Every Breath You Take
Brandi Bratek
Breathing is an automatic process. Outside of the occasional yoga class, panic, or asthma attack, rarely do any of us give any conscious thought to our breath. We also give very little thought to the physical mechanics of breathing. When I tell people that a key part of the work I do with athletes is teaching them how to breathe properly, they balk. The most common response I get is, “I’ve been breathing my whole life and I’m still alive so clearly I know what I’m doing.” So far, every single person who has said this has, in fact, been breathing inefficiently. They have breathed in a way that exacerbates anxiousness, increases neck and shoulder pain, and prevents a faster recovery from cardiovascular activity. For something that is so important to our health, our mental and physical well-being, and is integral to our staying alive, it amazes me how often people take it for granted that they are breathing properly. After 30 minutes of breathwork training with me, one 50+ year-old woman left in shock and kept saying, “I can’t believe I’ve been doing this wrong my whole life.”
How many times throughout your life you have been told to, “take a deep breath” to calm yourself down or perhaps you have instructed someone else to do this? Go in front of a mirror, stand or sit with your shirt removed take 10 “deep breaths” and watch what happens. With each breath, pay attention to:
Do your shoulders move upward on inhales and downward on exhales?
Does the area between your sternum and collar bones move upward with each inhale and downward with each exhale?
Does your belly pull inward and/or your rib cage move upward on inhales?
Are you breathing in or out through your mouth?
Do you inhale longer than you exhale or the same length as you exhale?
If you are trying to breathe to calm your brain or body and you are doing any of these things, you are actually doing the opposite. Try these steps instead in front of a mirror for a minimum of 20 breaths to start improving your breathing mechanics:
Place a hand on your belly with your thumb directly over your belly button and your fingers spread out over your lower abdomen.
Inhale slowly for at least four seconds, breathing in through your nose and expanding your belly outward pushing that hand away from your body.
Exhale slowly for five to six seconds, breathing out through your nose, and feel your belly pull inward trying to bring your belly button closer to your spine.
Keeping that hand on your belly, now place your other hand on your chest.
As you continue to push the hand on your lower abdomen outward on inhales, see if you can only move the hand on your chest outward and not upward on inhales.
Use these starter tips to help improve the quality of every conscious breath you take. If you feel like you can’t do any of these five steps or they are very challenging and/or uncomfortable, GOOD! This means you are challenging your breathing muscles that may have never been used properly before. The more you practice, the easier it will become. Take time throughout your day to breathe at least three to five high-quality inhales and exhales every hour. I get mine in when I get a red light while driving. The more you get comfortable breathing like this off-court, you can use this skill set on court when you feel nervous or anxious or need to recover after a long point more effectively.
Brandi Bratek has been working in the field of sport and performance psychology for over 20 years. She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant who works with professional, collegiate and nationally ranked junior tennis players as well as the United States Air Force. Currently she resides in Panama City, FL.
