Equipment needed: 1 Balloon.
- Blow up the balloon.
- Release the air, not missing the chance for a bit of silliness.
- Put the balloon back between your lips and hold it there with only your lips, no hands.
- Place one hand on your abs and the other around your throat.
- Blow the balloon up. When you need to, breathe in through your nose, holding the balloon with your teeth and lips.
- You must keep your throat as relaxed as possible and you will feel your abs pulling in very strongly – be clear with your intention for tight abs and not a bullfrog neck.
- It may well take a couple of puffs to sort this out.
This marvellous exercise does three things: to blow that balloon up with a relaxed throat means you have to breathe properly. The diaphragm has to go up (and relax, whilst the pelvic floor contracts), the abs contract hard to blow the air out, and the reverse to breathe in. Healthy breathing glues brain and body together; when the diaphragm is not working properly, many neural problems will begin – but it will be years before the effects are manifest. Old age creeps up, you know.
The second thing it does is give you face ache – this is cranial nerve 7 that innervates the facial muscles. They will be working hard to hang onto that balloon. Also cranial nerve 7 makes tears and spit, so anybody with dry eye will benefit from this exercise. Finally, to breathe in, you grip the balloon in your teeth, which activates the huge trigeminal nerve, cranial nerve 5. Both cranial nerves 5 and 7 live in the middle of the brainstem and encourage postural extension, so will help straighten up a bent over upper back.