😮💨 Reclaiming Your Breath
🎉 Happy Friday, Friends!
Have you ever heard the phrase, “if you don’t like something, take away its only power - your attention?”
Let’s unpack that today in terms of core strength, pelvic floor health, neck and shoulder pain, and posture.
Because this is a situation where it’s a little more complicated than we think.
It starts with bracing, or “sucking in.” This is such a difficult topic for so many people, especially women and those in larger bodies.
Some of us grew up hearing things like, “Suck in for the picture!”
Others faced alienation from our bodies as we started maturing into adulthood.
And who could forget the constant messaging of the “flat belly” in the early 2000s?
You might even be bracing right now, hearing about all that.
The thing is, bracing is more than just making yourself look a tiny bit slimmer by holding yourself a certain way. The muscles we use to brace, usually our deep and superficial core muscles, are involved in so many daily movements that we can easily forget how important they are.
I’m talking about serving as the foundation for the rest of your muscle groups, including your shoulders and pelvic floor. I’m talking about facilitating motions like walking and positions like sitting and standing. I’m talking about digestion and organ function.
And, most importantly, breathing.
Holding your core close to your spine for a slimming effect has cascading effects. Over time, your core, trying to support these essential movements, positions, and functions, will pull from those other groups I talked about.
This is how we end up with pelvic floor weakness or high tone and shoulder tension that makes it harder to hold up our heads.
And the overwork your core feels as it tries to make your body fit a beauty standard it never asked for? That tension spreads further and further into your body, further impacting body functions like lymphatic drainage, using the bathroom, and movement in your extremities.
This far-reaching stress impacts women in particular, especially as we approach menopause and start experiencing symptoms that build up after years of "sucking in." (Not to mention years of being discouraged against strength training, yo-yo dieting, etc.)
It’s so hard. If you’ve been holding your body this way for any amount of time, I understand your pain. It’s physical and mental. It weighs on you in ways you can’t even describe. It’s so difficult to accept your body in a world that won’t stop scrutinizing you.
The good news? Taking just a few minutes every day helps “reset” the tension these muscle groups might be under. Remember when I said that your deep core is involved in breathing? That’s how this works. You don’t need to obsess over how to release your core.
Instead, you direct your attention to its natural function, and the rest will follow. This is an exercise in trusting your body, and the muscles that hold you together.
When you breathe mindfully, you’re taking away the power that deep tension has over you.
You’re taking away the power that diet culture and capitalism have exerted over you.
You are putting your attention towards your life function, and the power you have to choose yourself over what other people told you to look like.
And if you keep at it, if you relearn how to breathe in the best way for your body – whether it’s deep into your belly, outward into your rib cage, or a combination of both, whether it’s a five- or ten-second inhale/exhale, whether you release all the oxygen in your body or hold a little bit between breaths – you slowly undo the tension. The trick is starting and keeping at it. Do it when you’re waiting for the microwave or driving. Do it instead of scrolling just once every day.
Breath sounds simple because it is! But our world is overcomplicated, and the simple, profound fact of breath = life can be hard to pin down.
With you in these complicated times,
Dana