This is obvious when you think about it, but I’m going to state it anyway —
Breathing is fundamental to your health, physically and mentally!
Inspiration (n.)
-the drawing of air into the lungs; inhalation
-an inspiring or animating action or influence
-a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul
When I was a practicing bodyworker and people would come in to see me, before I retired in 2020, their ribs were often on lock down. If I were to press without proper care into their ribs, they would likely flinch because of the soreness.
They were also often overwhelmed with stress. Many were holding their breath or were breathing shallowly. They tended to hunch so their shoulders rolled forward, their heads forward, their ribs folded down into their organs.
Even if they consciously tried to take a deep breath with this posture, their diaphragm could not expand fully to fill the lungs and bring much needed air to their bodies.
When you don’t breathe well, your tissues and organs don’t get what they need to do their job of repairing and cleansing properly. Your body gets stiff and sore. You get grumpy when you can’t take a full breath. You may feel anxious and panicky. You may have difficulty concentrating. Your brain knows you need to breathe!
How Zero Balancing Helped
Breathing is the one function of the body which is directly responsive to both our voluntary and autonomic nervous systems, and it is a key bridge between the conscious and the unconscious.
–Fritz Smith, MD, Founder of Zero Balancing
One area I focused on during a Zero Balancing session was the ribs, releasing tension and restoring freedom of movement. Opening this area allows the lungs to expand more fully, so that breathing is easier and movement flows better.
During a bodywork session, I worked with the palpable movement and vibrations in my clients’ living bodies, and I felt the places along ribs and spine where the life force energy that is supposed to move but was stuck, the places where the body needed help to reorganize and balance out.
Those same spots are the ones that felt sore to my clients, and that felt so good when I would press into them carefully and hold the space the body needed to re-balance.
When I held these areas with conscious intent and a skilled touch, clients without fail began to release held energy and tension. As I held these fulcrums, I watched as they often took a sudden, deep breathe, after which their breathing would become more even.
I always paid careful attention when this happened, because that is how I knew something had changed within the client, such that they had begun their own healing process.
When my clients got off my table at the end of their session, they weren’t hunching over anymore. Instead, they stood up straight and tall. They inhabited their bodies more fully. They felt lighter. They breathed more fully and easier. They often felt empowered and inspired.
Can you see how closely structure and energy are intertwined? The physical body, the breath, and the mind?