Tuesday, September 30, 2025
My personal trainer makes me do ab work each time we meet, which is three times a week. We never skip core. Each hour-long workout begins with 15 minutes of concentrated abdominal persecution. Most of our movements require leg lifting, plank holding, and writhing on the stability ball.
The tendency, under duress, is to hold the breath back. This is also a common technical error in power squats or overhead press. The unaware want to keep back pressure to “support” the upward movement. You can brace downward, as gravity is assisting. However, the secret of the uplifting movement is to breathe outward. This release of air releases more potential in the muscle.
Breathe through, says the trainer. Breathe through, says the obstetrician or midwife. Deep breathing, says the surgeon, after a major operation. I find myself holding back the breath while I play the organ in wicked passages of Duruflé, Widor, or Bach. Imagine holding back and bracing all the time.
You can’t expect success by bracing in a constant posture of panic. A posture of confidence is liquid, invisible, alert, yet pliable. Fear is eased into, not braced up against. So, when you write your “big check” to the IRS, breathe out. When you get that call from the doctor with that diagnosis, breathe through. When that unexpected turn of events moves into your life, breathe out. Breathe through the persecution. You’re not being punched in the gut. If you vanish, nothing can get to you, and you’ll slip through the so-called tight spaces. Inspire, conspire, and aspire all relate to the spirit or spire which is a tall, tapering image. It climbs, but disappears in the heights.
Breathe through labor, trying times, and of course, fear. Bracing means bashing, failing, and falling. Breathing means breezing through, unscathed, higher, into the upper echelons of infinite potential.