LOVE LETTER FROM THE THORACIC DIAPHRAGM

My dear friend

I have wanted to write you this letter for a long time—now I am doing it.

I am so happy that you have found healthy breathing! I remember very well how it used to be: trial and error, with a lot of error.

You believed and followed every piece of nonsense. Read in a magazine, instructed by a therapist, perceived by hearsay – you were a sponge. Always searching. Searching too long on the outside.

You sucked the breath deep into your belly. Often your shoulders pulled forward and upward. Your back began to ache. Your asthma got worse and worse, occurring more and more frequently for no reason. Every winter, you were overcome by coughing. You became dizzy from all the coughing and wheezing.

Climbing stairs quickly? Impossible. Side stitches and chest wall pain.

Your reaction to this? “I have to breathe even deeper.” I tried to nudge you, to wake you up, “Hey, you're breathing yourself sick, listen to me, I'll show you how to do it. You can only find the truth through me.” Sometimes, very rarely, I think only in the spring, you came very close to my truth: when you stuck your nose into a lilac bush and gently inhaled the scent of lilacs.

You also nestled your nose into the magnolia blossoms. In summer, you were attracted to the rose blossoms. Sometimes, after a summer rain, you sniffed and inhaled the bark of trees in the forest. In such moments, my heart beat a beat faster with happiness, always hoping: Now she feels it! Now she gets it! I don't want to be submerged, I don't want to push you down, I don't want to belittle you!

I don't want to be part of this misconception, this compulsion of mind over body.

You searched and practiced, another breathing technique, another voice training, another speech course – and everything got worse and worse. You became smaller, your scoliosis unfolded its full potential for pain ...

Interjection: You were an old woman at a very young age. How wonderful that today it's the other way around: you are young in your old age! And I played a big part in that.

The breathing misery took its course – until one day you had the idea to listen to me. I will never forget the moment when I heard you say: “This isn't working. I give up. Dear thoracic diaphragm, show me how to breathe. Show me what you want, how you work!” I seem to remember that there was a “damn it” attached to that, and I revelled in triumph. But only for a moment, for half a breath. Your despair was great, I had to relieve you.

This is what I said to you: "Stretch yourself out, live your full height from your bones. Be the one that is laid out in your blueprint.

Now breathe in through your nose, stay long, become even longer. That's all you have to do so that I can expand upwards. I stretch myself, pulling your abdominal and back muscles upwards with my trunk muscles.

I expand to the sides, wonderfully supported by the ribs, which stretch to their full width at the sides, equipped with cartilage and six joints per pair of ribs. Hold your breath as long as you can, erect your tongue in your mouth as wonderful additional support. Let the breath flow back into the world through your mouth, slowly, consciously. Stay tall and wide and open. 

Enjoy the emptiness that arises when you have exhaled completely. Feel how I relax as you do so. Breathe in slowly again, lilac scent breathing."

You listened to me. You took your time, I remember that you felt dizzy and lay down on the floor to continue experiencing the new breath.

I like this quality in you, this impatience to immediately store the change and build it into your memory. It's a good kind of impatience. You celebrated the new breath, practiced it daily, and when you felt the old shortness of breath trying to take over in a challenging situation, you paused, stretched yourself, stretched me, and together we found our way back to calm. You call this calmness “oceanic calm,” which I really like.

Since that day, you have never forced me into an asthma attack again. You explored what the ribs do when breathing properly, which muscles are involved. You explored how important the posture of the body and the posture of the head are so that I can expand effortlessly and without limits.

You understood that I can do much more than just breathe with you. Together, we reshaped the rib cage, straightened the spine, and corrected the scoliosis. We freed your heart. It beats evenly and calmly in the large rib cage. It sways to our rhythm.

You have created exercises that enable all people to learn to breathe humanely, so that all thoracic diaphragms in the world can breathe happiness with their humans.

I am very pleased with your eagerness to pass on the wisdom I taught you. I am happy to be your thoracic diaphragm.

With love, your thoracic diaphragm