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you should live your life |
Intermittent breaks and rests can help you disrupt long periods of unnecessary rigidity |
Naps can work wonders in this regard During sleep and especially during REM sleep changes |
occur in brain signaling that cause vastly reduced muscle tone known as atonia This is one |
reason why short to minute naps can be so invigorating Short naps can also restore |
alertness mental performance and learning ability As you nap you are even giving your heart |
a brief rest which may be why naps have been associated with reduced coronary mortality |
Just remember that naps of minutes or more often lead to sleep inertia impaired alertness |
and tiredness When you feel depleted after the gym after an upsetting episode or whenever |
you start to feel stiff and sore set your phones timer for minutes and allow yourself a |
recuperative power nap Even if you dont fall asleep just giving yourself a few minutes to lay |
down during the day provides a reprieve that can be highly beneficial in the long term |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Why dont we allow ourselves the microbreaks that our bodies call for Often it is due to |
social pressures Propriety and intimidation related to the status hierarchy cause us to brace |
then feel guilty about relaxing Chronic submissive signaling disallows you from claiming the |
microbreaks that your muscles need When at a dinner date or in a board room we dont give |
our neurotic holding patterns a single second of downtime Wellcomposed people give various |
muscles involved in social displays microbreaks In fact we can conceptualize composure as skill |
in microbreaking Of course even our breathing muscles require microbreaks |
Unbrace Your Exhalation with the Passive Exhale |
Diaphragmatic bracing is the central feature of distressed breathing and a core symptom of |
trauma Remember Activity in which you held your hand like a claw and kept it tight as you |
opened and closed it This is exactly what you are doing with your diaphragm when stressed |
This kind of bracing could be an excellent exercise for the diaphragm if it only lasted for |
seconds at a time but we tend to do it for hours or days at a time Continuously overtensing |
the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles reduces their strength and range of motion |
resulting in rapid shallow breathing |
The inbreath requires muscular contraction but the outbreath does not It is not necessary |
to do any muscular work during exhalation The positive pressure of air in your lungs is enough |
to create the force This effortless return of the diaphragm to its resting position is called elastic |
recoil The air naturally wants to be pressed out of your lungs as it would from a deflating |
balloon Unfortunately most of us keep our breathing muscles tense during exhalation and this |
ensnares us in a state of fight or flight Stopping this requires awareness and practice To |
perform a passive exhalation all you need to do is let your breathing go limp while you are |
exhaling After a minute or two of practicing this you should actually be able to feel the |
diaphragm simmer down |
Relaxation Exercise Unbracing the Diaphragm While Exhaling |
Perform paced breathing for five minutes Take full inhalations and when you start each |
exhalation let go of the diaphragm completely Every exhalation should be a completely |
passive form of freefall throughout which all the breathing musculature is relaxed Imagine |
the leisurely descent of a parachute You are not doing any work at all and it should proceed |
at its own pace The air should be oozing out of your nostrils on its own Once you practice |
this for five minutes you should be able to tell that you were holding your diaphragm like a |
tense claw during your exhalation before Allowing the diaphragm to go limp during the |
exhale is extremely important for its health because just like all muscles it needs periods of |
inactivity to regenerate Because you never stop breathing its only chance for such a |
microbreak is during the exhalation |
Imagine that for some reason you are responsible for driving a car up and down a low |
grade hill over and over again For a while you keep the engine on during the descent but |
since the descent lasts for a few minutes you realize that you can turn the engine off put the |
car into neutral and just let it coast without having to touch the brake the accelerator or the |
Chapter Recognize Muscular Tension Dormancy |
wheel This is what a passive exhalation should feel like After you finish your inhale just take |
the keys out of the ignition |
Your inhalation is also braced it is just much harder to notice An inhalation requires the |
contraction of the diaphragm down into the gut to create the vacuum that draws air into the |
lungs But this contraction is often braced beyond what is necessary like the opening of a |
tightly clenched hand This bracing impedes belly breathing and pulls the air into your upper |
chest If you can interrupt it during an inhalation you will feel your belly coming uncoupled |
from the bottom of your rib cage The passive exhale will help you with this uncoupling As you |
learn to sense your diaphragmatic tension during the exhale you can teach yourself how to |
lessen the unnecessary tension occurring during the inhale Once you have done this your |
breathing will become much more efficient and less labored |
It is worth mentioning that aside from bracing the inhale during the exhale many of us also |
brace the exhale during the inhale This is when we keep the thoracic muscles responsible for |
exhalation clenched while breathing in This is also completely unnecessary Spend some time |
trying to notice these effects in your own breathing |
After performing the passive exhalation for a few days a sense of irritation in your chest |
will dissipate When this discomfort and inflammation is totally gone you will feel a profound |
sense of relief The passive exhalation is so important that consider it the fifth tenet of optimal |
breathing Expect it to increase the benefits you get from paced breathing The passive exhale is |
such a fundamental routine that it is actually a reflexive response that all mammals use after a |
stressor has come and gone Can you guess what it is |
Once a stressful episode has resolved all species of mammal exhibit deep spontaneous |
breaths They inhale very deeply so that they can then exhale passively to reset and restore |
equilibrium in their autonomic nervous system We know this as sighing Even mice sigh and |
believe that like us they do it to provide the diaphragm with a microbreak However if you |
provide your diaphragm with a microbreak during every exhalation you wont feel the need to |
sigh anymore The trick is to learn to exhale limply even after a shallow inhalation Sighing is |
very frequent in people diagnosed with panic disorders used to sigh constantly but after |
diaphragmatic retraining rarely catch myself doing it anymore Master the passive exhalation |
because it is highly detraumatizing |
Persistent Muscle Tension Creates Trigger Points |
Excessive muscle tension and the absence of microbreaks eventually produce knots that can |
be felt under your skin They occur all over the body They are often palpable raised nodules |
tender to the touch producing a dull aching pain when pressed firmly In the medical |
literature these knots are referred to as trigger points trigger sites or spasms and they cause |
reductions in muscle mass flexibility strength and endurance They are hyperirritated spots |
in taut bands of skeletal muscle fibers created by chronic muscle overload They usually involve |
a local contraction in a small number of muscle fibers within a larger muscle bundle |
Many scientists refer to these knots as myofascial trigger points The myo is derived |
from the Greek word for muscle while fascial refers to the tough outer lining that keeps |
muscles in place fascia is a type of connective tissue that forms a continuous scaffold around |
all the muscles and tendons in the body Myofascial trigger points are small patches of muscle |
and fascia that pull together in an isolated spasm They are different from wholemuscle |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
spasms like a charley horse or cramp which are more transient have a sudden onset and |
involve hard contraction of the entire muscle Although they can contribute to cramping trigger |
points are different in that they are longlasting have a gradual onset and involve partial |
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