Breathing Exercises Explained

Ok, you ask for these so here they are. Hope they help in some way. Use them as you will, if you don't then never mind, but I was requested to write these down and if one person uses them, then I will be happy. yup yup. Have fun!

Oh yeah, thats the point! Enjoy them. Don't make them a struggle or a chore (i have to do them for 3 hours a day, so I know they can get a little tedious!! )

BREATHING EXERCISES (Simple)
Most of these are used for trainning the voice, but work on the basis of strengthening your 5 points of 'spring':

a) pelvic floor muscle
b) diaphragm
c) Omohyoid muscle (runs from right to left shoulder across front of chest)
d) larynx
e) tongue

all 5 together need to work in conjunction efficiently if you are to achieve maximum lung capacity blah blah blah (hate explaining all this scientific stuff. Dibs is no scientist!! But I guess it's necessary.. .sorry) Basically it means you should be able to produce fucking huge flames when fire breathing AND means you can swin under water for ages too! Bonus!

Simple Cardiovascular warmups to centre breath:
1) Skipping - with a rope if you can. Whislt skipping say stuff. Anything! I often say song lyrics, and basically try and tire yourself out. You can say nursery rhymes you can randomly spout shit if you like, just make sure it's continuous. The aim is to get blood flowing, and the jumping up and down lowers your breath to your abdomen (which is where you want it to be). This should take about 3-4 minutes to begin with.
2) If you have no skipping rope, then jump . Simple as. Not particularly high. Just a lot. Whilst jumping, say something too.

if you don't want to sound like a freak, and like youre slowly going mad and beginning to talk to yourself....... just release air. But voice it. say 'ahhhh' and with jumping it will become 'ahhhhyahhhhhyahhhhhy' blah blah blah

Always make sure you do something energetic before doing the next stretches, as you MUST warm up the muscles in your body first, or you will hurt yourself. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE RUN LOTS, OR JUMP, OR SKIP but make sure it gets your heart rate up (no sex though guys ok???? )

DIRECTLY AFTER YOU'VE KNACKERED YOURSELF OUT:
Lie on the floor, on your back. Allow yourself to recover. Do not try to control the breathing, just breathe as your body naturally wants to. This is obviously quickly! Eventually it will slow down. (How long it takes you to recover, determines how fit you are btw. So if you're lead on the floor for 20 minutes....get on the treadmill man!!! LOL)

Stretches to open intercostal muscles
(this alllows your ribcage to move upwards and outwards to it's full extent)

All breathing in these stretches is 'in thu nose, out thru mouth' unless it says otherwise.

Still lying on the floor........

1)Bring both of your knees up to your chest. Hug them! Take in a deep breath, and then release it in the following sounds (one at a time. take new breath inbetween each 1):
ffffffffffffffffffff
sssssssssssssssssss
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
chhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
.....then fall to your right side (legs still curled up) and repeat. Then move back to centre, and fall to left. Repeat there too.

2)Following on from the above, once finished, pull yourself over from the side onto your front (legs still curled up) so you are resting on your thighs. You may have to open your legs slightly in order to get your forehead on the floor - esp if you have boobs! this is called 'THE CHILD' (Yoga position) just let your hands rest down by your sides comfortably.
Lie here for a while (careful tho as I always fall asleep like that ) and allow yourself to breathe naturally. Try to breathe from your stomache, not just your chest. Your shoulders should not be rising too much. It should be your tummy that moves.
This will open out the lower ribcage, and back, and increase the size of your resonating cavities.

STAND UP VERY SLOWLY AFTER THIS!! OR YOU WILL GO DIZZY AND POSSIBLE FAINT. GET UP S.L.O.W.L.Y!!

Once standing....

anyone bored yet? .....I am!

1) BEAR HUG = hug your own shoulders by crossing your arms and placing your hands on opposing shoulder blades. Breathe in thru nose out thru mouth, and feel the upper back opening (your hands should move, and you will feel yourself opening)
Remain upright for about 1 minute.
Then, stay with arms in that position, but bend the knees slightly, and lean forward (as if you were trying to touch your toes...but without the hands!) hang there for a while. Breathing (don't forget to breathe). hold for 30 secs - 1 min. Then drop your arms down, and hang again. Then VERY SLOWLY (or else you will faint) curly up trough your spine to a standing position. SLOWLY CURL UP. Repeat whole thing twice.

erm.....

2)RIB OPENER = stand feet hip width apart, feet facing forward. Body straight. Extend right arm above head. Place left hand on right rib cage, and gently lean over to the left. Do not sink into your hips. Rather than thinking about going 'OVER' try to think 'UPWARDS AND OVER' instead. Think about breathing into your left hand. This will really stretch out the intercostals. If it hurts LOTS, do not lean as far. It doesn't need to hurt. Hold for 30 secs, move back to centre, release arm and repeat on right side. Repeat whole thing twice on each side.

3) PISTON = stand feet hip width aprt, feet facing forwards. Again, go down as if to touch your toes. From here, you bend and stretch your knees (make sure at this point that your neck is relaxed, or it will strain your back) on the way down (bending your knees) u breathe IN as you stretch out your legs you breath OUT . This will feel weird, but I guess thats the point! The whole time you do this, you must try and keep your fingers on the floor. If you can't touch your toes with your legs together, then open them out until you can.
Move (like a PISTON ) Up and down, for about 1 minute. Your breathing should be deep, and you should feel it very low in your tummy.

blah blah....

THESE EXERCISES SHOULD BE DONE EVERYDAY - BUT IF YOU CAN'T THEN DO THEM AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE - AND ONLY ACTUALLY TAKE ABOUT 10 MINUTES (or less!) THESE ARE THE BASIC BREATHING EXERCISES. YOU SHOULD FEEL A DIFFERENCE AFTER DOING THEM. LET ME KNOW IF U DON'T.

I'll post some more advanced stuff, like the Chiqong/Thai Chi stuff later. But for now, Dibs needs a rest. hehe. Hope they help anyone who uses them before fire breathing, and anyone else who just chooses to do them. God knows why you would tho!! J/k

[ 04 July 2002, 22:38: Message edited by: dibs_star ]

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