To take a deep breath, to breathe a sigh or relief, to catch your breath - everyone knows expressions having to do with breathing.
“But a lot of people know little about the importance of proper breathing for health,” noted Gisela Schmachtenberg, chairwoman of the Berlin-based Working and Research Group on Respiratory Education and Therapy.
Someone under emotional stress or with tensed muscles usually breathes shallowly, high in the chest. This is no problem as long as it is temporary.
“Continual shallow breathing can result in functional disorders such as digestive problems or even cardiac arrhythmias, however,” warned Britta Jacob, a respiratory therapist in Hamburg. Respiratory therapy can help.
“A person’s breathing is as individual as his or her fingerprint,” Jacob said. What is more, one’s manner of breathing changes with the situation and circumstances. Someone in a good mood instinctively breathes properly: deeply through the nose and with the diaphragm.
This raises and lowers the lungs, which also visibly raises and lowers the abdominal wall.
“Our internal organs are literally massaged,” Jacob said. At the same time, the body takes in sufficient amounts of oxygen and metabolism is stimulated.
Respiratory therapy helps people suffering from respiratory illnesses such as asthma or chronic bronchitis, or who have migraines or pains in joints or muscles.
In cases of severe, incurable illnesses like pulmonary fibrosis, it can ease the symptoms and improve the quality of life. Actors, musicians and teachers can strengthen their voices with respiratory therapy, which is also used to treat panic attacks, burnout and depression.
Depending on the problem, a respiratory therapist will try to help a patient with breathing massage or breathing exercises. “It’s always a matter of creating inner freedom and boosting the powers of self- healing,” Jacob said. Respiratory therapy focuses on sharpening body perception, on being better able to sense and understand one’s breathing and consequently oneself.
Respiratory therapy arose in the early 20th century from a combination of Far Eastern knowledge of breathing, Western breathing instruction and elements of gymnastics, dancing and psychotherapy.
One of the best-known respiratory therapists was Ilse Middendorf (1910-2009), a German who authored “Der Erfahrbare Atem,” a book known in English as “The Experience of Breath in its Substance.” Breathing also plays a large role in psychosomatics and psychotherapy.
“Breathing independently at birth is the most significant event in our lives,” remarked Wolfram Schueffel, for many years director of the Psychosomatic Clinic at Marburg University Hospital’s Centre for Internal Medicine.
“For nine months we’ve moved without making a distinction between breathing and drinking. But then we’ve got to make that distinction for the rest of our lives.” In his private practice, Schueffel treats people whose symptoms cannot be explained by a clinical finding alone. The symptoms include rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, panic attacks, depression and serious chronic pain. He uses Functional Relaxation (FD) techniques that, just as in respiratory therapy, aim at achieving better self- perception.
