Health & Fitness
So how does posture affect our breathing? The raised shoulders, expanded chest, and tense upper muscles are to be seen on most patients who normally over-breathe. With habitual heavy breathing, these ancillary respiratory muscles need to be used repeatedly and they become chronically tense with over-use. We should breathe primarily with just our diaphragm, the large dome-shaped muscle under our lower ribs, and we should not normally use the upper chest for normal activity breathing. During Buteyko training, the effects of different postures on our breathing, when awake and asleep are discussed, based on Professor Buteyko’s research.