Inhaling, Exhaling & your Diaphragm  Breathing In (Inhalation) When you breathe in, or inhale, your diaphragm contracts (tightens) and moves downward. This increases the space in your chest cavity, into which your lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also help enlarge the chest cavity. They contract to pull your rib cage both upward and outward when you inhale. As your lungs expand, air is sucked in through your nose or mouth.  The air travels down your windpipe and into your lungs. After passing through your bronchial tubes, the air finally reaches and enters the alveoli (air sacs).  What does your body do when you breathe? Through the very thin walls of the alveoli, oxygen from the air passes to the surrounding capillaries (blood vessels). A red blood cell protein called hemoglobin (HEE-muh-glow-bin) helps move oxygen from the air sacs to the blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide moves from the capillaries into the air sacs. The gas has traveled in the bloodstream from the right side of the heart through the pulmonary artery.  Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs is carried through a network of capillaries to the pulmonary vein. This vein delivers the oxygen-rich blood to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart pumps the blood to the rest of the body. There, the oxygen in the blood moves from blood vessels into surrounding tissues.  Breathing Out (Exhalation) When you breathe out, or exhale, your diaphragm relaxes and moves upward into the chest cavity. The intercostal muscles between the ribs also relax to reduce the space in the chest cavity.  As the space in the chest cavity gets smaller, air rich in carbon dioxide is forced out of your lungs and windpipe, and then out of your nose or mouth.  Breathing out requires no effort from your body. Your abdominal muscles contract and push your diaphragm against your lungs. This rapidly pushes air out of your lungs.  I'd like you to just sink in with this for a moment. Look at everything that is happening, each component has it's job and they all know what to do without you. You have never had to control your ribs to expand or let go, you never had to inform your diaphragm to contract or relax... nothing of the sort.  So what is breathing? What happens when the body inhales and exhales? and what affects it?  Let's answer the first question, the body requires oxygen and it knows it needs it to create energy. The body inhales on its own and it exhales on it own. It brings in the oxygen and it lets out the carbon dioxide. It does this all alone. You are not needed.  But let's look at the second question: what is affecting the body's normal routine? Anything you believe you are experiencing! When you focus on thoughts, it affects your breathing. Anything you believe you are experiencing will affect the natural order of your body. That is why the more focused you are in your mind the more the body is being bashed around and it loses it's natural rhythm.  Perfect breathing happens when you are not interrupting it with your thoughts. Only what you are focused on will limit it, will create an obstacle and it will change it's rhythm.  The body has a wisdom that no mind can ever reach. This wisdom is beyond mind, just look at what it does. No mind could control this with such precision.  You are the "allowing factor" and when you place your focus and intention on allowing the wisdom of your body to do what it knows how to do best, you are now empowered, energetic, clear minded, calm and confident.  Your mind can never offer you any of these benefits. Why we insist on spending so much time in our minds, is beyond me.  

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