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Observe chest during breathing

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last update: 30.5.2003
Name: Observe chest during breathing

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• Contraindication
• Effects
• Preparation
• Follow-up
• derived asanas
• similar asanas
• Diagnostics
• Instructions
• details
• Variants

Instructions

1. This exploration can be carried out alone or with an observer. If it is carried out alone, it is advisable to keep the head slightly elevated for better visibility.
2. Lie in savasana.
3. Place the outstretched index finger on the sternum from above.
4. From a fully exhaled state, slowly breathe in completely.
5. Then slowly exhale completely.

details

1. In this exploration, you or the observer can see how the finger lifts and moves towards the head during inhalation, i.e. ventrally and cranially. On exhalation, the opposite happens. This represents the movement of the ribs, the arches of which line up with the vertebrae in a rotational movement in one joint and along the other, thereby increasing the three-dimensional volume of the ribcage. This process creates a negative pressure that draws air into the expandable lungs as they slide adhesively from the inside of the ribcage. The following thought experiment helps to understand the process: if the ribs could lie arbitrarily flat – which would, among other things, presuppose the absence of the heart – the three-dimensional volume would be zero; if they could be perpendicular to the spine, the three-dimensional volume would be maximised. Somewhere in between are the real states of inspiration and expiration.