NICOLA CAROLI | BLOG

I was surprised to hear that there is such a thing as a “Breathing Stool”.

In her video, bioenergetics teacher Leah Benson explains what a Breathing Stool is and how it helps with breathing.

I’ve found a great article about the thoracic diaphragm on Julee Snyder‘s blog Embodiment Etudes. Julee Snyder is a somatic body worker who applies a variety of somatic practices to Yoga. Her article is simple, yet detailed and gives some insider tips on the diaphragm.

“The thoracic diaphragm

The thoracic diaphragm is the main breathing muscle of the body.  It is a double doming structure that divides the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity.  It attaches to the lower circumference of the ribcage.  And its fibers run from out to in like the spokes of a wheel to attach to the central tendon in the middle of the body just forward of the spine. The diaphragm also has two long kite tails called crura that run along the front of the bodies of the vertebrae.  While most anatomists state that the crura go to T12, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen believes that the fibers actually go all the way down to the tip of the coccyx offering support to the front of the spine.  Her argument is that sitting in chairs allows the lower part of the muscle to atrophy among those of us in the west.  Regardless of whether the muscle goes to the tail or not, the fibers interdigitate with those of the anterior longitudinal ligament and there has been increasing research to suggest a contractile component to the function of connective tissue.  So it is not unreasonable to suggest that the contractile support of the crura of the diaphragm can be felt to support the spine all the way to the tail.

Revisiting our favourite explorations from 2020

Now that we‘re coming to the end of the year, rather than add a new exploration, let‘s revisit a breath exercise that resonated with us, that felt good, brought joy or comfort.
“Humming with a quivering jaw & smile” from August and “Smelling a rose and letting out a sigh” from October are favourites of mine, for example.

Let‘s repeat an exploration and sense how something has the same or a different effect, how we’ve changed within the repetition. What’s changed and what’s stayed the same? Let’s meet it with acceptance, let’s meet ourselves with acceptance, receiving ourselves as we are.

I wish you all a good transition into the new year. Let’s stay in touch. Let’s be breathed.

In her article “Why Breathing to Calm Down Doesn’t Work“, bioenergetics teacher Leah Benson explains why deep breathing, more often than not, isn‘t actually deep breathing – which is why it’s not calming – and what actually helps.

“Calming Breath
It’s no secret that deep breathing will calm you down when you’re stressed out. Unless, of course, you’re someone who can’t calm down when you breathe deeply.

You could take a Valium or a Xanax. But if that works for you, then you’re probably not looking around for alternate ways to calm down.

The trick for you is to learn how to make deep breathing calm you.