bheiner posted an update 2 years, 8 months ago
Hello, Mr. Spence. It’s bheiner. my actual name is Brit. I’ve been using your course since I believe since last November and it’s been a great experience. I just wanted to thank you for your tremendous effort with this course as I’ve definitely developed as a tuba player ever since the start of my journey with Windworks. I’ve definitely learned some things in this course that are often outright contradictory to everything I’ve ever been told as a brass player yet it’s helped amazingly.
I had a question about breathing and it’s more of a concept-wise thing. The body is like a balloon as you’ve said. We suck air in, the body expands and the tongue is what prevents the air from coming out and we merely lower the tongue to release (a difficult habit I’m still working on as I find myself over-articulating but has definitely improved since last November). When I find myself shallow breathing and inefficiently, I find myself doing “belly-breathing” type breathing where my abdomen solely expands outward and it actually used to hurt and I felt really crappy in the chest doing this.
However, while re-watching the course, I thought back to the idea of the balloon. A balloon expands outwards in a 360 degrees like direction unless you grip a certain part of the balloon and apply pressure to make it expand in a particular direction. Just like with my belly-breathing, I’m pretty sure by back muscles were gripping so my stomach was expanding but when I let go of the muscles in my back, I find myself expanding 360 degrees (like I feel like the back of my ribcage expands too). I found myself being able to let go when I lay down on the floor and put my hand against my stomach gently to add a little bit of resistance. My gut expanded and it felt natural as there was basically little muscle activation. When I stood up however and practiced the same way of inhalation standing with no gripping my body expanded outward all around in a more 360 degree. It didn’t hurt and it feels way more natural. Do you think this is the correct sensation I should be getting when inhaling? What sensations do you feel when You inhale efficiently?
Thanks again for your time!
You have beautifully described what we after Brit!
The “letting go” of the abdomen wall (belly breathing) is a lowering of the diaphragm. Then the expansion you describe takes place. I must stress that people will experience this sensation in different ways but the essence of what you say and your experience sounds perfect.
Check this video from the Ultimate Level https://player.vimeo.com/external/274652107.hd.mp4?s=571cfd49b2db5ed77275442bc6bc621d4e59d5f3&profile_id=175
Thanks Mr. Spence! I appreciate the reply I will do keep doing this then. Much appreciated!