To: K-list
Recieved: 2003/07/31 10:56
Subject: Re: [K-list] Re: Diaphragmology, for Richard and Amar;
From: Richard Friedel
On 2003/07/31 10:56, Richard Friedel posted thus to the K-list:
Nina Murrell-Kisner wrote:
>
>
>
> Greetings, Richard and Amar,
>
> Richard, thank you for the link to Dr. Parow's books. I scanned one, Heilung
> der Atmung, and will read both at more length later.
>
> Richard, there was one point on anatomy you made that I may be
> misunderstanding, but which did not seem to make sense. This was your mention
> of the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles acting as antagonists. I just
> can't see how this can happen.
Greetings, Nina and Amar,
Thanks a lot for your comments.
During an inhale the diaphragm pulls in the inflating direction and the
rib cage muscles do as well. They are working against each other,
imagine a toy balloon with two tubes to blow into. Two people using
them to blow into the balloon would be antagonistic in a sense.
The study by Hershenson (J. Appl. Physiol. 1988 852-862 says that this
is so. Many (Joël Carbonnel in the article you cite) says that the
antagonist of the diaphragm is the abdominal wall muscle, but if H. is
right then this will fit the facts better. He says in effect that the
two antagonists are "pneumatically" linked, via the air in the lungs and
not by reflexes.
If you do the routine with the finger in your mouth and breathe through
the gap formed around it so that the cheeks are drawn in a bit, opening
up the gap beyond a certain point will stall an inhale unless
(a) you narrow the throat a bit or
(b) start using the chest muscles.
This is all assuming that the maneuver will restrict breathing to the
diaphragmatic form. This is the result of my observations and
discussions. Maybe some people can use the abdominal wall muscle as an
antagonist.
If it was intended to act in this way, then stalling an inhale as
described would be overcome by pressing on the abdomen. It may feel
tense and get tenser , but this does not overcome the stall. Try doing a
whole series of breaths through the gap. Your should feel the lips
sort of automatically tightening toward the finger to reduce the gap on
each inspiration (a bit like snoring, in principle). If you consciously
hold your lips back, the diaphragm will miss a step, go off beat.
The point of these considerations would only to be able to tell a
student that during authentic diaphragmatic breathing she/he cannot
inhale with the gap held wide. This is borne out by some forms of
snoring: the diaphragm needs resistance during REM sleep.
> Typically, antagonist muscles span a joint. When
> one of the antagonists contract and pull the bones towards each other in one
> direction, the other muscle must release. Then, in order to return the bones to
> their original position, the contracted muscle releases and while its
> antagonist contracts.
>
> So, when it comes to the suggestion that the diaphragm acts as an antagonist to
> the intercostal muscles, I don't follow your thought at all. The intercostal
> muscles seem to be antagonists to opposing intercostal muscles, so that one can
> bend & twist the ribcage. When I breathe, at no time do I contract my
> intercostal muscles to expel air, rather, I may draw my navel towards my spine
> (or: relax it towards my spine). The antagonist muscles of the diaphragm are
> the abdominal muscles.
>
> Despite claiming to have eschewed physics, Dr. Parow's work does seem rather
> mechanistic in how it relies so heavily on the muskuloskeletal system to
> rectify perceived problems in breathing. His methods, as you describe them, are
> based on power, levers, (bellows), and suction. The breath is seen as 'what is
> left over', what is 'controlled'.
He claimed to have made a breakthrough in respiratory mechanics in that
he was directly measuring, that is to say functionally measuring,
breathing as opposed to doing spirometry which tends to be like
"treating a fever curve" rather than a real person.
>
> The approach is heavily goal-laden. While one may argue that setting a goal is
> the first step to achieving a goal, one may also point out that without a deep
> sense of self-awareness, the self-diagnosis, and thus goal and rectifying
> practice may be entirely off-base.
Yes, but he did spend some time on considering what the essence of
"Normal Breathing" was.
> Here is an excellent article, and a very concise warning, of what one can gain
> from 'breathing exercises' which strengthen (and thus shorten) the diaphragm:
>
> http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/joel48.htm
His statements here are based on the abdominal wall muscles (original
latin meaning of muscles being "little mice") being the antagonists of
the diaphragm.
>
> My experience is that is better to treat tightness in the body which limits
> breathing, and, if you feel like doing some exercise with the breath, lie down
> and do nothing but watch the breath; open to the inherent workings of the
> breath.
>
> Lastly, it is curious how pranayama has come to mean "breath control", when it
> might better be described as "breath partnering". Pranayama is when the mind
> yields to the breath.
I guess this is all fine stuff. The main point is to get clear of
"pulmonology" and IMHO back to the roots of pranayama.
A Chinaman with a western doc. med. found the finger and lips method a
genuine shortcut to Chinese tantien breathing, getting a feeling that
the diaphragm was moving down to the tantien, said to be a few cms.
below the navel. A Korean Teakwundo instructor said about the same and
I give him handouts for his pupils. He observed, along with many
others, that westerners simply breathe differently.
Richard
> Amar, your practice has revealed the space in between the exhale and inhale,
> and though this space may grow longer in perception, it never fails that an
> inhale follows. Isn't that curious, and a great revelation in itself? :)
>
> Nina
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