Month: November 2020

GM Sam Chin likes to say, “If it’s a circle, it has a center. If it has a center, it has four quarters.”

We tend to think of breathing as a two-part process: inhale and exhale. But during my own breathwork a year or so ago, I began to see a fuller cycle—one with four quarters.

Each inhale and exhale has an active and a passive component, separated by a point of equilibrium.

At the end of a relaxed exhale, pressure inside the lungs equals atmospheric pressure. Airflow stops momentarily. This is the neutral point.[teachmephysiology]

From neutral, inhalation is active. The diaphragm contracts and descends; the rib cage expands through the action of the external intercostals and other inspiratory muscles. This increases thoracic volume, drops pressure inside the lungs below atmospheric pressure, and air flows in.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih][pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih]

At the top of a full inhale, you can let go. Elastic recoil in the lungs and chest wall brings the system back toward its resting position, and air leaves without a deliberate muscular push. That is passive exhalation—the normal pattern of quiet breathing.[link.springer][open]

But if you continue beyond the ordinary resting exhale, exhalation becomes active. The abdominal wall contracts, the diaphragm is driven upward, and the internal intercostals help pull the rib cage inward. You are actively reducing thoracic volume and expelling air from your expiratory reserve.[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih][open]

At the bottom of that active exhale, you cannot empty the lungs completely—some residual volume always remains. But when you relax after a strong exhale, the chest wall’s elastic recoil helps air return toward the normal resting level. That is the passive phase of the inhale.

So the cycle has four quarters:

1. Active inhale: expanding from neutral toward a fuller breath.
2. Passive exhale: relaxing from the top of the breath back toward neutral.
3. Active exhale: compressing below neutral toward your available expiratory reserve.
4. Passive inhale: releasing from that compression back toward neutral.

Why train all four?

Most people spend much of the day near their resting breathing volume: small, quiet breaths around neutral. That is normal and efficient at rest. The problem comes when “normal” becomes the only range you use.

The rib cage is not a rigid box. It is a moving structure of ribs, cartilage, spine, intercostal muscles, diaphragm, and abdominal wall. Aging is associated with stiffening of the thoracic cage and reduced chest-wall compliance, which increases the work required to breathe. Regularly using a comfortable, fuller range of inhalation and exhalation is not a guarantee against those changes, but it gives you a reason to preserve movement where movement is available.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih][pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih]

The larger issue: reserve

The important quality is not that you take huge breaths all day. It is that you retain access to respiratory reserve when demand rises.

During exertion, coughing, speaking under stress, fighting, climbing stairs, recovering from illness, or dealing with a respiratory infection, quiet breathing is not enough. You need the ability to expand the rib cage, recruit inspiratory muscles, generate an effective exhale, and clear the airways.

Respiratory muscle strength declines with age, and weaker respiratory muscles can compromise cough effectiveness and airway clearance. Meanwhile, age-related enlargement of airspaces and earlier closure of smaller airways contribute to increased dead-space ventilation and less efficient gas exchange.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih][pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih][eacpr]

That reserve matters. It is the difference between having only enough breathing capacity for sitting quietly and having something left when life asks more of you—whether that is a hard round, a steep hill, or, as I like to say, fighting off a bear. Or pneumonia.

FEV₁ is not a complete measure of health, but it is an important marker. In a large international cohort of 126,359 adults, lower FEV₁ was associated with progressively greater risks of mortality, cardiovascular events, and respiratory hospitalization. That relationship was seen even with relatively mild impairment, not only in people with advanced lung disease.[thelancet]

Can breath training help?

Breathwork is not magic, and it cannot reverse every structural change associated with aging. The evidence is stronger for improving breathing-muscle strength, breath control, chest mobility, and tolerance of effort than for claiming that ordinary breathwork alone will dramatically restore all measures of lung function in every healthy older adult.

Still, respiratory muscles can be trained. Clinical research on respiratory-muscle training shows meaningful improvements in maximal inspiratory pressure in some populations, though changes in FEV₁ and other spirometry measures are often smaller or inconsistent. That is reason enough to begin: you are training usable capacity, coordination, awareness, and access to range—not chasing a single number.[pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih]

If you are over 50 and haven’t been doing breathwork your whole life, you don’t need to throw in the towel.

Start today. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Here’s what to do

• Become more aware of your breathing throughout the day. Notice whether you ever explore all four quarters, rather than living only in small breaths near neutral.
• Include occasional comfortable maximum inhales and maximum exhales in dedicated practice. Do not force, strain, or turn blue in the face. The goal is controlled range, not suffering.
• Reach both hands overhead. Inhale toward your comfortable maximum and allow the ribs to widen in all directions—front, sides, back, and up—like the hood of a cobra.
• Then make fists, pull the arms down alongside the body, and exhale firmly. Feel the ribs narrow and the waist draw inward as the abdominal wall participates in the exhale.
• Repeat for 5–10 controlled cycles. If you become dizzy, light-headed, anxious, or uncomfortable, stop and return to easy nasal breathing.
• If you train a martial art such as I Liq Chuan, pay attention to fajin. A coordinated emission already asks you to organize an active exhale. Used well, it can be one more way to practice forceful expiration—without separating breath training from the rest of your art.

If you have COPD, asthma that is not well controlled, heart disease, a recent respiratory infection, unexplained shortness of breath, chest pain, or dizziness, speak with a qualified clinician before adding strong breath holds or aggressive maximal breathing drills.

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