Breathing: not enough, or too much

[indigo0086]

I've noticed most of my exhaustion comes from not my muscles or dehydration, it's my breathing. Sometimes I get lightheaded and my vision is bright for a moment. I'm inclined to beleive that is because I am taking too much air in during pauses between suburi exercises. I also noticed I get slight pressure in the middle of my chest when I am practicing.

[taganahan]

maybe you haven't done some exercise for quite a while and you just started doing some physical stuff, which shocks your body. as people said,
cross-training is good for you especially something that has something to do with endurance.

~taganahan

[meow]

Have you done any other sports before kendo?

Does this also happen when you do aerobics like running or biking?

Maybe you are too tense?

[indigo0086]

it's not the tenseness I am talking about, it's my breath/lungs, that Is why I was asking about breathing.

[Hattori Hanzo]

well see what happens is that when you are tense you have to breath more, because you burn up more oxygen. try to stay relaxed until the moment of impact. keep your shoulders slack and not tense. you will find that you burn up much less oxygen and can last longer, because once you start sparring and you in Bogu you will appreciate it, and also I would recommend doing a bit of jogging, biking...something cardio.

[Skolld]

it's not the tenseness I am talking about, it's my breath/lungs, that Is why I was asking about breathing.Tenseness WILL effect your breathing. If your body is too tight it will make your breathing more shallow, and you will feel short of breath. as has been said, proper warm-up and cross-training to build endurance can be quite helpful. It's possible your lungs just aren't used to the added stress. I know that there are some people on the list with more technical language and a better understanding of it than me, so hopefully they will chime in.


Like Hanzo who posted while i was typing :wink:

[Hattori Hanzo]

Like Hanzo who posted while i was typing :wink:
Don't ya just hate it when that happens.

[Pan-Chan]

Well at my dojo, we are taught to breath down to our stomach, instead of up in our chest. I don't know if that is also the way you were taught to breath during practice, but it really does help keep your energy going, and also helps to raise your alertness to the going ons around you. I hope this helps :D.

[taganahan]

i'm still confused with this stomach breathing and chest breathing. i can't differentiate them myself and i don't even know which one i'm doing when practicing kendo.

~taganahan

[indigo0086]

basically breathing with your stomach is using your diaphragm. I beleive it's called 'tanden', or at least is a part of that collection of muscles in the area. I played sax for 6 years so I understand the importance of using the diaphragm for breathing. I did that more last class and it's just like playing a brass or woodwind instrument. If you breath with your chest you will get light headed faster, if you use the diaphragm you won't get exhausted so easily.

[hyuna]

i'm still confused with this stomach breathing and chest breathing. i can't differentiate them myself and i don't even know which one i'm doing when practicing kendo.
The way I learned to do this from when I played a musical instrument goes like this:

Put your hand on your stomach. Take a deep breath expanding your stomach so that it presses outwards against your hand. Feel like you are breathing into your abdomen. When your abdomen is "full" let your chest expand feeling like you are filling up your lungs from the bottom up. Your abdomen will go in as you fill your lungs, but that's ok. Focus on the feeling of breathing first into your abdomen and then filling your lungs from the bottom up.

If, when you initially breathe in, your stomach goes in instead of out, you are breathing from your chest and not your stomach. You will probably find that your shoulders are tighening up and lifting at the same time.

Now, when you breathe out push from your abdomen. Feel like you are pushing the air out from the bottom up. Open your mouth and throat wide and exhale softly like you were trying to fog up a mirror. Practice doing this with stronger and sharper exhalation, but make sure not to tense up the back of your throat and neck. You can compare the feeling by breathing out with a big mouth and throat and making a sound like "ha" then tense up your neck and throat and make a sound like "ssssss". You want the open feeling.

Like anything else, doing this "automatically" takes a great deal of practice. Fortunately, unlike suburi, one can practice breathing pretty much whenever you want.

Hope this helps.

[enjeru]

maybe u just have ur uniform on too tight, maybe its asthma and u need an inhaler.

[kanyil]

our resident nanadan recently told us to breath down to the abdoment through our mouth only. both when inhaling and exhaling. but the Hanshi contradicted him by telling us to breath in through our nose and out through our mouth in a different session. gets a bit confusing actually.