The Common Fallacy of Breath Training

By Bill Olson

    As a young performer I was taught the importance of my breath.  This was necessary because as a child running around I had developed the very common habit of heaving in a chest breath when I needed more air.  In order to make the best use of my breath, I was told instead to, “Breathe from the diaphragm.”  I was even given a specific exercises to encourage this.  I was told to lay on the floor, put a book on my belly, and make sure that it moved with my breath.  Or to place my hands on my belly and make sure that they moved when I breathed.

    But as with most strategies meant to address a specific issue, this is flawed.  It does not address the core problem.  And as well meaning as the instruction “Breathe from the diaphragm” might be, it does not supply the answer either.  After all, if we are breathing at all we are using the diaphragm.

    The difficulty lies in the fact that the movement of the abdomen as one breathes is not dependent on the movement of the diaphragm.  In fact, it is possible to move the abdomen the wrong direction when breathing, with the belly expanding on the exhalation and contracting on the inhalation.  The instruction to “Move your belly” as you breathe reverses the cause and effect relationship between between the diaphragm and the abdomen.  The movement of the abdomen does not cause the movement of the diaphragm.  The free movement of the diaphragm causes the abdomen to expand, but as a secondary side effect of free breathing.

    Linking proper breath technique to the mobility of the abdomen does not guarantee free movement of the diaphragm.  Instead it can become a different way to limit its movement.  As I mentioned earlier, this idea of breathing from the belly is often presented as way to circumvent chest breathing.  The real problem with chest breathing isn’t the movement of the chest, but the misconception that the movement of the chest is more important than the free movement of the diaphragm.  This means that in a chest breath, most often the chest moves and the abdomen is fixed.  By encouraging the belly to move, the opposite is likely to occur.  The belly moves and the chest is fixed.  Neither situation is conducive to free breathing and healthy breath support.

    Free movement of the diaphragm is possible when the surrounding muscles release, eliminating any obstacle to the diaphragm doing what it is meant to do.  This means not only the muscles of the abdomen, but the intercostal muscles of the ribcage, and the muscles of the upper and lower back.  The freedom of these muscles is in turn dependent on the freedom of the muscles of the shoulders and the neck, and the freedom of the hips and groin.  And here we have arrived once again at the need to allow the freedom to lengthen and widen, at which point the right thing does itself. 

        March, 2018