Useful on the floor too
It’s a great idea to keep breathing while in suspension. Especially when things get difficult. When I started suspending myself, I went for the ujjayi yoga breathing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQA_VQcJLv4), which worked quite well – long controlled breaths where the supply of oxygen is slow and steady. For some reason, I forgot this when others started suspended me. Now I realize tying myself is not so different from being tied. The person tying can facilitate for me by doing a solid rope work, but it is still me, not them, who is up there. So I need to keep breathing for myself.
There are several ways of breathing in suspension that can help you getting through a rough position. How you should breath depends on what you are doing. I wouldn’t claim to be particularly skilled in this – most things about breathing I picked up from interviewing Gorgone and Gestalta – but I still want to share what I have.
– If you have troubles breathing but no troubles with the ropes, chances are that you are tensing muscles in the belly or the solar plexus area that stops you from breathing. Might be that you need to tense some muscles to be comfortable in the position, but you also need oxygen, so try to find what muscles you can actually relax.
– If you have a problem with the ropes, check in with your breathing. If you find a deep, controlled breath and your problem is still there, that is a good sign you might have to change something that is not yourself.
– Some simple ways of controlling your breath can be:
* to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth
* to count seconds while you breath and try to make each breath equally long
* to make a little pause between each inhalation and exhalation
* to visualize that you send the inhalation out into all you limbs and joints
* to try and make the stream of air entering and exiting you very even
– Depending on what position you are in, and how the ropes are restricting your breathing, think of what would be the best way of sending the air through your lungs.
*breath with your belly, let the belly out when you inhale and tuck it in when you exhale
*Breath with the front of your chest, let the chest rise when you inhale and sink when you exhale
*Breath with the sides of your chest, let your rib cage expand to the sides when you breath
*Breath with your back, try to expand your lungs in the direction of your back
– Here’s a set of breathing exercises from yoga if you want a more specific guidance to widening your breathing repertory:
http://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_breathing
– Watch out with the breath of fire ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsEZylK8sDA ) and other quick breathing patterns. Breathing pace often spontaneously increases when you are in strong pain, and it can help, but it can also make you dizzy.
SANSBLAGUE AND BERGBORG 