I've read a little bit about this. Which area is the belly? Is it the lower abdomen, below your belly button, or is it the upper abdomen above your belly button... or is it closer to your stomach?
Also, when lungs expand, and the lungs are more in your upper chest, how does expanding your diaphragm (which is lower) or expanding your belly, indicate that you're doing belly breathing -- when your lungs are mostly in your upper chest?
Did I fail Anatomy 101?
When I belly breathe - as I'm doing now to clear ectopics - as I inhale I push down so expanding the abdomen more than normal. My lungs also expand enough but the main concentration is in the belly. Exhale normally.
You need to pull down the diaphragm by expanding your abdomen to breath in and when you exhale try to make your tummy button meat your spine by sucking it right in.
Your diaphragm is attached to your lungs so that when you move it up and down you suck in or blow air into or out of them, Most people use the shoulders which is not so efficient.
Never heard of or use the term belly breathing but do talk about diaphragmic breathing.
I use this extensively to lower my pulse. You're right Bob that by working the diaphragm/stomach down and up expands and deflates the lungs (air does not enter the belly though). The idea is to properly use the WHOLE of the lung capacity.
With each breath my belly rises (like slightly straining on the toilet) and falls (like the stomach is almost touching the spine). Doing this slowly, I guess prevents hyperventilating but is definitely slows heart rate.
One small bonus is that those organs in below the diaphragm also get a gentle massage, or so our yoga teacher claims.
A great book on belly breathing, Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. I do belly breathing awareness as much as possible and probably helped me to go back to sleep and to convert back to sinus during my last afib night short episodes.
Thank you all for the helpful information!
Think of a balloon in your tummy, breath in and fill it, breath out and empty it. You can lie with a box of tissues on your tummy, pull one tissue out so that you can see it from your well propped head, breath in and make tissues rise, breath out and make them drop. I am a physio and teach diaphragmatic (belly) breathing.
You may find our A F Association 'Mindfulness and Healthy Living' patient booklet helpful in providing advice on relaxation heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
If you still want a definition, think of the belly as anywhere in the trunk below the bottom edge of you ribs. The navel would be somewhere near the middle of that.
The diaphragm is somewhere down there, I think the lungs stop just below the bottom edge of the ribs and the lungs reach down to the diaphragm, as BobD said. The stomach is actually quite a lot higher than most people think it is.
Belly breathing is wonderful but a word of caution.... Do not force it and hold your breath, that sent me into sustained Vtack and syncope... I really understood belly breathing when I read "the Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Han. He writes"don't make too much of an effort,if you feel at all tired while practicing,stop at once. But even if you do not feel tired,don't prolong the practice of long,equal breaths beyond short period of times-10 to 20 breaths are enough. Your breath should be even and quiet." Nhat is a bouddist monk who healed himself from being extremely ill with breathing awareness. He is now 96 years old. All throughout the day we should be aware of our belly breathing without forcing anything. That takes our mind away from thinking and negativity...
Your diaphram is maintained by ligaments. Its job is to lift the ribs. It can only descend if you collapse your neck -- the neck should legthen on inhalation to draw the dome of the diaphragm upwards so that it may lift the ribs -- as you suggested. There is a diagram here that clarifies this:
***link removed***
Thank you so much!!!!! ❤️
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