What the upper limits of the inhale can teach us about springing too quickly

It's your body's "no is a complete sentence" reflex

The upper limits of the inhale are your lung’s version of no. A kind of no that honors your current way of being, without shame or shoulds swirling in the background.

When elongating your inhale, have you ever noticed that towards the end of your inhale, you feel like your lungs can’t inflate anymore? That, even when you exert more force and effort, they won’t puff beyond a certain threshold.

Let’s give it a try now.

Inhale through the nose if accessible for 1 2 3 4 5. It’s right about the 3, 4, or 5, that you may be coming up against that edge, the upper limit of your lung’s capacity. Sip in a little more if you notice your lungs want more air to reach maximum inflation (or pretty close to it).

Take in the feeling of your lungs at maximum inflation for a moment. 

And, release, let that inhale go. Shake the arms and the hands. 

This sensation when your lungs are at their maximum stretch capacity is known as the Breur-Hering Reflex. It’s a critical reflex to help with automatic breathing as you sleep, drink coffee, and even stare longingly at the clock waiting for a meeting to be over. 

As you take a slow, expansive inhale, the mechanoreceptors (neurons that act as a barometer) within the fascia (the connective tissue just beneath the skin) surrounding the lungs tell the lungs how much more they can stretch. As you approach the end of the inhale and the pressure is reaching its threshold, the mechanoreceptors get loud and communicate that they can no longer stretch, through the vagus nerve.

For those of you who struggle with sitting in your no, let this remind you that you and your lungs are already exercising a beautiful boundary setting. I know when I learned about the Breur-Hering Reflex, I felt empowered. Every time I play with elongating my inhales, my mechanoreceptors in the pleura (the fascia surrounding the lungs) are practicing the act of expressing their limits and boldly sitting in their no. 

As we journey through the season of inhale where the energy of blossoming and growth is thick, remember to heed the wisdom of your physiology and not rush to the upper limits of that inhale too quickly so you don’t burn out before summer even arrives. 

This is the theme Shannon Mitchell and I will be studying together in person at Breath and Bitters at Pitney Meadows Community Farm on April 19th from 6 to 7:30pm EST. If you are in the Capital Region, we’d love for you to join in and play with leaning into this energy of spring without overexerting yourself.

Keep on breathing with intention,

Sarah

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