You would assume that since nature requires we breathe constantly and without fail that we all would understand its importance and how it is done. People assume because their chest goes up and out then in and down we know how to breathe properly. Not exactly true.
Breathing properly does not mean inflating the chest to full expansion. It means we inflate our bodies extending the diaphragm area first pulling air down into the lowest regions of the lungs then allowing the fill to inflate them till the chest at the end inhale expands. It also involves proper application of physiokinetic's, i.e., alignment, structure, etc.
In self-protection (defense) we will encounter the adrenal stress-conditioned effects often referred to as the chemical dump or adrenaline dump. A cocktail of chemicals triggered from the signals of the brain that release certain chemicals that result in stress and other beneficial yet not so effective benefits that can hinder modern survival conditioned responses. This part requires more research to understand just how that affects us when under the dump.
It is common knowledge with the professionals that one very important tactic is necessary to control those very adrenaline effects, it’s called "breathing." In some professional circuits it’s referred to as combat-breathing. It is meant to alleviate the strongest of chemical effects, i.e., those crippling effects that hinder self-protection or "survival."
The military, especially the special branches of the military, teach and use combat breathing or "tactical breathing." In that light, it is also a type of breathing taught in martial arts and karate so one can handle the stressors of defense and then act accordingly.
The military tactical breathing process is:
• Use the four-count breathing pattern. It slows the heartbeat, reduces the trembling in hands, clears the mind and allows you to act.
• Breath in through the nose to a slow four count, breath deeply in a diaphragmatic fashion to expand the lower belly rather than the chest.
• Hold for a four count.
• Slowly exhale through the mouth for a four count deflating the stomach, diaphragm.
• Hold that for a four count.
• Repeat for three or four cycles.
⁃ breath in two, thee, four;
⁃ out two, three, four;
⁃ in two, three, four;
⁃ out two, three, four;
⁃ in two, three, four.
⁃ repeat as needed.
It can take, dependent on the stressors, etc., from three cycles of tactical breathing to four or more to reach a state of relative calmness and control.
As with all things it takes ongoing, continuous and repetitive practice to make this a conditioned response to various stresses and stressors be they every day ones or the rare ones from violence and aggression. Practice every day for five minutes at a time. Your objective is to settle your monkey brain, the one that puts strange and bizarre thoughts in your head, and any resulting fidgeting that comes with it. If a though rears its head and you want to put it aside do the breathing for five minutes as described above.
Make the breathing a ritual and do it through out the day when and if needed or just for practice. When any stress starts to build up in the mind and body, do the tactical-breathing process. In time, it will become a conditioned response to stress so when needed the most it will trigger faster than logical thought, conditioned to respond instinctually.
In the karate dojo, sessions start by sitting seiza and meditating. This is a prime spot to practice the tactical-breathing system and then throughout training the practitioners shall practice and prepare for the training and practice by doing a four-cycle tactical-breathing regimen. It is to be noted that once done there is a need to continue deep slow diaphragmatic breathing while training and practicing. Don’t allow your breathing to revert back to the normal, shoulder and upper chest type of breathing. Make this type of deep diaphragmatic breathing your daily breathing. It matters to health, clarity of mind, body and spirit as well as encoding it into conditioned response so that it is there regardless of the stresses and stressors of live and violence.
The Freeze and Breathing
When, not if, we freeze due to the adrenal rush the best way to alleviate that is to breathe. When the rush, the dump, hits, the first thing that happens to people is their breathing becomes very constricted, causing the brain and body to go into adrenal activation. If you can continue breathing properly in this state you will be able to continue to control adrenaline and actually bring the neocortex back online. Breathing is absolutely the best tactical thing you can do to alleviate the problems form the chemical dump, it is the most important thing to train to conditioned response because everything you do in self-protection, and stresses of life too, at the base level. It’s how we transform the dump into optimal performance, what martial artists and karate-ka refer to as “mushin or zanshin” or “mind-no-mind zen-like state of mind.
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