112 E =O E =O Which are mechanisms governing this ancient automatism, dating back into humans to the dawn of time and evolution and, at once, so important in our body's functions, and whether it is possible to exercise breathing beyond the unconscious, it’s something that sportsmen, but also actors and singers, know full well. To understand breath it is firstly necessary to pay attention to the anatomy of the human body. In particular to the respiratory system, passing from the nose to the mouth through the vocal cords, right into the lungs and further down towards the diaphragm. For oxygen [O] to arrive at venous blood and regenerate it, simultaneously guaranteeing carbon dioxide’s [CO2] elimination, a gas exchange is required which rhythmically occurs through introduction of oxygen-rich air and emission of the carbon dioxide-thick part. A control mechanism located in the central nervous system supervises the operations, after activating nose, mouth and pharynx, the upper respiratory tract, along with the so-called lower airways: larynx, trachea and bronchi, serving the lungs. Which should be carefully described, since they do not have a unique conformation and therefore an identical volume, as we tend to mistakenly think. Because we often forget the presence of the most important vital organ: the heart, which pumps oxygen-rich blood through arteries and throughout the whole body. Talking about the two lungs supplying oxygen to blood, thanks to the precious work done by bronchi, the left one is smaller. It is in most here that the heart muscle occupies a space, called mediastinum, from which it performs its function embraced by the lungs, two semi-cones turned upside down in contact with the chest wall and resting on the diaphragm, torment and delight for those using the voice for a living. Triggering breath there are the respiratory muscles, which together with the diaphragm, indeed, move ribs upward enabling ribcage’s expansion movement, thus pulmonary extension. That’s breathing in. Intercostal muscles’ relaxation pushes then on lungs helping air get out of the body, through an essentially passive motion. That’s breathing out. However, the monitoring mechanism of respiration is, from birth and a fortiori during sleep cycles, the result of an unconscious reflex. In fact each movement, through nerve centres, gives rise to an opposite one, but it remains nevertheless true that respiration’s biological function can also be conscious, therefore controlled, in human beings. In other words , it can be headed to better accomplish different functions the likes of singing or praying, or of sporting activities such as apnoea and diving. Therefore, whichever is appropriate, singers and athletes carefully train their breathing. Freedivers, for instance, often use hyperventilation exercises, taking deeper and more frequent breaths in order to facilitate blood’s decarbonisation. The aim is simple, it is about delaying that unconscious reflex which - by means of last inhalation, right before diving - will ask the body to exhale and right after to inhale. On the other hand pop, singer-songwriter or classical music interpreters concentrate their exercises on diaphragm, training this muscle by forcing voluntary control until it is able to move and manage, through a more careful and prudent effort, the air entering the lungs which, in exiting, makes the vocal cords vibrate. Such is the poetic engineering serving the lightest evidence of life as of the human body: breathing, either automatic but willing to be controlled, and as energy, and as the feelings, important, however impalpable. 113
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