The Diaphragm: A Structural Muscle

The Back and Its Response to Breath

Let's explore the back and its response to breath.

Lying in semi-supine, with the knees comfortably bent and the feet resting on the floor, allow the breath to come and go. There is nothing to achieve, nothing to correct, and nothing to make happen.

If we wait quietly, a subtle movement begins to reveal itself.

As the breath comes in – in inhalation, the lower back lifts lightly.

As the breath goes out – in inhalation,  it settles again finding the floor.

The movement is tiny.

So small that it's easy to miss.

Yet once we notice it, a natural question arises.

Why does the back, mainly the lamber, respond to the breath?

Part of the answer lies in the diaphragm.

We usually think of the diaphragm simply as the muscle of breathing. But it is much more beautifully integrated than that. Around its edges it attaches to the lower ribs and breastbone, and through two tendinous structures—the crura—it connects into the upper lumbar spine.

The diaphragm isn't simply a bellows drawing air into the lungs.

It is part of the body's living architecture.

Every breath is therefore a response of the whole system. As the diaphragm descends, the abdominal wall responds. The ribs respond. The back responds. Everything is in relationship.

Perhaps this is why, when people come to see me because they're finding breathing difficult, or because they want greater freedom for singing, speaking or teaching, I rarely begin with breathing itself.

Instead, we explore how the whole system is responding.

Can the back participate more freely in the movement of breathing?

Can the neck let go of unnecessary effort?

Can the whole body become a little more available to itself?

Again and again, I've found that when the body regains its natural responsiveness, the breath quietly changes with it.

Not because we've taught the breath what to do, but because we've allowed the whole system to function more freely.

Observing the movement of the diaphragm,

reminds us that breathing is never an isolated event.

It reflects the way the whole of us is functioning.

Perhaps that's why I rarely begin by teaching breathing.

Instead, we explore the conditions that allow the breath to look after itself.

Sometimes the clearest place to discover that isn't in the chest at all.

It's in the quiet rising and settling of the lower back.