Phrenos: The Diaphragm

The diaphragm is the central muscle of the human body. The principle muscle of your breath. In ancient Greece, the diaphragm was phrenos — the unity of all possibilities of human expression — the link between body, mind, and breath.

The dome-like diaphragm is so strategically located, it is said to be a work of art. Your heart rests over it. Your liver and spleen lie below it. It’s attached to your spine.

As it moves, it encloses and touches all your abdominal organs. The diaphragm interconnects your heart, your abdomen, your lungs, and your spine. And because of these relationships, its movement profoundly affects your posture, digestion, elimination, and respiration.

This is your diaphragm, the mediator of all rhythms — biological and emotional.

The rhythmic movement of your diaphragm is changing constantly. Relaxed, it is shaped like a dome, arching into the cavity of your chest.

As you inhale, it contracts down, pressing on your organs and opening up your chest. Air rushes in as you breathe.

As you exhale, your diaphragm relaxes. Rising. Pushing the air up and out.

The diaphragm swings as you breathe. Rising and falling. Relaxing and contracting. The air is drawn into your lungs and expelled. Naturally breathing, pumping, continually massaging your organs, heart, and lungs.

Ebbing and flowing. A never-ending movement. All one movement. United with what you feel, with what you say, with what you breathe.

So free your diaphragm. Let it move. Let it feel. And let it breathe.

Phrenos. Unifying all possibilities of body, mind, and breath.

 

To learn more, read Breathing into Life: Recovering Wholeness through Body, Mind & Breath.