I don't know about you, but after 2 years with Costo, all of a sudden, my diaphragm started to get tight, tighter, and tightest. I believe all the "tensing," and shallow breathing that occurs causes the abdominals and diaphragm to freak out and tighten up like crazy, thus causing more discomfort. Gag. So I went in search of some answers to loosen up this area. The answer for me is a work in progress with my massage therapist (who works on my diaphragm and abs weekly) this exercise I do once a day, and the stretching exercises you see if you scroll down. I had no clue just how tight the abs and diaphragm were since I was so focused on my ribs. But my massage therapist tells me constantly that a tight abdominal and diaphragm is no friend to the Costo.
Breathing Exercise for tight Abs and Diaphragm:
"Give it a workout by practicing deep diaphragmatic breathing. The inhalation begins with the diaphragm doing what every muscle does when it contracts, it broadens. Only at the end of a full breath might the shoulders ever so slightly ride up on the newly expanded thoracic region. As for the exhale, blow out, blow out, and now blow out. The exhale is when the diaphragm is relaxing and going back into neutral so give it a chance.
Once you have just watched and got in touch with your breathing for a while a good pattern to practice, at what ever pace is comfortable for you, is the
Ideally, with each inspiration, the diaphragm is drawn down, the lower ribs expand outwards in all directions, and the viscera are pushed down and out, all this as the abdominal muscles partially release reflexively. With 'tight abs', the diaphragm cannot go down and the ribcage cannot expand, so breathing is restricted greatly." by Graeme Lynn and the Bowen Website.
PS- also, an oxy powder colon cleanse helped a TON with my diaphragm tightness. It's good to figure out if your diaphragm is actually tight from breathing shallow...or if your are in need of releasing toxins and candida from your intestines. Or maybe both.
