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Aula 02

The document discusses vital capacity and how to increase lung volume through breathing exercises. It explains that vital capacity is maximum lung air volume and is important for health. Various breathing techniques are described to help expand the lungs, including slow breathing, deep inhales, and breath holding. Home practice instructions provide guidance on performing the different breathing exercises daily.

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Bruno Souza de Albuquerque
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27 views2 pages

Aula 02

The document discusses vital capacity and how to increase lung volume through breathing exercises. It explains that vital capacity is maximum lung air volume and is important for health. Various breathing techniques are described to help expand the lungs, including slow breathing, deep inhales, and breath holding. Home practice instructions provide guidance on performing the different breathing exercises daily.

Uploaded by

Bruno Souza de Albuquerque
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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-vital capacity is the maximum volume of air our lungs can contain.

It is an
indicator of health and longevity.

-to reach our maximum lung volume we need to use upper respiratory muscles
such as the intercostal muscles or pectorals on top of using the diaphragm.

-vital capacity is increased and/or maintained through a vigorous exercise that


makes us breathe harder (running, swimming, biking, any intense physical
activity) but also playing wind instruments, singing loud, or breath-holding, in
short anything that makes us expand our rib cage beyond the regular day to
day activity. Reaching maximum lung volume requires both strength in the
inhalation muscles involved, as well as flexibility in the tissues of the rib cage
and surrounding it.

-breath-holding on full lungs after a maximum inspiratory effort (inhaling a


volume of air as big as one can) maintains the high level of intra-pulmonary
pressure created by a maximum inhale for as long as the breath is held. This is
a form of long static stretch that helps increase lung volume over time.

-the number of alveoli in our lungs doesn't increase, however by expanding our
rib cage we can increase the total alveolar area (the internal surface of our
lungs that's in contact with the air we inhale), and therefore we can absorb
more oxygen and faster and exhale more carbon dioxide and faster if or when
needed.

-cellular respiration doesn't improve only through breathing slowly and/or


breath-holding but also through movement activity, both at low and high
intensity. The health of your cellular respiration is tightly linked to your
baseline metabolism, cardio-vascular system, energy systems, and
mitochondria. Being frequently physically active, spending time outdoors, and
living healthily all participate in optimizing cellular respiration AND ventilation
(your breathing pattern).

HOME PRACTICE

Each exercise below is to be done daily in one or two sessions. They can also
be done at any time of the day, several times a day, whenever possible.

#1
Slow, nasal, diaphragmatic breathing: slow down your breathing as much as
you possibly can in a way that you can sustain for 10 minutes. This could be
anywhere between 3 and 12 breathing cycles per minute, for 10 minutes.
Feel free to slightly exhale deeper than a natural exhale, and to inhale slightly
more than through the diaphragm only (which means using your upper
respiratory muscles once the diaphragm cannot inhale any further).

#2
Maximum inhales. At the end of a natural exhale, or after a slightly forced
exhale (exhaling a little more than what you would naturally do), reach full
diaphragmatic amplitude first (the "belly" pushes forward all the way to its end
range) then use your upper respiratory muscles to inhale as much air as
possible through the nose. Once you cannot inhale more through the nose,
open your mouth and forcefully inhale 3 times more through the mouth until
you feel absolutely full.
Then hold your breath for a few seconds, up to 20 seconds if that feels
comfortable enough.
While holding, relax all your muscles (except those that keep you in position if
you're not lying down). Then transfer some of the tension from the glottis to
your soft palate. That means that you are preventing the air from being blown
out (remember that you have reached the highest level of intra-thoracic
pressure and that pressure wants to push the air out of the lungs) not by
squeezing your throat but by closing your soft palate.
To help with the transition, pinch your nose first with your fingers. Now imagine
that you would let the air go out through your nose, except it doesn't go out
because you're still pinching your nose. Now make sure to close your soft
palate and let go. of your nose pinching without reverting to adding a lot more
tension in your glottis (throat area). Breathe and relax, then repeat a few
times.

#3
Once you're doing better at keeping the tension in your throat to a minimum
while holding your breath on full lungs, start doing short, timeless breath holds.
Hold your breath at the end of a full lungs inhalation. Scan for points of tension
in your body and release any unnecessary tension. Exhale soon after you feel
that you have been able to ease your body and mind into accepting the tension
caused by the intra-thoracic pressure. Do not push, feel absolutely free to
resume breathing at any point you feel like it. This is a learning, exploratory
phase. If the tension is also in your mind, relax your mind, focus on trust,
patience, and peace. Start to self-regulate the body and mind at the same
time. Breathe and relax, then repeat a few times.

You will practice these exercises with Erwan during session 3, along with
meditation exercises Erwan has designed especially for BreathHoldWork
practice.

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