Alternative POIS Forum

It is primarily with the diaphragm that we breathe - or that at least is how our body isdesigned! If our diaphragm is mobile, then each in-breath starts with its contraction, so thatthe upward, domelike bulge flattens out. This increases the space in the chest cavity, and thelungs automatically expand into the semi-vacuum, sucking in air. As the diaphragm relaxes, itbells out upward again, firmly pushing the air out of our lungs. Muscles in the ribcage,shoulders, etc., can
stop
us breathing by being too tight, but their role in
causing
us to breatheis secondary to that of this great, powerful sheet of muscle. Really, our chest muscles justhave to get out of the way.

It is the diaphragm, therefore, which first tightens and freezes in unhappy babies, interruptingthe spontaneous natural flow of breath. Thus this segment stores the intolerable primal terrorwhich first made us cut off from our own energy; the sensation which, in a much diluted form,is familiar to most of us as 'butterflies in the tummy'.A more intense version is often referred to as a 'sinking' feeling, a 'lurch' around the stomach,as if 'the bottom is dropping out'. This is a very accurate description of sudden movement inthis boundary between our upper and lower internal world. The sinking feeling corresponds toa sense of failing
down into ourselves
- into the realm of 'gut feelings', emotions andsensations which are far less easily translatable into rational language than are those of ourhead and upper body.The more frozen the diaphragm, the more of an absolute division there will be between headand belly, between reason and instinct, between conscious and unconscious, 'heaven' and'hell'. The diaphragm is turned into a 'floor'; and if the floor starts giving way as bodywork enables the diaphragm to move again, the experience can be deeply disturbing. People withtight diaphragms very often breathe with
either
chest
or
belly, or if both move, they can bequite unsynchronised, so that the belly may even be sinking as the chest rises and vice versa(though this is nothing to do with the yoga technique of 'paradoxical breathing').
 Exercise 9
 To get a sense of what is happening in your diaphragm, you can try rapidly panting from thisarea of your body. You need to breathe firmly in and equally firmly out again, rather than putting the emphasis on either one. Be aware that your sides and back around waist levelshould expand and contract as well - imagine a wide sash around your waist, stretching allround as you breathe in. Make the breathing continuous, breathing in again as soon as the

outbreath is complete, and vice versa. You may find that a very few such breaths make you feel distinctly strange, with your head becoming dizzy and highly-charged, and perhaps aslight nausea. This will pass off as soon as you stop - which you should obviously do when you start getting uncomfortable. This is a very early stage of panic, as you not only pass morebreath-energy through your body, but also start to join up areas that you may habitually keep firmly separate.
 The diaphragm often holds murderous rage as well as fear: a blind, total anger against theearly repression that makes our breathing armour up. This anger can often be located in thesides and back of the waist segment, where the diaphragm anchors itself to bone - WilliamWest calls the side muscles here the 'spite muscles'. Lower back tension, that classic twentiethcentury problem, can often be related to a frozen diaphragm, and to conflicts between 'higher'and 'lower' needs and feelings - especially those involving the pelvis.Thus a fundamental issue with the diaphragm is one of control. Problems in this area usuallyarise out of a struggle to 'control oneself' - that central, impossible instruction which ourculture gives its children. Our nature as an organism demands spontaneity: only death ispredictable, and predictability is death. The attempt to 'get a grip on ourselves' very muchinvolves the diaphragm, one of the body's great core muscles, and seat of theinvoluntary/voluntary crossover at the centre of the breathing process. Only a few people cancontrol their heartbeat, but all of us can control our breathing. In doing so habitually, we doourselves great damage, yet the ability to be
aware
of our breath, to gently 'ride' its waves, is adeeply healing one. When the diaphragm is free and mobile, we are open to spontaneouslyarising material from 'the depths' - open to our bellythink.There is a powerful reflex relationship between diaphragm and throat, such that armouring inone will be reflected in the other, and melting in one will likewise encourage melting in theother. If you listen to a 'catch' in a person's breath, you may be able to hear how it happens inboth these places. Gagging and retching can be initiated in either the throat or the diaphragm,but they involve both. This is only one example of the elaborate system of reflex mirrorings inour body.Tension in the waist will lay us open to
all
the stress-related ailments, since it disturbs ourentire breathing pattern, with destructive effects on our metabolic processes. Morespecifically, it will tend to influence ailments like chronic nausea, ulcers (held-back frustration and rage), gall and kidney stones and, as we have mentioned, lower back pain.
Belly segment ('abdominal')
 The belly is a storehouse of unexpressed, unacknowledged feelings, images, ideas, desires andintentions - in effect a bodymind unconscious. The very word 'belly' is unspeakable to somepeople! Here are the 'gut feelings', the instinctive self, and the more we are armoured higherup the body, the more these feelings are repressed. New material is being added all the time aswe swallow down what we cannot say or do or feel.The gurgling, bubbling belly is a place of water - the waters of life. Water needs to flow, or itbecomes sour and stagnant and then this great subterranean sea turns into nothing but a hugeseptic tank. There is often much bitterness and stagnation down here in the body'sunderworld, expressed in toxicity, 'acid stomach', colitis and constipation - all of which reflectan inability to let go of waste and poison

Our belly is vulnerable: the 'soft underbelly' of our stance towards the world, insofar as we areinsecure in the world, we tend to tense up our belly muscles, creating the macho, 'go on, hitme as hard as you like', image: or the flat, sucked-in little-girl tummy which women areencouraged to strive for. This impossibly flat, anorexic tummy is quite a recent invention.Renaissance and mediaeval paintings show a much more realistic womanly mound. Similarlyin the East a relaxed rounded belly is (or was) highly valued as a sign of spiritual achievementthe ability to operate in a grounded and centred way. Many people, both men and women, findit very hard to deliberately relax their bellies.
 Exercise 10
 Take a deep in-breath, letting it fill your tummy area, so that it visibly and tangibly expandswith the breath (you may need to do a few pants with the diaphragm to loosen up first). Thenbreathe out, without pulling in your tummy. Try a few breaths like this, and see what sensations and feelings emerge. Focus on relaxing as many muscles in your lower torso as you can - including the sides and back.
You will probably discover from this how closely your belly links with the diaphragm aboveand the pelvis below: muscles will stretch, and hopefully release, in both these areas as yourbelly expands. You can expect a few gurgles as well! Particularly important are the abdominirecti, two long muscles that run down the belly from ribs to pelvis on either side of your navel- these seem to be linked by reflex with the sternocleidomastoids in the neck