How Is Your Breathing Serving You?

The depth...

The speed…

The rate...

The location… nose, mouth, chest, diaphragm...

How are they breathing? Are they gasping for their breath or are they holding their breath... 

There are endless kinds of behaviors in our breathing!

We do a breathing behavioral analysis where we identify a dysfunctional habit... 

Which means it's not a question of how fast a person is breathing for example, it’s about how is the breathing serving them? 

Are they getting the oxygen they need, are they regulating the pH, are they breathing in a way that doesn’t disrupt muscle function in other parts of their body?

For example, are they biting every time they breathe, and is that biting triggering a headache or exacerbating a TMJ issue? Is that affecting the growth of the jaw, the health of the teeth, or is it developing orthodontic issues. 

Is it exacerbating an anxiety issue that they have? 

Is it getting in the way of their learning in class because they are over-ventilating in class and they can’t remember what the teacher is talking about. Maybe they can’t read a book because they can’t remember a thing, and when they take a test they completely black out because they can’t remember anything. 

Is the breathing dysfunctional? 

What about their breathing is dysfunctional? 

What symptoms is it responsible for? 

How is the breathing interacting with other organic considerations? 

How does it play a role in other things in life? 

Going through this kind of questioning will greatly impact behaviors that are getting in the way of optimal health and performance.

This is why breathing techniques won’t make your life better if you are not addressing the behavioral patterns that are in your own breathing habits.