out there for Bikram’s yoga have members that are are somewhat less…considerate? LOL!

Cheers!

Freia