On Tue, 31 Dec 2002, Tina M. Harris wrote:
> am told to expand my lower ribs (especially in the back area as opposed to
> the front) and to pull in my abdominal muscles on exhalation. I love the
> expansion part (it really lessens tension) but am not yet sold on the
> sustaining part. Am I doing it right?
I think it's more useful to think about expanding ALL THE WAY AROUND -
i.e., in all directions (think of an umbrella opening) - from the
breasts down to the navel - and also to concentrate on expanding in a way
that enables you to feel the expansion all the way down into your lower
back. No, the lower back doesn't expand - but the expansion of the lungs
combined with the stretching in the intercostals and the lowering of the
diaphragm causes displacements that can be felt in the lower back. For
even more expansion, also think about "breathing into your armpits"
As for exhalation, I think concentrating on maintaining good posture, and
on correct onset and "involvement" of the pubo-coccyxial muscle (between
the legs) will prove more productive than trying to actively use the
abdomen muscle to "support" or regulate the exhalation. It's not
that the lower abdomen isn't/shouldn't be involved - it should.
It's just that it can be somewhat misleading and even
counterproductive to focus one's attention there, because one
woman's "tuck" or "support" may be another's "squeeze", "clench",
or "tension". I like to think more about compressing outwards when I
start the sound (i.e., start the breath flow through the vocal folds),
rather than either tucking inward/upward from below, or bearing down from
above. I've also found that concentrating any conscious "tuck" or "clench"
farther down - i.e., between the legs - interestingly results in the
necessary alignment and good tension in the muscles above the pubus,
without my directly attempting to control those muscles - the result is
that I get the abdomen "support" I require, but I don't get the tension
that might result if I tried to directly "tuck" or "tense" the lower
abdomen muscle.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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