A Somatic Approach to Breathing: Integrating Sensory Attunement, and Muscular Activation in the Process.
Breathing is often viewed as a simple, automatic process—an activity we do thousands of times a day without thought. However, when we take a somatic approach to breathing, we open up new possibilities for enriching our breathing experience, enabling more efficient absorption, integration, and utilisation of fresh breathing behaviours. This goes far beyond controlled breathing techniques, as it involves tuning into our sensations and activating our musculature in order to awaken the full potential of our breathing patterns.
The Role of Sensory Attunement in Breathing Practices
To understand how we can refine our breath, we first need to recognise the role of sensory awareness in breathing. Much like an orchestra warming up before a performance, our bodies require tuning—sensory attunements—to the various systems involved in breathing before we dive into any specific patterns or exercises. Just as musicians finely adjust their instruments and synchronise their sense of pitch and tempo, we can bring our attention to the areas of the body that contribute to active breathing.
For instance, becoming aware of the subtle sensations in the diaphragm, ribs, and intercostal muscles is particularly important. Sensory attunement in this area also involves feeling their expansion and contraction as we inhale and exhale. This sensory feedback creates a sensory-rich environment where the body and brain can work in harmony, enabling us to refine and amplify the efficiency of our breathing.
Activating the Musculature: More Than Just Control
Breathing practices often focus on the control of the breath—the pace, depth, and rhythm—but there is another, equally important aspect: the activation and engagement of the areas of musculature that supports and facilitates this happening. Think of this as the moment when the musicians in an orchestra begin to start to play together, different areas of the orchestra begin tuning up their individual instruments – it can sound chaotic …but it is a step in the development of a greater harmony and balance. Greater activation and engagement of the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and even the muscles in the neck and shoulders can significantly influence how we breathe.
It’s in activating these muscles, that we introduce a conscious element into what is typically an unconscious process. In some ways it is also similar to how pandiculation works in resetting the brain’s sensorimotor pathways, as it helps liberate us from habitual patterns of tensions and holding that may be limiting the range of possible motion. When we learn to activate these muscles somatically, we become more aware of how our soma recognises it could breathe, not just how we are subconsciously telling it how it can breathe. This in and of itself can lead to greater freedom in our breath and help us develop new, more beneficial breathing patterns. Here’s a link to a Youtube video on Pandiculation
Breathing with a Warm-Up First: Orchestration of Body and Breath
When musicians warm up before a concert, they aren’t performing the piece itself—they are preparing their instruments and bodies for the complex nuances of the performance ahead. Similarly, in somatic breathing, the preparatory steps are just as vital as the breathing practice itself. Sensory attunement and muscle activation act as a warm-up, priming our system to engage fully with the breath.
This process might include simple practices like observing the spontaneous rhythm of our breath, or more structured exercises that encourage us to engage muscles consciously to adjust our breathing. By starting with these small, deliberate steps, we open ourselves up to the full spectrum of possibilities in our breath, much like a musician fine-tuning their instrument to explore the nuances of sound. It’s about creating the conditions for breath to flow freely, without resistance or tension, making it more effective and sustainable.
Ungluing from Pre-Set Breathing Patterns
One of the most significant advantages of taking a somatic approach is the ability to unglue from pre-set breathing patterns. Over time, we all develop habitual ways of breathing, often without realising it. These patterns may become rigid, limiting the range of motion and breath. By introducing varied breathing patterns accompanied by variations in the focus of our attention and/or the actual actions we utilise, we can create opportunities for new patterns to emerge.
For example, instead of always focusing on the depth of breath, you might shift your attention to the space between breaths or explore the sensation of breathing into different areas of the body—such as the back, sides, or pelvic floor. These subtle shifts in attention help break the mould of our habitual breathing patterns and introduce beneficial differences that can have profound effects on our overall breathing efficiency.
In this way, somatic breathing practices become more dynamic, fluid, and responsive, enabling us to move beyond any rigidity and embrace a more flexible, adaptable approach. This mirrors how an orchestra might improvise or introduce variations during a performance, allowing for creativity and responsiveness to flow. Here’s another of our blog posts that focuses on this area of Breath Flexibility
Engaging the Whole Self: Subtle Variations and Energy Flow
When we consciously adjust how we breathe through subtle variations—whether in focus, tempo, or muscle activation—we can also steer the flow of energy or prana more effectively. These small changes have the potential to engage our whole self, not just the parts of the body directly responsible for breathing.
By attuning to how energy flows through the body with each inhale and exhale, we can ensure that the entire system is working in harmony. For example, incorporating gentle spinal movements or focusing on specific sensory experiences, such as the temperature of the air entering the nostrils, can create a more immersive experience. It is much like how an orchestra not only focuses on the music but also on the emotional energy they are conveying through their performance.
Through this process, we invite the full engagement of our being into our breath practice. It becomes less about controlling the breath and more about experiencing the breath as a whole-body event. This opens the door to greater vitality, clarity, and overall alignment between body and mind, where the breath acts as a bridge connecting these aspects.
The Symphony of Breath
In the same way that musicians bring life and energy to a piece of music through careful preparation, sensory attunement, and mindful activation, we can enhance our breathing practices by embracing a somatic approach. This involves not only controlling the breath but attuning to the body’s sensory feedback and activating the musculature in a way that supports the creation of new, beneficial breathing patterns.
By ungluing from pre-set habits and introducing subtle variations in how we focus our attention and activate the body, we can cultivate different flows of energy to enrich the way we experience our whole being in each moment. In doing so, our breathing practice becomes more than a technical exercise—it becomes a symphony that connects our body, mind, and energy in an expansive harmonious development in living.
To begin tuning into sensations and activating your musculature check out our SomaBreathe Mini Series course. Click on the image to learn more.
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