Stretching and Breathing Mutual Benefits: Interview with Volker Schmitz

Volker Schmitz and Dr. Artour Rakhimov talk about how stretching exercises help breathing patterns and vice-versa. Volker has been teaching yoga, breathing exercises, kung fu and tai chi for over 15 years. Stretching can enhance breathing retraining and the other way around. The discussion on stretching for breathing begins first. In martial arts and yoga, there is a lot of stretching. Stretching can be intensive and in that case, it will enhance breathing retraining. Bob Cooley's book and website for this type of stretching. Volker advocates more intensive stretching.

Another layer has to do with energy channels. These are believed to exist in China and India. We can put it into perspective if we equate it with muscular or structural chains as they connect the whole body. This can be enhanced with stretching. The type of stretching is very important. In China, they were looking at nature to find out what animals were doing. For example, a cat uses a lot of force at the moment of the stretch. Check out Bob Cooley's book and website for this type of stretching. He spends a lot of time on this topic.

We have fascia that grows at night. It has to be dissolved. Stretching seems to be the most effective way to do this and this leads to better blood flow. There is also the nervous functioning that can be enhanced with better oxygen supply.

Next, is breathing for stretching. When you do breathing exercises, it increases oxygen supply to the organs of the body and muscles. It will lead to better brain function and concentration. Concentration is very important for movement. You need to do it with good technique and use a lot of force. You can only do this when your nervous system is prepared for these types of movements. These are only a few things that breathing can do. There is a layer of endurance that is also improved. With having 60 seconds for the control pause test or body-oxygen level you sleep less and have more time for stretching.

People these days breathe too much. In these talks, it refers to breathing at rest or automatic breathing patterns. This is discussed in detail on Dr. Artour Rakhimov's website www.normalbreathing.com. There are dozens of historical studies from 100 years ago that people breathed a lot less. Dr. Buteyko's norm was 60 seconds for the CP level and that is 8 breaths per minute at rest. When people achieve higher levels of oxygen they have much less sleep, more stamina, more concentration, more energy, extra motivation and exercise becomes a joy. With 15 to 20 seconds for the CP test, people complain about having chronic fatigue.

Here is more about Stretching-Breathing Benefits https://www.normalbreathing.com/sports/stretching-benefits.php .

The YouTube URL of this video Stretching and breathing benefits is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVZ2Lp5qbqU& .Thanks for watching!

The video features Volker Schmitz (Buteyko breathing practitioner from Hamburg, Germany) and Dr. Artour Rakhimov (Buteyko practitioner trainer from Toronto, Canada).

In this German webpage, Yoga – was sind die Ziele traditionellen Yogas? Welche Unterschiede gibt es zum modernen Yoga? you can find more info about yoga and breathing. http://www.atmung.org/yoga-traditionell-stretching-pranayama/

In this Spanish webpage, Yoga you can find more information about yoga and breathing. https://www.respiracionnormal.org/yoga/ .

The video description was created with the participation of Chris Prokop (Mississauga, Canada).

Keywords:

 breathing during stretching, inhalation stretching, exhalation stretching.

Tags and Categories:

health, fitness, exercise, gymnastics, buteyko method, buteyko breathing, buteyko method, buteyko technique, buteyko