16 Mar Improving your Neck by how you Breathe???
There can be many contributors to neck pain.
The more you understand your habits, the more you can adjust yourself during the day and in the end, decrease neck tension.
This applies to breathing habits. If you have chronic neck issues you could be:
Raising your shoulders while you inhale
Using your shoulder blades to inhale or exhale
Using your throat muscles to lift the upper ribs
Clenching your Jaw
Sinking your chest when you inhale
What do you notice? Which one applies to you?
During a resting breath, if the diaphragm is working correctly, the chest will deepen front to back, the lower ribs will widen as the diaphragm descends, the abdomen will expand and the back will move backward.
In other words, if you had a balloon filling your torso from the collarbones to your hip crest all these parts will move evenly and at the same time generally.
If this happens there is no involvement of the neck muscles, and the shoulder blades. Rather then a lifting or lowering movement you will feel a general expansion in all directions during inhale and a deflation during the exhale.
The next series of classes will help you feel how to ease the neck and shoulders by noticing and changing how the breath influences these areas.
Take a Breath: Neck, Jaw, Shoulder Series, Online
No amount of stretching will help. If your breathing (and you need to keep breathing!) is contributing to the tension.
In the 8 part series we will explore movements in the face, jaw, chest, and shoulder blades…
while we use breathing as an indicator of effort and to unravel tension. Let’s get your neck and shoulders happy!
The ONLINE classes are 20 minutes each, twice in a week, on Monday and Wednesday: 9:30am or 2pm ET.
Check your TIME ZONE
Are you taking this series for the 2nd time? Use the coupon code provided in my newsletter.
They are recorded in case you miss a class. Click Here to find a Class
Ever wonder if neck stretching is a good idea? Read my article The Dangers of Stretching your Neck.