FYB Feel Your Best - Yoga Teacher Training, Pilates Teacher Training and Stress Management Teacher Training

Mind, Body & Spirit:

Question and Answers

About Yoga, Pilates & Stress Management

By Debra Mundt, RYT500, CPT
FYB (Feel Your Best)^®

Yoga, Pilates & Stress Management

Teacher Certification Training School

Breath / Eyes

Q: When I get upset, I feel my chest and shoulders tighten up and I find it hard to breathe. My friend Laura says that I’m probably not breathing right, and that Yoga helped her learn to breathe better. What gives? How can I be breathing “wrong”? --J.T.

A: Your friend Laura is correct, in that some Yoga styles incorporate breathwork (in Yoga, this is called pranayama), and emphasize the importance of breath. A typical American only uses 18% of his / her lung capacity; that leaves us with a whole lot of unused space in our lungs, doesn’t it?! And when we’re not using our lung capacity, we’re typically breathing in a way that creates tension in the upper body, thus the tight chest and shoulder muscles. It’s not that we’re breathing “wrong”, it’s just that we’re not used to breathing as efficiently as we could be.

To breathe more efficiently, and increase our lung capacity, we must allow the breath to begin as low as possible. This means that the diaphragm is moving within the abdominal cavity, and allowing the lungs to expand and contract as they should. Let’s practice: first, lie down on a bed or floor, and place your hands on your belly. As you inhale through the nose, allow the belly to expand upward as if it were a balloon filling with air. Exhale forcefully through the mouth, and feel how that draws the belly back in. Now practice with soft breaths, inhaling and exhaling through the nose, allowing the belly to rise with the inhales and fall with the exhales.

After several minutes, you should feel a sense of calm relaxation (which is just one of the many benefits of this breath, called “Belly Breathing” or “Conscious Breathing”). Simply practicing this breath for 5 minutes a day can help you to increase your lung capacity, improve your oxygen intake, and help promote a relaxation response (so you can even practice this technique when you’re feeling anxious or upset, to instantly feel calmer!).

I’ll leave you with this thought…the ancient yogis believed that we are born not with a finite number of years, but with a finite number of breaths…therefore, if we learn to slow our breathing, we will live a longer life! Pretty interesting, don’t you think?!

Did You Know?

Did you know that every muscle in your body can benefit from practicing Yoga, even those around your eyes? I recently had an injury to my eye, which made me realize just how much we can take our sight for granted. Keep your eyes healthy with some “eye Yoga”! Extend your arm out to eye level, with your fingers about 2 feet from your eyes. Keeping your gaze on the fingers (and without moving your head), move your hand to the left & around your head, until you cannot see the fingers. Bring your hand back to center, then move it to the right & around your head, until you cannot see the fingers. Bring your hand back to center, then move it up, then down. You can move the hand in a diagonal motion also; the point is to keep the hand and eyes moving without moving the head. When you feel that the eye muscles have worked sufficiently, rub your hands together vigorously to create some warmth, and cup your hands over the eyes for a few moments, allowing them to relax after their “workout”!

Do you (or does someone close to you) have a medical condition, or have an injury that you think Yoga, Pilates or Stress Management might be helpful in treating? Perhaps, you have general or specific Yoga, Pilates or Stress Management related questions. I’d love to hear from you! Please send your question to Info@FeelYourBest.com. I regret that I will not be able to personally answer each question submitted, due to time and space constraints.

Debra Mundt, RYT500, CPT, is the founder of FYB (Feel Your Best)^® Yoga, Pilates & Horizons (Stress Management). She is also Director of the FYB Teacher Certification Training School. Debra and the School Faculty members may be reached at 262-241-8796, or by e-mailing Info@FeelYourBest.com.