Edge of Asthma

(From “Edge of Asthma”, New Yogi Press)

For those of us with respiratory restrictions as well as for those without, this writing aims to help see more subtly into our breathing process. Serious illness or injury consistently reminds us not to take basic living functions for granted. Asthma, as a serious handicap, illustrates the most basic understanding of our existence- that we must breathe.

There once was a famous yogi claiming never to take a breath of which he was not aware. Breath awareness isn't necessarily peaceful. Breath confronted with asthma listens and watches and notices the degree of success or relative difficulty in breathing. Not being able to breathe allows little thought outside of the process involved in inhale and exhale. In this situation, we are minutely aware of hampered breath flow, of vague yet intense constriction in our chest, “watch here, alert moment, now, be careful”. Keeping our internal monitor always turned "ON" alert for danger signs will influence our anxiety and further inhibit easy breathing. People with asthma know a cautious present and live in an anxious moment.

We know of no unified explanation for what causes asthma. Asthma appears as a response to our body's difficulty in coping with a broad range of traumatic or otherwise debilitating situations. Sometimes these factors happen early in life. Premature childbirth or genetic predisposition may have inhibited the maturation of the respiratory system. For example, the lining of the lungs may not have developed adequate surfactant coating. Evidence of very early childhood stress, of babies experiencing prolonged or acute hyperactive distress, has been linked as a risk factor in the development of this illness.

Exposure to environmental stressors (fumes, airborne chemicals, smoke or other toxins, molds, etc) and allergens can also result in a hyper-reactive respiratory response. In industrial neighborhoods, even truck traffic and highway noise can cause nervous and neural imbalances which present challenges for normal relaxed breathing.

Nowadays, medical opinions recognize other complex interactive psychological factors as triggers contributing significantly to what creates an asthmatic environment. Our breath can be wrapped in worries that we may be harmed, fear of death, pain either immediate or traumas and abuse remembered from long ago. Chronic stress can have a debilitating affect on respiratory patterns.

Lack of breath is preceded by the inability to exhale. Without expiration there is no room for the oxygen-rich inhale. The depleted air remains in the lungs. What is causing this inability to exhale? Still a mystery, our breath holds the most sensitive and subtle imprints about our life experience. It’s said that the out breath is our last living act. Well then, don't exhale and we won’t let go. Being afraid may cause a tendency to tense up, curling our body inward, provoking a habit of intercostal muscle contraction in the short muscular attachments from spine to ribcage, and incomplete release along the edges of the diaphragm.

In meditation, not only can we observe a warming and cooling stream of breath, we can relax this connection and understand breath as that primal experience without which there is panic, within which is safety as life continues. It engenders a very basic gratitude.

How can we help relax the constriction of respiratory muscles, ease the inflammation of our bronchi, and lessen the congestion of mucus membrane? Breathing stretches gently allow injured or underused areas of our diaphragm and accessory breathing muscles to regain their functional range. These exercises can begin to inspire fascia throughout the torso, and develop those breathing spaces which have become underserved.

Using a physical awareness of our body as it operates the balance between inspiration and expiration, specific breath work can also reduce anxiety and response to fear or harmful emotions. It’s enlightening to see how our physical control over breath enables our influence over psychological behavior. Breathing stretches gently allow injured or underused areas of our diaphragm and accessory breathing muscles to regain their functional range.

People frequently breathe 12 to 20 times per minute, but actually once every 8 to 10 seconds, maybe 6 times per minute, is often a healthier rate. Exercises that change this habit are simple and direct; even so, many mechanical, chemical and energetic responses result in various parts of our body. Lengthened exhale, for several minutes, will increase the oxygen to our cells for maintaining skeletal muscle and promoting metabolic functions. Cell oxygenation encourages our capacity to sense and act; vital energy is restored. Our breath informs both body and mind.

We start by sitting and observe ourselves quietly. Let the breath happen by itself. Observe and focus where our breath may feel tight. By directing our attention, we can encourage a physical relaxing from inside of our ribcage. Watching this breath, we observe deeper into our physical selves. Notice the patterns which have settled themselves uncomfortably onto our respiratory template, and from there have attached to other muscles, traveling along the spine, across nerves, through connective tissue and into organs. Just paying attention will slow our breath and allow the breath to become deeper.

Our breath has a reciprocal relationship with the body's autonomic nervous system. Our nervous function affects our breathing patterns just as our breathing can help regulate both parasympathetic and sympathetic sides of the autonomic nervous systems. Acute respiratory problems have been related to a hyper-reactive autonomic nervous system. Controlled breathing sequences can bring balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Extend your exhale so that is longer than your inhale. Lengthening our exhale acts as the phrenic switch which turns on the parasympathetic nervous system and directs our “relaxation response”, while the sympathetic nervous system is able to release from external "fight or flight" stimuli. Both parasympathetic and sympathetic systems direct our involuntary body functions. After several minutes, our extended exhalation begins to influence the body’s environment, resetting triggers to our autonomic nervous responses.

Slowing down our out breath requires controlling the same nerve impulses and muscle constriction responsible for inhalation. I believe that asthmatic breathing fails to adequately release these same inspiratory phrenic nerves and muscles. This reaction may be found in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, in situations of abuse and extreme emotional circumstances. It is also why asthma accompanies these other injuries to our autonomic nervous system, which occasions a lack of control over our breathing ability.

Attention to our breath is the meditative work which slackens high strung tensions in our nervous system and ultimately brings about a greater fundamental awareness which creates and maintains the conditions for health and happiness. That is our goal.

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To find out more about exercise for respiratory challenges and stress disorders,

please contact John Kortmulder, Yoga On Main, (914) 589-0964, www.yogaonmain.net