It may come as a surprise, but most of us are breathing in an unhealthy manner. Most of the general public is, a) holding their collective breath, b) not using their diaphragms to breathe, and c) inhaling and exhaling too fast and too shallow. We are therefore living in Sympathetic Nervous System mode. Your diaphragm is your internal masseuse for your lungs, stomach, liver digestive tract, and most importantly your vagus nerve. When, due to the UCVM, the diaphragm isn't able to descend and ascend properly, acid reflux, indigestion and asthma may often appear. Further, as the diaphragm is rendered unusable the only place left to breathe is high, overusing the ribcage to gulp in air (known as costal breathing) which then triggers the Fight/Flight/Freeze/Faint (sympathetic) nervous system stress response: A vicious circle if there ever was one. The Wilson Method, because it increases diaphragm tonicity while manipulating the para-sympathetic nervous system, has been shown to have a positive effect on energy levels, along with overall physical, mental, vocal and emotional health.
Returning to natural breathing pratices is key to living a health life. We are breathing poorly: We let our reactions to the rigors of life adversely affect our respiratory system. It is subtle and slow, which is why it is not being noticed much less diagnosed by the allopathic Western Medical System. Research has shown that yoga, meditation and lowering your breath cycles per minute have massive beneficial effects on many clinical conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, asthma and post-traumatic stress. This suggests that normalizing the underlying autonomic nervous system imbalance, through reversing it's physiological response on the body (UCVM) can improve symptoms and bolster resilience. In other words, returning to healthy, natural breathing patterns sends an uptake message to the brain, suggesting we are, even for a moment, safe. Muscles and fascia relax, which in turn reduces swelling, which lowers hypertension, inflammation and therefore phlegm production; we have more energy and less pain. There are hundreds of methods that work with the breath. Most of them are manipulating the breath in a manner that goes against what is NATURAL. The best methods out there are those that aim to return to the respiratory patterns of our youth, before we decided life was hard, and those which reverse the habits forced on us by the rigors of life. The Wilson Method is a leader in this area.
