Struggling with posture and breathing during practice

[kieranperez]

Disclaimer: I have no issues with my health. I’ve run 4:13 in the mile and 31 for 10k so I don’t imagine myself having problems with health in terms of my lung capacity or any of that lol. That’s not to say I can’t learn how to breathe better or that I have perfect health but I think you get the idea haha

 

So I’m REALLY struggling with my practice for the last year or so and I can’t for the life of me figure out what the solution is. 

The dilemma is pretty much 3-fold:

1. Ankle pressure/pain - when I sit on the cushion, no matter what way sit (Burmese or half lotus, or any cross legged position in general after those 2 fail), I feel so much pressure on my ankles because it feels like I’m putting all my body pressure on top of my ankles. I position my feet such that my closes foot is touching my perineum. 
2. Hip (flexors) on fire - so as a competitive runner, one of my biggest weaknesses for me personally has always been in my hips. I bring up the runner part because with the amount that I run (50-85 miles per week... depends on where I’m at in my training block), if I’m not doing a lot of flexibility/mobility work on my hips, they eventually get so knotted up that I can’t run because they lock up. My lack of decent hip strength/mobility makes meditating really hard because I’ll be 5 minutes into a sit and my hips are on fire and I can’t even breathe deep and relaxed.
3. Can’t breath deep and relaxed - So I don’t find, after experimenting and paying attention to what’s working and not working, that my issue here is a matter of either being frantic in my mind or sitting up too straight. I find that even if I’m not meditating, holding any sort of relaxed yet aligned posture fucks with my ability to breathe deep and relaxed. It’s easier (yet can still not be enough) when I sit in a chair. But me being a sub elite athlete that’s never really had injuries or true health problems physically other than being tight in a good amount of areas, I don’t want to restrict myself to a chair because I don’t get why I can’t figure this out and have to restrict myself. I also notice that even if I sit on the floor sitting up straight with both legs together straight out, I can’t breathe deep. My breath is shaky and shallow.  I’m not even anxious or perturbed so I know it’s not a matter of racing thoughts causing that. 

Has as anyone here struggled with any of the following issues and overcome them when it comes to posture? Thanks!

[InfinitePotential]

Being really athletic DOES NOT equal being really healthy. There's definitely a positive correlation but there's tons of unhealthy athletic people, and healthy people who are not athletic.

Check out buteyko breathing to optimize breathing. "The Oxygen Advantage" is great for this. And definitely yogic breathing techniques too. The "complete breath" specifically is great for fixing shallow breathing. 

As for the posture problems, stretch, and check out Esther Gokhale's work on "primal" posture. It's different from typical advice. Also if you happen to do back squats a lot, I think those made my hip flexors unflexible.

Also, I've found a meditation bench to be very comfortable. 

Edited July 25, 2018 by InfinitePotential

[kieranperez]

2 minutes ago, InfinitePotential said:

Also if you happen to do back squats a lot, I think those made my hip flexors inflexible.

99% of people don't know how to squat with proper mechanics. People usually can't squat properly funny enough due to lack of mobility and range of motion in their hips. 

Will check out those links. Thanks

[InfinitePotential]

22 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

99% of people don't know how to squat with proper mechanics. People usually can't squat properly funny enough due to lack of mobility and range of motion in their hips.

99% at least. Proper squatting would be being able to squat as a resting position, ass practically touching the ground. We're all fucked up for life due to our chairs and what not. 

[ChimpBrain]

I'm not a runner but am relatively muscular from years of weight training and I have the same issue with hips, knees and ankles. Now I just sit in a chair but don't rest on the chair-back, or straddle the weight bench in my garage. The weight bench is my favorite but it's been 100+ degrees here lately so that's out for now. I notice the more I slouch the harder it is to breathe. But there's a fine line to walk between erect enough to breathe properly and so erect that you can't relax. That's the part I have trouble with. If I truly relax like I want to I'm slumped over like a passed-out drunk lol

[kieranperez]

3 hours ago, InfinitePotential said:

99% at least. Proper squatting would be being able to squat as a resting position, ass practically touching the ground. We're all fucked up for life due to our chairs and what not. 

I don’t want to get too far off my original post but that is an AWESOME picture. That is PERFECT. Feet squared forward, perfect extension, back is straight, the whole lot and it’s not someone that needs to pay a ridiculous chunk of money to someone that teaches them something so basic. 

Edited July 25, 2018 by kieranperez

[InfinitePotential]

9 hours ago, kieranperez said:

I don’t want to get too far off my original post but that is an AWESOME picture. That is PERFECT. Feet squared forward, perfect extension, back is straight, the whole lot and it’s not someone that needs to pay a ridiculous chunk of money to someone that teaches them something so basic. 

Word. Shins perpendicular to the ground, knees directly over ankles, that dude isn't having many health problems.  Most moderners his age can barely do a half squat.  The price we pay for all our comfort.

As for your op, all I can think is that the meditation bench has helped me a lot (though requires a little flexibility in the feet / ankles), and maybe looking at what shoes you're wearing when running.  Maybe some vibram five fingers or something would help (idk).