Breathing matters, but not in the way you might expect. This isn’t about oxygen exchange—you’ve got that part covered. The point here is how you breathe and how a faulty pattern can affect your core, posture, and performance.
A 360-degree breath should expand the ribcage in all directions: chest, belly, back, and sides. Many people only use chest or belly breathing, which disrupts the Zone of Apposition (ZOA)—the alignment where the diaphragm sits dome-shaped above the pelvic floor and the rib cage connects to the pelvis.
In a truly optimal ZOA, the diaphragm stays domed and aligned, with the ribcage stacked over the pelvis. When ZOA is suboptimal, the diaphragm flattens and the ribs flare, throwing the torso out of alignment.
Why this matters: losing proper ZOA can reduce core stability, breathing efficiency, and how long you can perform before fatigue sets in. It can also lead to increased use of accessory breathing muscles, more activity in the upper spine muscles, lumbo-pelvic instability, low back or SI joint pain, and even headaches.
A quick breathing check:
– Sit in a chair and place your hands around the sides of your ribcage.
– Inhale. What happens?
– Ideally, you should feel lateral expansion of the ribcage into your fingers, with a bit of motion in the chest and belly as well.
– Think of the breath as the handle on the side of a bucket—the handle should move outward and to the sides as you inhale.
Another important concept is the high hinge point, the area just beneath the neckline. Can you expand air into this region? Breathing into the back is challenging for many, but it’s a key part of improving ZOA.
A drill that many practitioners use—with postpartum clients and others who deal with stubborn low-back or shoulder issues—helps encourage the ribcage to move and expand. The goal is to promote more complete, back‑body expansion and better ribcage mobility.
In short:
– Focus on lateral rib motion.
– Consider the high hinge point and work to expand the back of the body as well.
– You may or may not notice dramatic results right away, but improving ZOA can support better posture, breathing, and movement.
Results vary, but many people find this approach helpful.
