IN THIS LESSON

How my passion to teach functional breathing began.

I first learned about diaphragm breathing while pursuing my doctorate in chiropractic. I had never been taught prior to this and thought back “Why does it take a doctorate degree to learn how to breathe well?”. After learning the many benefits of diaphragm breathing my question was amplified.

During my internship towards the end of chiropractic school I worked with many prenatal and post-natal mothers and witnessed first hand how proper breathing impacted them. Diaphragm breathing strengthened the core and pelvic floor from the inside out and reduced tension in the upper back and neck. We would get reports all the time from mothers saying they no longer suffer from urinary incontinence or that they could be intimate with their partner again without pain. These reports and real life experiences further engrained in me the importance of diaphragm breathing, especially for women.

After graduation I worked with many athletes and weightlifters, both men and women, many who had injured their low back during lifts. A common theme found was the misinterpretation of breathing and bracing. When lifting weights, breathing into and bracing the core properly protects your spine and low back from taking all of the load. It distributes the forces through the core.

I also worked with many people who work at desk jobs suffering from a lot of tension in the upper back, neck, and chest. Often these people were breathing into their chest, encouraging the sympathetic (fight or flight) response in their body and using the accessory breathing muscles of the neck and chest to raise the rib cage with each breath.

Teaching and checking diaphragm breathing became so frequent that I decided I would like to do more. I want to reach more people. People shouldn’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a doctorate degree to learn how to breathe. Although the consequences of not knowing proper breath can cost exceedingly more than that.

The problem is that most of the population doesn’t know. When they do find out the importance of breath, there are so few resources specialized in diaphragm breathing to help. This creates a massive barrier to entry.

My goal with this program is to provide an affordable and adaptable option for people of every background and fitness status who want to holistically improve their quality of breath. Thereby improving their quality of life.

- Syra Saboori, D.C., MSc Neuroscience