Breathing Series, Part 1 of 4
Introduction
That “organizing the breath” matters in the first of Rolfing’s ten sessions has been treated before in this column (see “Session 1: Organizing the Breath”). In yoga as well, the postures are taken with attention on the breath.
This series will take four parts to address the scientific side of breathing and its relation to Hubert Godard’s Tonic Function (on Tonic Function, see “Body and Mind (2): Tonic Function (1)” and “Body and Mind (3): Tonic Function (2)“).
Breathing comes in two kinds: unconscious breathing (also called quiet breathing) and conscious breathing (also called forced breathing). The unconscious kind comes first.
Unconscious breathing
Structurally, the human brain divides into the cerebrum, diencephalon, cerebellum, and brain stem.
Unconscious breathing is carried by the nerve cells within the respiratory center of the brain stem. The principal role of the respiratory center is to organize the rhythm of breathing. And as is well known, breathing consists of taking in oxygen from the air (inhalation) and expelling carbon dioxide as waste (exhalation). When the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood rises, the body shifts automatically toward inhalation in order to take in oxygen.
Now, after the exhalation has run its course, a command travels from the respiratory center of the brain stem to the spinal cord. The muscles required for inhalation contract, and the ribs expand. As a result, pressure within the thoracic cavity — the space enclosed by the ribs — drops, and the lungs inflate on their own. Air enters through the alveoli. Before long the command from the respiratory center is inhibited, and inhalation stops.
As the muscles required for inhalation relax, the ribs narrow under the influence of gravity. Pressure within the thoracic cavity rises, and the inflated lungs return to their former state on their own — this is called passive recoil. Through that process, air is expelled. Exhalation requires no muscular contraction. Which is to say: when the body breathes unconsciously, it can exhale completely without using any effort at all.
Conscious Breathing
Human breathing can also be carried out consciously. In that case the cerebral cortex, on the outside of the cerebrum, takes charge. From the cortex, by way of motor neurons, the muscles involved in breathing can be acted upon. Speech, singing, and pranayama — one of the deliberate breathing practices — are examples. In these cases, muscles assist during exhalation as well.
Unconscious breathing, however, placed under the control of the autonomic nervous system, is the stronger of the two. When carbon dioxide accumulates at high concentration in the body, the switch to unconscious breathing occurs automatically. Holding the breath raises the concentration of carbon dioxide; the respiratory center responds, and the muscles required for inhalation contract. No amount of conscious suppression can stop that changeover.
Unconscious and conscious breathing are also affected by language. “Take a deep breath” and “breathe naturally” produce different results — the former conscious, the latter unconscious.
Hubert Godard’s Tonic Function has been treated here before. The idea runs as follows:
How can the gamma motor system be activated so as to draw the fullest use from Tonic muscle — the muscle that works continuously and at high energy efficiency within the body?
What is interesting is that the muscles involved in inhalation are Tonic muscle, energy-efficient within the body and also involved in maintaining posture. The muscles involved in exhalation, on the other hand — the exhalation of forced breathing — fall under Phasic muscle. When the muscles of inhalation contract and then fail to relax properly at the changeover to exhalation, Phasic muscle begins to work.
In the first Rolfing session, whose aim is to organize the breath (see “Session 1: Organizing the Breath“), the reason for approaching the fascia of the Tonic muscle involved in inhalation is this: release the tension there, and Phasic muscle relaxes of its own accord.
On Tonic and Phasic, the next part will look more closely while taking up the diaphragm, the principal muscle involved in breathing.
Reference
Aline Newton; Breathing in the gravity field Fall 1997, Rolf Lines
Note, August 2026
This piece was written in February 2015, during the Phase III training in Munich — one month before certification as a Rolfer. It stands as a record of an attempt to organize, in my own words, the anatomy being studied at the time and Hubert Godard’s theory of Tonic Function. Reading it again in 2026, the terminology and internal references were put in order, and the whole was re-edited as a four-part series.
Breathing Series (Four Parts)
- Part 1: Exhaling Takes No Effort — Conscious and Unconscious Breath (this article)
- Part 2: The Diaphragm Reaches the Skull — Breath and the Placement of the Organs
- Part 3: When Posture Collapses, Breathing Changes — Extensors, Flexors, and the Scalenes
- Part 4: The Inhaling Body and the Exhaling Body — Breath Seen Through Gravity