Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/665755
Breath C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 85 because oftentimes the reason he is on my table (even though he doesn't often phrase the problem as such) is because he is already doing too much in his life. We don't want to make breathing into something that is another activity, another effort, another thing on that "to-do" list. Hence, we start by introducing the possibility of an effortless exhale. Leslie Kaminoff, yoga teacher and anatomy expert, says the exhale is essentially "an action of removing waste from the system." Therefore, "if we take care of the exhalation, the inhalation takes care of itself. If we get rid of the unwanted, we make room for what is needed." 8 Expanding the Breath Once I've sparked the client's awareness, we can play with that exhalation. Try this exercise with a client you like working with and who seems ready for something new. It doesn't matter what kind of massage you are doing, just allow your palms to come to rest between the spine and each scapula. Then, experiment with a visualization. Here's one I like: "As you notice your breathing, I want you to not try to change anything, not try to force anything, not try to fi x anything. Each time you exhale, I want you to just imagine that your rib cage is defl ating into the table." As she exhales, gradually lean your body weight into your palms. Your own compression enhances her own awareness and reinforces that perception of her own pliability; thus, the client can start to feel how her own effortless exhale has the capacity (with a little help from you) to be a tool of relaxation. Let the client notice her breath for a cycle or two and then continue: "As you follow your exhalation, I want you to notice where that exhalation ends. Notice how your body switches to the inhalation and begins the next breath in. Again, no need to force anything or fi x anything. Just notice. Now, on your next exhalation, see if you can lengthen that breath ever so slightly. Imagine the spine sinking a little further into the table, the body melting all the way down to empty." This suggestion will make some clients nervous. Your client might begin to allow that lengthening, and then all of a sudden you'll feel her upper back stiffen as she reverses course and pulls the next inhalation into her lungs. That is because our habits—no matter how counterproductive—are reassuring. Even if the client knows how stressed she is and wants to breathe more fully, she— like all of us—is used to her habits. The rational mind knows change is good, but our habituated body favors the familiar. Just as a muscle can spasm when we ask it to do something unusual, in the opposite way, the breath sometimes seems to spasm when we ask it not to do anything at all! Thus, it is essential that we convey no judgment as we engage our clients' breath. In the course of my visualizations, I always say, "You let your inhalation do whatever it wants to do, whenever it wants to do it." That way, they have a safety net: they know they can always revert back to their habits when they need to feel the reassurance of the familiar. In order to grow, they must feel secure; you must make it clear they are not doing anything wrong if they can't follow your suggestions right away. After all, no matter how diffi cult this work is, the client always has another chance: every exhalation is a new beginning, a new chance to try not to try. Now, as the client absorbs your suggestions, what you'll usually fi nd is that quite quickly her body feels like it is defl ating ever so slightly; literally, it seems like she is fl attening or sinking into the table. The body, of course, is not changing at all, but the pliability of that body is, because she is letting her breath empty further than she is used to, oftentimes further than she even realized was possible. If you can encourage the client to exhale fully, she is doing half of your work for you. As she begins to lengthen her exhalation, she becomes aware of DISCLAIMER As I tell the therapists in my continuing education classes, I am an expert at nothing. I am not trained in any particular breath-related school of thought, and I do not presume to know the right way to breathe. Rather, I am pretty sure there is no one right way for all of us to breathe. There are many wonderful schools of thought, developed over thousands of years, about ways to refi ne the breath; I will leave such specifi c recommendations— the proper ratio of inhalation to exhalation, or when to use the mouth and when to use the nose—to the experts. Rather than telling you (and our clients) how you should be breathing, I want to cultivate, fi rst and foremost, a more subtle awareness of how we are—and are not—currently breathing, and of what happens, in both our work and the rest of our lives, when we grow beyond our habits and let our bodies breathe as they are designed to. BRE ATH: YOUR MOST POWERFUL TOOL