Why Our Breath Is So Important

Oxygen performs an important role in the body. It permits the cells within the body to launch their stored energy to be used to keep the body moving and working. Every cell in the body needs oxygen to be part in the complex cellular processes to create life. For dancers, efficient respiratory patterns are particularly important. The elite dancer can decrease muscle fatigue by means of efficient respiratory patterns and sustain a better endurance level for performance. 
The Breath Anatomy
Our body is a pumping machine that moves air out and in of the lungs. At rest, we breathe 7-15 times a minute, throughout exercise it could be many times than that.
The torso and pelvis may be considered as two compartments with the diaphragm separating the two areas by simultaneously being the floor of the thoracic compartment, and the ceiling of the abdominal compartment. The bottom of the lungs attaches to the diaphragm. After we inhale, it would ‘lower the floor’ of the higher compartment while the muscle tissue of the ribcage will broaden the walls of the room allowing air to fill the lungs. Once we exhale, the abdominal muscle tissue contract and the diaphragm moves back up while the ribs gently drop downward, sending the breath out of the body.
As the diaphragm moves downward it creates mild strain on the abdominal contents. That is the explanation why after consuming a big meal, you don’t feel like you can take a deep breath because the amount of area that the diaphragm can move is limited. 
Belly or Chest Breathing
Lie down on the floor on your back with one hand resting gently on your ribcage and one hand on your belly. Which hand moves first or farther? Do both hands move? In everyday living we would like the motion in bothareas to be balanced and even. 
Now, maintain your ribs completely motionless and breathe only in your belly and notice how you feel. Now attempt to hold the abdominals flat and engaged. Notice the response of your body. Once you restrict movement in either area, muscular rigidity is felt and your ability to take a deep breath is decreased. That's not desirable. 
When the body is at rest, you need centered respiration where the chest and the belly area move equally and at the same time. When all elements of the ribcage can move simply it won’t seem as if the chest is lifting much at all. Keep your palms resting on your ribcage and belly and imagine that you are blowing up a balloon as you inhale. All sides of the balloon will broaden and/or contract at the same time.
Inhale, Exhale, Pause
The pause occurring between breaths is a crucial part of breathing. This is when the gases are exchanged. When this pause is rushed, you're feeling rushed and anxious. Proceed to lie down on your back with your legs bent gently to take pressure away from the lower back. Evaluate the length of your inhalation to your exhalation and the quality of the pause in between. 
Let’s have an experiment. On your exhale allow your lips to part slightly while you make the softest ‘S’ sound. Take heed to where you will have tension in your exhale. Does the S sound easily slide away, or do you hear yourself pushing out the sound on the bottom of your exhale? Attempt to gradual your exhale down to be twice or even thrice the length of your inhale. (Note: if you begin to feel dizzy, faint or light-headed, stop what you are doing and permit your breath to return to its natural pace. That is the result of increased oxygen levels which your body might not be used to.)
It is easiest to change inefficient breathing patterns by lying on the ground without the concerns of posture. After working towards these patterns lying down, practice them sitting on a chair together with your pelvis all the way to the back of the chair. However, your ribs ought to hang off the spine, and your shoulder girdle area rests on high of the ribs with no effort. Lastly, you possibly can work with your breath in the upright position.
An umbrella is used in a dance class to explain efficient breathing. The pole of the umbrella is your spine. Your ribs broaden in all directions much like the cloth part of the umbrella as it opens, and reverses the movement on the close, or exhale. The pole part stays long and straight while opening and closing the umbrella. 
Even the backbone does not keep completely still like an umbrella, this helps students to differentiate ribcage movement from spinal motion. Dancers who have plenty of tension between their shoulder blades, or were told to stand up straight by pulling their shoulder blades collectively are lowering the ease with which the ribcage can move, which in turns influences their breath. To start to open up the ribcage motion, one ought to decrease the strain in between the shoulder blades by means of stretching or therapeutic massage because it influences breathing. 
As you think about your ribs lifting and dropping like the cloth portion of an umbrella, pay special attention to the top ribs on the collarbone (or clavicle) area. Imagine them as a heavy necklace and allow them to drop and hang closely on your exhale. Dancers usually rise up those high ribs to stand straight. But it is an erroneous manner of standing up straight because the length of the spine determines how tall you stand, not the ribs.
There are lots of components that may affect to your capability to breathe properly. Environmental concerns such as extreme heat, high humidity, and pollution are clearly harmful for straightforward breathing. Smoking and inhaling second hand smoke severely compromises efficient breathing. Sickness and emotions additionally strongly affect our breath.
We work out breathing in many ways. We hold our breath once we are fearful, restrict it when we are nervous, and increase it when we laugh. It's not the objective of working with your breath to not have your respiration unaffected by life. Concentrate on establishing good respiration habits. It is going to allow you to develop a healthier and more responsive body.