Pain underneath solar plexus during diaphragmatic breathing exercise
obspeaks
Member Posts: 2
Hi, all - I bought the course a few days ago and have been grinding volume one on a daily basis since then - I'm deeply enjoying the course so far and believe it was worth every penny.
The only thing that worries me is that during the diaphragmatic breathing exercise where Ken has us do a major scale arpeggio using a quick diaphragmatic breath for each note, after a few scale passes I begin to experience a sharp, cramping pain in the upper abdominal muscles found several inches under the solar plexus. If I slow down and lengthen the notes or take a brief pause between breaths the pain disappears, but it isn't addressed in the video and I'm worried I may be doing something wrong.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is it just the diaphragm / smooth abdominal muscles getting a workout they aren't used do and strengthening over time? Or am I not breathing correctly?
The only thing that worries me is that during the diaphragmatic breathing exercise where Ken has us do a major scale arpeggio using a quick diaphragmatic breath for each note, after a few scale passes I begin to experience a sharp, cramping pain in the upper abdominal muscles found several inches under the solar plexus. If I slow down and lengthen the notes or take a brief pause between breaths the pain disappears, but it isn't addressed in the video and I'm worried I may be doing something wrong.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is it just the diaphragm / smooth abdominal muscles getting a workout they aren't used do and strengthening over time? Or am I not breathing correctly?
Best Answer
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highmtn
Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,380
I think that most likely you are using your diaphragm in ways that you never have before, and probably should take it easy on this particular exercise for the time-being. I think that after a while your diaphragm will be able to do this exercise without the cramps, but I wouldn't rush it, and I would also listen to the signals my body is giving when it says "WHOAH!"
You will be using your diaphragm a lot from now on, and it will become more accustomed to being your new workhorse.
Don't grind so hard. Give your body a little more time to adapt to its new tasks.
ALSO: Be aware that the exercise you are talking about is the ONLY time you take a separate diaphragmatic breath for each note. You do NOT do that when singing a scale, as in 8 separate huffs for an 8-note scale. It's one breath, and one continuous exhalation for the entire scale both going up and coming back down.
The one-huff per note scale is an exercise that is supposed to give you a real workout for your diaphragm. If you're cramping up, then you need to take a little more time before expecting your diaphragm to be up to the task that this exercise requires. Go lightly on this one, or skip it until you can do it without cramping.
Bob
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