For many musicians, breath is thought of as fuel: the more you inhale, the more you have to give. It might seem logical to “take a big breath” before a demanding phrase or passage. More air should mean more sound? Yet this pursuit of volume often makes breathing harder, not easier.
The act of trying to breathe big often produces rigidity. The chest lifts, the shoulders tighten, the abdominal wall braces. All signs of unnecessary effort. You might create the sensation of fullness, but limit the movement of the ribs, and diaphragm. The air cannot move with ease. Instead of feeling supported, the body becomes braced, and less breath is available.
When you think of the lungs as a container to fill, then adding strain doesn’t feel important. And you might not notice it’s getting in your way. When forced, the muscles stiffens, and less air is available. But what if you think of breath as a movement to allow instead?
Each breath is a concerted choreography of the ribs, sternum, spine, and diaphragm. You can co-ordinate better when you think of the whole. When you think about your skeleton in breathing, your brain streamlines the movements. Add in sensing your elasticity, and breathing can completely change its feeling.
A free breath, even if it feels smaller, offers elasticity. And with that, the capacity to adapt to your musical intention and timing.
The ribcage is often imagined as a rigid frame, but in reality, it is a living, flexible structure. With each inhalation, the ribs widen, rotate, and spiral. This expansion is not only forward but lateral and posterior — a three-dimensional movement. In exhalation, the structure prepares for the next breath.
When you chase size, you interfere with your organic architecture. The ribs hold rather than respond, and the diaphragm must push against resistance. When you invite mobility instead, breath becomes continuous, and freer. More able to respond to the music itself.
So a more useful reminder is not “take a big breath,” but “allow your ribs to move.” To allow a more natural, supported breathing that responds and shapes to the music. Not a braced inhalation that fights against it.
Often, your most effective breath is not the “biggest” but the freest.
the Feldenkrais Method with Emma Alter 