Conscious breathing is an essential part of healing and spiritual practices in many cultures. By observing your breathing patterns, controlling your breathing, and learning to apply various breathing techniques, you can optimize your physical performance, focus your mind, alter your emotions, mitigate pain, and transform your spiritual experiences. You can increase your understanding of yourself and greatly enhance your satisfaction in life by retraining yourself to master your breathing skills.

Breathing is the bridge between our voluntary and involuntary functions. Dr. Andrew Weil clearly describes this relationship in Natural Health, Natural Medicine: “The breathing function is unique in the human body. It is the only involuntary function which can also be controlled voluntarily. It is controlled by two separate sets of nerves, one belonging to the voluntary nervous system and the other to the involuntary (autonomic) system. Breathing is the bridge between these two systems. Much illness comes from imbalance in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system. Our conscious minds have no direct access to this system. There is reason to believe that by working with breathing, you can change your autonomic tone and affect many of the ‘involuntary’ functions. Regulating your breath can influence your blood pressure, calm a racing heart or help your digestive system. Practicing simple breathing techniques can give you influence over certain ‘involuntary’ functions. Increased awareness of breathing can expand your consciousness, further communication between mind and body and so improve your health.”

My Personal Journey Developing Conscious Breathing Skills
As a cyclist, I had given casual attention to my breathing while riding above 10,000 ft. elevation but still found it necessary to stop often to catch my breath. I first discovered how deficient my breathing was when I was unable to follow the recommended breathing patterns in Taiji and Yoga classes. Even though I taught breathing techniques in childbirth education classes for many years, I hadn’t transferred what I knew about pain mitigation by breathing to day-to-day use. I guess I thought that I knew how to breathe. Only when I began to ask questions, read, and practice breathing techniques, did I realize how dysfunctional my breathing was. Now, after seven years of steady practice, I know that conscious breathing transforms both the quality of my life and my athletic performance. As I began to assess my breathing style, I discovered that there were times when my breath was shallow or erratic. Worse yet, I sometimes simply held my breath. I breathed mostly in my chest and made limited use of my diaphragm. In my effort to improve, I discovered that I was afraid of controlling my breathing. I guess I thought that I might asphyxiate myself. As soon as I identified that fear and accepted it as part of me, I was able to leave it behind and move on to learning control. The next discovery came as I tried to use my diaphragm while riding. I did not coordinate the expansion of my abdominal muscles with inhaling. As I tried to train myself to support the movement of my diaphragm with my abdominal muscles, I often became confused. During an exhalation, I’d find myself expanding my abdominal muscles instead of contracting them. This problem is so common that it has been named: “paradoxical or reverse breathing.” I could see clearly that I had a challenge to pursue! Normally, breathing is reflexive. Without training, it is usually inefficient and inadequate for optimum athletic performance. As I became aware of my faulty breathing patterns and learned to correct them at will, I discovered other benefits of diaphragmatic breathing: improved focus, increased energy, more uniform level of exertion, the feeling of contentment, and a sense of ability to deal with present and future challenges.

Will You Benefit from Developing Your Breathing Technique?
Stress is an inevitable part of modern life. Fortunately, breath control counteracts our emotional response to stress and serves as a tool to meet life’s challenges with equanimity. The pressures of meeting so many daily challenges distract us, and we become tired, tense, and often obsessive. These reactions dampen our sensitivity and make our body functions erratic and inefficient. Different states of mind are actually accompanied by characteristic breathing patterns. That means we can change undesirable states of mind by altering our breathing patterns. Yes, we can consciously reduce anxiety and calm ourselves in demanding and stressful situations by conscious breathing!

Daily stress and the resulting tension and imbalance cause turmoil in our body functions. These imbalances contribute to most illnesses and many aches and pains. In times of extreme anxiety, we all have experienced digestive and elimination problems but underlying stress causes more subtle changes in body functions. Eventually these changes create problems, and illness finally gets our attention. In addition, tension in the respiratory system results in inadequate oxygen supply to all parts of the body — further diminishing their function even at the cellular level. Breath training is a wise place to begin improving our health since it influences every aspect of our lives.

As a cyclist, you will appreciate that conscious breathing will improve your athletic performance, facilitate relaxation, and heighten your awareness of your surroundings. You can increase your stamina, lower your breathing and pulse rates, and benefit from rejuvenation. More specifically, effective breathing moderates your riding experience so uphill climbs will not be so draining. The pleasure of gliding down hills will increase because your heightened awareness will enhance your ability to take in the details of the descent. Improved circulation helps keep your extremities warm during cold weather rides. You can influence the quality of your sleep. You will simply enjoy riding more!

Resist the urge to skip over this instruction because you believe your breathing skills have been adequate all these years, and you have other things to think about. Breathing problems affect most of us. Breathing therapy specialists believe that at least 60 percent of U.S. citizens are dysfunctional breathers. Gay Hendricks’ observations of children revealed that most children have lost their natural, diaphragmatic breathing style by the time they reach kindergarten! I have also made some disquieting observations. I often discussed breathing techniques with customers at Self-Propulsion. When they assured me that their breathing was well developed, I thoughtfully observed their breathing habits while we continued to visit. Many times I discovered they did not support their speech with adequate breath or they held their breath and then took quick, catch-up breaths to compensate. So do stay tuned, you are bound to learn something.

In Gay Hendricks’ definitive book Conscious Breathing, Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery he lists these benefits:

Conscious breathing:
• Releases stress and tension
• Builds energy and endurance
• Contributes to emotional mastery
• Prevents and heals physical problems
• Contributes to graceful aging
• Manages pain
• Enhances mental concentration and physical performance
• Facilitates psychospiritual transformation

How Your Breathing Works
If you were asked how you breathe, you might explain that air comes in your nose, goes down your windpipe, and fills up your lungs. Your lungs oxygenate your blood, and the spent air is expelled back up the windpipe and out the nose. But what parts of your body make this miraculous oxygenation process happen? The lungs and bronchial tubes are where this process occurs but the air is moved by the work of surrounding muscles. The engine of breathing is the diaphragm. This dome-shaped muscle and tendon span the entire torso and separate the chest cavity from the abdominal contents. Its muscle fibers radiate horizontally from the central tendon across the top surface of the dome. The diaphragm attaches to the lower ribs and in the rear to the lumbar spine. Although it arches upward to the base of the lungs, much of its vertical height is pressed against the lower ribs. The lungs never move down that far. As it contracts, it draws downward, expanding the lower part of the lungs to fill the void. To facilitate the diaphragm’s movement, the abdomen wall needs to round out and let the abdominal contents move out of the way. As the diaphragm relaxes and returns to full height, the lungs are pushed up and contract. To expel the maximum amount of oxygen-depleted air from the lungs, the abdominal muscles must contract, pushing the abdominal organs, diaphragm, and lower lungs upward, pressing out more air. This final step is especially important during exercise.

Of course you notice that your chest also moves when you breathe. Both your rib cage and clavicle expand your lungs by their flexibility and the work of the intercostal muscles that support and control your rib cage. The lungs move up into the clavicular area by the contraction of your neck (scalenes) and shoulder (sternocleidomastoids) muscles during strenuous exertion or conscious breathing exercises.

The neurological benefits from using your diaphragm are also dramatic. During active breathing, the nerves of the chest trigger the sympathetic nervous system that elicits the fight-or-flight response. In contrast, diaphragmatic breathing triggers the parasympathetic nervous system that lowers your heart rate and has a calming effect. Using conscious, diaphragmatic breathing enables you to enjoy high energy cycling and contentment while you ride and rejuvenation afterwards!

Regaining Your Natural Breathing
Skills You can better appreciate your own need to retrain your breathing technique by evaluating your day-to-day breathing habits. Observe the rate and depth of your breathing at work, at home, and while doing errands. Do you notice that in some situations you breathe faster, for example, before or while you are giving a presentation? If you often feel breathless, are you holding your breath? Do you yawn or sigh often? When you take a deep breath, does your chest expand? During high exertion, do you gasp for breath? Do you generally have tight muscles and are you prone to sore muscles? Do you sleep poorly? All of these behaviors are symptoms of inadequate breathing technique. We are pretty casual about a body function that is essential to life itself.

First let us identify our breathing components. (I wonder if Shimano® could develop a SIBS, Shimano Integrated Breathing System, operated by pinky controls?) It will be easier to identify your breathing components while you lie on your back on the floor. Beginning at the top, run your hands along your collarbones (clavicle) from your shoulders to your breast bone (sternum). Now move down to your ribs and feel the solid structure of your rib cage and its remarkable flexibility as you take several deep breaths. Next, follow down the sternum and notice how large your rib cage is. Your lungs and heart fill this space. Notice that your rib cage increases in circumference toward the bottom, just as your lungs are larger at the bottom.

Now you can locate your diaphragm, the primary motor of breathing. At the bottom of the sternum is a short cartilage extension (the xiphoid process) where the diaphragm attaches. You can distinguish the xiphoid process because it is more sensitive than your sternum. On your sides you can feel the two lower ribs that are not attached to your breastbone, therefore allowing for more expansion during diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is attached to the six lower ribs and to the lumbar spine. (Iyengar, p. 30)

Perhaps you have not thought of your abdominal muscles as part of your respiratory system. They need to coordinate with and support the movement of your diaphragm. You can locate the muscles you need to use in natural breathing by placing one hand on your abdomen, one on the xiphoid process, and pretending to blow out a candle. Notice how your abdominal muscles draw in and then relax. Contrast this movement with tense abdominal muscles characteristic during anxiety or stress by lifting your head off the floor. Feel the tightness from your pubic bone into your chest. Now that you have distinguished the movement of your diaphragm and the contrasting behaviors of your abdominal muscles, you can understand the use of the abdominal muscles in natural breathing. When your diaphragm contracts downward with each inhalation, let your abdominal muscles relax and your abdomen protrude. With each exhalation, your diaphragm relaxes and returns to its dome shape, expelling the air from your lungs. You must expel the maximum amount of spent air from your lungs for maximum efficiency. When the diaphragm is relaxed, it has reached its maximum height. Only by contracting your abdominal muscles and pressing your abdominal organs up against your diaphragm can you push the diaphragm higher. This compresses the lower lungs and expels more air. Let your abdominal muscles contract and pull inward, supporting the diaphragm for a complete exhalation. The natural movement of your diaphragm depends on relaxed expansion and firm contraction of your abdominal muscles. When your diaphragm and abdomen muscles work together, there are several benefits:

1. You move more air in and out of the lower lobes of your lungs, resulting in more efficient oxygenation.
2. Your abdominal organs and heart are massaged by the movement of your diaphragm and your abdominal muscles. This movement increases circulation and improves function.
3. Your abdomen muscles are strengthened by constant use.
4. You will experience a calming effect.

With knowledge of the placement of your breathing components, observe how you use them. Place one hand on your waist, one on your chest, and breathe deeply. Does your chest rise and fall or is most of the movement at your waist? Natural breathing is driven by the diaphragm and causes movement at your waist. If you feel most of the movement in your chest, you are a chest breather and will benefit greatly by retraining yourself to breathe naturally. Shift the movement of breathing to your diaphragm by pushing up at your waist against your hands.

Once you have distinguished the movement of your diaphragm, support its movement with your abdominal muscles. When your diaphragm contracts downward with each inhalation, let your abdominal muscles protrude. With each exhalation, let your abdominal muscles contract and pull inward, supporting the diaphragm for a complete exhalation.

At times you may find unusual difficulty in moving your diaphragm. This happens when your abdominal muscles and organs are tense. As your diaphragm contracts downward, it is restricted by your rigid abdominal organs. This condition is usually caused by psychological tension and the “flat-tummy, body-beautiful” syndrome but also may result from abdominal surgery, injury, or other trauma to the pelvis. You can relax these organs by doing stretches for the diaphragm and abdomen, getting a professional massage, or practicing Yoga, Qigong, and acupressure. Visualization is also a useful tool as you release tension and promote healing. Be creative and imagine your abdominal organs as calm, contented, appreciated, and relaxed.

When the diaphragm is restricted in movement by prolonged periods of stress, breathing shifts up into the chest. Not only is a smaller volume of air moved but limited oxygenation takes place in the upper lungs. The lower lobes are larger in volume and richer in capillaries. Gravity pulls on your body and increases the volume of blood flow to the lower lobes. This is why approximately 80 percent of your blood accessible for oxygen exchange is in the lower lobes. If you are a chest breather, you rarely access the 80 percent of the blood supply in the lower lobes. Most of your air movement is in the upper lobes, which do oxygenate the blood but remove carbon dioxide less efficiently than the capillary rich lower lobes. Diaphragmatic breathing will dramatically increase the amount of air moved and reduce breaths per minute from 14 or 15 to 8 or 12. (Hendricks, p. 45)

The movement of your rib cage may also be restricted by tight muscles and poor posture. If your shoulders are stooped, and your head is carried forward, your rib cage is permanently compressed. Cyclists must be especially watchful to keep their chests open. Be sure your handlebars are close enough to your seat to enable you to ride with your elbows bent back toward your hips. Rather than rounding your shoulders, broaden your upper back and shoulders energetically without straining while keeping your chest open.

The specific muscles you use to breathe not only influence your oxygenation efficiency but connect intimately to your psychological state. Because our fight-or-flight nervous system is associated with chest breathing, shallow breathing in the upper lungs and chest originates from and results in stress and anxiety. Next time you give a presentation or demonstrate a skill, notice if your breathing has moved up high into your chest. Is this condition fun? No! Generally, life is more fun without anxiety, and now you have a tool to change your attitude and improve your performance! Consciously move your breathing down to your diaphragm, and engage your parasympathetic or calming, nervous system. Just as Andrew Weil stated, now we can influence some of our autonomic systems through the breathing “bridge.” Later we will explore John Douillard’s work, which demonstrates how controlled breathing influences pulse rate during athletic performance.

There are three different breathing styles that we are discussing: diaphragmatic, conscious, and three-part breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is natural and uses the respiratory system the way it was designed to function. The diaphragm, abdominal, and intercostal muscles are used to move air in and out of the lungs in contrast to chest breathing, which is more restrictive and high in the lungs. Conscious breathing can also be called controlled breathing. It includes any breathing style or technique that we consciously control. During retraining from chest breathing to diaphragmatic breathing, you will need to be conscious of your breathing. There are a great many types of psychospiritual, therapeutic breathing techniques that are conscious. Three-part breathing is one of these techniques that will help you identify and control the action of all your lung capacity.

Using Three-part Breathing to Develop Your Conscious Breathing Skills
Three-part breathing uses the muscles of the abdomen, diaphragm, chest, and clavicle to expand and contract the lungs. Three-part breathing will help you develop the full volume of your lungs. With one slow and conscious breath, begin to expand your lungs with your diaphragm while releasing your abdominal muscles. Move upward into the chest and finally lift your collarbones. It may help you expand your lungs up under your clavicle by knowing that you will contract muscles in your neck to lift your sternum and clavicle (sternocleidomastoids) and to lift your top two ribs (scalenes). The expansion of your rib cage can also be facilitated by visualizing broadening across your upper (thoracic) back. Reverse this process by deflation, starting at the collarbones and letting your lungs empty all the way down to your diaphragm. Finally, contract your abdominal muscles. It takes a bit of coordination, doesn’t it? Practice it for a while until the results are fairly predictable. You will get some indication of how effectively you have been using your lungs by observing how much you are expanding your chest. If you have to concentrate to systematically fill the lungs from one end to the other and then empty them in reverse, you will need more practice to derive maximum benefit from controlled breathing.

If you have respiratory problems, this exercise can be particularly challenging and all the more valuable for you to practice. Respiratory problems are aggravated by poor posture, misshapen chest, obesity, emotional disorders, lung troubles, smoking, and uneven use of your respiratory muscles. (Iyengar, p. 31) Notice that many cyclists have poor posture from extended hours of riding. This poor posture can result in rounded shoulders, collapsed chest, and compressed diaphragm. Failure to correct these problems causes many subtle changes in your body and mind as well as gross ones like fatigue, bad attitude, poor stamina, and heart disease.

During conscious breathing practice, the length and depth of each breath should be relaxed and effortless. Give conscious attention to the manner and sequence in which muscles are used. Practice gently and slowly. You will know you are trying too hard if you experience dizziness, tension, or discomfort. If these occur, pause and rest before resuming practice. If you have health problems where difficult breathing is a secondary symptom, use Gay Hendrick’s program Conscious Breathing and consult with your physician.

With these cautionary comments in mind, try the breath of joy to use all parts of your lungs and observe the dramatic effect conscious breathing can have on your energy level and mood. Stand with your feet at shoulder width. Raise outstretched arms in front of you to shoulder level and partially inflate your lungs with your diaphragm. From this position, sweep your arms in an upward arc that ends at your sides at shoulder level and inflate your lungs further with your chest. Finally, arch your arms up over your head and complete the inflation of your lungs into the clavicular region. Now release all this air with an audible, complete exhalation as you drop your arms down past your hips, ending the movement near the floor as you drop down into a crouch, completely releasing your shoulders and arms. Repeat this several times taking care not to hyperventilate. Use this technique when you are feeling tired, tense, or melancholy. You too, will find joy.

Establishing a Rhythm
When you can depend on the coordination of your respiratory muscles, begin work on a consistent rhythm, which we will call SELF breathing: Slow, Even, Long, and Full. Your current breathing style may be to exhale, hold, inhale, and hold. Now try keeping your diaphragm moving all the time. Slowly, inhale and without a pause slowly exhale. Strive to match the inhalation and exhalation in duration and quality. It may help to visualize each inhalation-exhalation cycle as a loop in a spiral rather than an out and back pattern.

As you gain confidence, lie down and practice SELF breathing while stretching or holding Yoga postures. If you are a Taiji practitioner, let your SELF breathing flow easily with your form. When you use SELF breathing while bike riding, you will probably need to slow your pace to an exertion level that allows you to breathe rhythmically without panting.

When you lapse back into panting during exertion, try this experiment: pant a few breaths and observe how effectively your respiration returns to normal. Then engage your new skills and return to SELF breathing, exhaling completely. If your new skills are sufficiently developed, you will observe a quick and dramatic return to normal breathing. This surely demonstrates the greater efficiency of trained breathing.

Exhaling is the Work Phase of Breathing
Have you ever noticed when you pant your inhalation is stronger than your exhalation? While a powerful inhalation is automatic, you need to train yourself to balance each inhalation with a strong and complete exhalation. The function of the inhalation is to bring fresh, oxygen-rich air into the lungs to oxygenate blood to feed every cell. The function of the exhalation is to push out the spent, oxygen-depleted air to make space for fresh air. Have you ever felt as though you were going to burst while gasping for breath during extreme exertion? That means your exhalation needs work. While you are sitting, try expelling all the air from your lungs by a firm contraction of the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and intercostal muscles of your chest. You can feel really empty. Whenever you find yourself gasping, focus on complete exhalations that go beyond your untrained habits and expel the last spent air from your lungs. Then inhale through your nose.

An effective technique for developing your exhalation is 1:2 breathing where you consciously exhale for twice as many counts as you inhale. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Begin conscious breathing using SELF breathing.
2. Establish a count for each inhalation. You can probably count to three or six on each inhalation but don’t strain, just breathe in a sustainable pattern.
3. Now multiply the inhalation count by two. If you had three counts while inhaling, you will exhale to the count of six.
4. Ensure that your counting beats are uniform. Count one, two, three as you inhale and four, five, six, seven, eight, nine as you exhale. This will cause you to use conscious effort at the end of the exhalation.

If you practice while sitting and expanding your chest fully, you might count three on the inhalation and six on the exhalation. When you’re riding or walking, a 2:4 count is more likely to be sustainable. Individual lung capacities vary as well as personal breathing patterns, so find the count that you can maintain for prolonged periods. As you become proficient at this technique, your stamina will increase. Take care to inhale only as long as the count and not until your lungs are ready to burst. Counter-intuitively, the diminished emphasis on inhaling actually increases your capacity to bring in fresh, oxygen-rich air. That is because the complete exhalation has removed more of the spent air and made space for fresh air to rush in more efficiently. When you first begin breathing practice while riding, you may find 1:2 breathing easier than SELF breathing. Use the same diaphragmatic technique emphasizing the exhalation with the 1:2 rhythm in contrast to the evenly balanced inhalation and exhalation of the SELF breathing. You will find that focusing on your breathing while riding will bring you into the present moment and clear your mind of chatter.

John Douillard is a pioneer and leader who trains athletes in breathing technique. He uses Ayurvedic techniques to improve athletic performance. Remarkably, he has discovered that controlled, diaphragmatic breathing allows pulse and breath rates to remain low during high exertion! As with SELF breathing, Ayurvedic breathing opens up the lower lobes of your lungs. Douillard’s studies confirm that it is worth the effort to learn to use your full lung capacity because the performance of all your body systems depends on delivery of oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide.

Ayurvedic breathing uses the nose instead of the mouth, with several benefits. Breathing through the nose will condition the air to body temperature and moisture before it reaches the lungs. The nose, designed as the breathing instrument, has turbines and turbinates (spiral, spongy bones in the nasal passages) to drive air into the lower lobes of your lungs. To practice nasal, controlled breathing, make a raspy sound at the back of your throat with the muscles and vocal chords used in clearing your throat. This closes off airflow through the mouth and opens the throat connection to the nasal passages. Another technique for opening the nasal and throat passages is to create a yawning sensation in the back of the mouth. If you must breathe through your mouth, place your tongue behind your upper, front teeth to slow the passage of air though your mouth and condition the air to some degree. Mouth breathing is often necessary at cooler temperatures due to nasal congestion. You can also protect yourself from breathing cold air by covering your mouth with a neck gaiter or face mask made of two layers of polyester fleece. This provides an external temperature gradient and protects your lungs from the harsh effects of cold, dry air.

For further discussion of diaphragmatic breathing for high levels of athletic performance, read John Douillard’s Body, Mind and Sport or listen to his audio tapes Invincible Athletics. Ayurvedic breathing benefits extend beyond increased efficiency and lower heart and breath rates. They also produce a tranquil, rejuvenating state, making physical workouts renewing rather than exhausting.

1. Breathe with your diaphragm.
2. Release your abdominal muscles and let them move out with each inhalation. A flat tummy may look good in a swimsuit but it precludes healthy breathing technique.
3. Empty your lungs completely, expelling all the old air so new oxygen-rich air can flood into your lungs. Exhalation is the active phase of breathing. Draw your diaphragm up and compress your abdominal and chest muscles to complete each exhalation.
4. Use all three regions of your lungs: the lower lobes at the diaphragm, the chest, and high at the clavicle. Relax, expand, contract.
5. Relax and open the back of your nose and throat by simulating yawning and allow air to flow unobstructed.
6. Be patient and allow years to retrain your breathing. Stress will make your breathing rise up in the chest. You will consciously need to shift your breathing back down to your diaphragm.

Overcoming Challenges You May Encounter While Practicing Your Breathing Technique
I hope you clearly understand the concepts and benefits of controlled diaphragmatic breathing. You will need to make retraining a priority and to incorporate it into your daily living as well as your athletic activities. Brief practice in using your diaphragm and abdominal muscles will not translate automatically into increased stamina in cycling. Let’s look in more detail at some of the challenges and benefits you might experience along the way.

Some people discover a fear of asphyxiation when first trying to control their breath. Simply acknowledging the fear and practicing in comfortable and secure surroundings will probably overcome this anxiety. Seek out Yoga classes where breathing is taught with each posture. When you are first working to coordinate new breathing skills, it is encouraging to work in a class of like-minded people and to receive effective coaching from a knowledgeable teacher. If you are accustomed to controlling your breathing while swimming, you may find breath training quite natural.

Anxieties and other emotions may well up while you are practicing breathing. Rather than ignoring them, participate in those feelings and breathe into them and the part of your body where you sense them. Breathing through them may enable you to handle them and eventually release them. Consciously breathing into and relaxing both physical and psychological pain will diminish it and facilitate healing. I recommend Gay Hendricks’ Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery as an excellent resource for using breathing for general health and healing.

During intense exertion or stress, you may hold your breath and tighten your abdominal muscles. Use conscious breathing to overcome these counterproductive practices and be especially alert when you are doing aerobics, isometrics, and Yoga postures. Holding your breath increases tension and reduces your ability to improve muscle tone. If you find yourself holding your breath, back off the activity and focus on your breathing. Restrictive clothing around your waist will interfere with your progress in breathing technique. Avoid confining clothing that interferes with the full use of your diaphragm and abdominal muscles. Instead, you might try suspenders, loose-fitting waistbands, or bib shorts and tights. Riding with a forward lean of more than 45 degrees compresses your diaphragm and interferes with breathing performance unless you are able to maintain your lumbar curve. Most people find this uncomfortable since it presses the pubic bone into the saddle.

Breath training while cycling requires full concentration. I recommend you ride alone while you are coordinating your breathing skills. Trying to superimpose breath training on group rides may discourage you from slowing your pace to optimize your breathing performance.

The great swimming and cross-country skiing coach, Sven Wiik, often challenged his athletes to focus on their technique. He would ask his swimmers to concentrate exclusively on their form for just one lap of the pool. He reported that their success rate was poor, and their minds usually wandered off to other matters to the detriment of their swimming skills. How often have you gone out for a ride to relax and renew and found your mind churning? Conscious breathing can keep you in the moment so you can be alert and engaged in your surroundings, your physical sensations, and your companionship of friends while cycling. It can also improve your technique.

References
Iyengar, B.K.S., Light on Pranayama: The Yogic Art of Breathing, CrossRoad Publ. NY, 1992. ISBN 0-8245-0686-3 613.192

Hendricks, Gay, Ph.D., Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery, Bantam Books, NY, 1995. ISBN 0-553-37443-5 613.192