BREATHING… One of the most important things in pregnancy and postpartum recovery.

Let’s be more specific here, practicing diaphragmatic breathing will give you all the tools you need to start optimising your core and pelvic health. 

I bet you are thinking, “hey, I can breathe, how hard can it be to get right?”.  I would argue that almost 100% of untrained adults have some sort of poor breathing mechanics.

Before reading any further, do this test on yourself and note down what you see:

• Watch yourself breathing in front of the mirror

• What do you notice?

  • Are you breathing in and out of your mouth/nose?

  • Are your shoulders moving up and down?

  • Is your chest moving, your stomach moving or both?

  • Do your ribs move out to the side & back or do they not move at all?

What is diaphragmatic breathing? 

The diaphragm and the pelvic floor work together, they top & tail our ‘core’ and with every breath they are creating and regulating pressure.

When we inhale:

• The diaphragm contracts and moves down  

• Rib cage (thoracic cavity) expands as rib muscles contract

• Pressure increases the abdominal wall & pelvic floor

• The pelvic floor drops and lengthens.

When we exhale:

• The diaphragm relaxes and moves up

• Rib cage (thoracic cavity) decreases as rib muscles relax

• Pressure decreases the abdominal wall & pelvic floor

• The pelvic floor shortens and moves back into its resting position.

Our bodies are designed for 360-degree deep breathing and this type of breathing allows for full use of the diaphragm.   However, If the diaphragm is not working optimally, then neither can the pelvic floor. 

If these two things are not working well, it has a knock-on effect on the core functionality which could show itself in a whole host of ways, for example: pelvic floor issues, diastasis recti, back-pain, etc.

Where are we going wrong and why should I change it?

360 diaphragmatic breathing should be part of our daily lives. However, believe it or not, most of us having fallen into the habit of ‘chest breathing’ (shallow breathing) which does not use our full lunges and some of us are guilty of only breathing through our mouths (that’s a different topic of it’s own!).

Aside from looking at this from a pregnancy/postpartum focus, chest breathing is missing one of the key benefits of deep breathing; regulating our parasympathetic nervous system (vagus nerve) which is responsible for digestion, heart rate and immune system.

In addition to this, ‘chest breathing’ also uses the weaker & smaller muscles that live in the shoulders and neck. Which can cause pain and tension in the upper body.

Additional benefits of diaphragmatic breathing in pregnancy & postpartum:

• Tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system (as discussed above).

• Restorative for your inner core, helping with the re-alignment of your organs into their natural position.

• Helping with healing of your core & pelvic floor which can aid in common pregnancy-related injuries such as pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence and diastasis recti.

How to do this correctly? 

Ok, so hopefully we are now all in agreement on how important diaphragmatic breathing, but we still need to know how to do it.

Follow the below or watch my video on diaphragmatic breathing:

• Lie on the floor with your legs bent or sit cross-legged or kneel.

• Place your heads on your sides/ribs with fingers at front and thumbs behind.

• INHALE slowly through your nose letting your ribs expand (you should be able to feel this in your hands, think ‘breath into my hands’ and let the stomach relax).

• EXHALE slowly as if you are blowing out a candle, you should feel your ribs come back IN and DOWN toward your pelvis.

Things to note on the inhale try to relax your shoulders & neck and try not to hold tension in your pelvic floor.  These are two areas people don’t realise they usually never let relax!

When first trying this out, there is a high possibility that you might not be 100% sure you are doing it right and you’ll probably be overthinking each stage.  The good news about diaphragmatic breathing is that our bodies know exactly how to do this, they just need a little bit of reminding and practice.  Start by trying just 5 minutes a day in a calm & relaxed manner and I am sure as the days progress, it will start to feel more and more familiar as the body gets back in to sync.

Take it one step further? 

If your thoracic spine doesn’t move, how can your thoracic diaphragm move well. Stay tuned for thoracic mobility videos in my next update.