Movement in your cranial, abdominal, and pelvic diaphragms supports health system-wide

Most of us have heard of our abdominal diaphragm; the massive, umbrella-shaped, breathing muscle that separates our lungs and heart from our abdominal organs. You’re probably familiar with diaphragmatic breathing – allowing the abdominal diaphragm to move down into the belly, so that the belly swells as we inhale, and allowing it to press back up, flattening the belly and emptying the lungs as we exhale.

Diaphragmatic breathing in this way is excellent for our health – particularly for those of us healing chronic illness or Lyme disease. It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, calms anxiety, and improves digestion. But the abdominal diaphragm isn’t the whole story. There are (at least) two other diaphragms in the body, and allowing them to move with the breath is just as beneficial, and often overlooked.

Here’s a brief description of two less well-known diaphragms, and why allowing them to move along with the abdominal diaphragm supports health, in particular lymphatic flow.

The cranial diaphragm

The cranial diaphragm is a complex, interwoven, connective tissue structure that contains and divides areas of the brain; keeping them protected and bathed in cerebrospinal fluid. But you don’t have to be an anatomist to feel your cerebral diaphragm. In order to feel it, it’s helpful to simplify.

You can imagine your cranial diaphragm as the floor of your brain. For simplicity’s sake, this soft, pliable floor basically runs along the underside of your brain, behind your nose, above your soft palate, and between your ears.

The cranial diaphragm is actually continuous with the fascia that encloses the entire brain, divides the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and contains the cerebrospinal fluid. You can include this in your visualization, or just stick with the floor. Either way, the visualization will work.

The pelvic diaphragm

The pelvic diaphragm is another complex interweaving of muscle and fascia. This diaphragm forms a thin, strong hammock that supports the base of the pelvis; keeping the pelvic and abdominal organs contained inside the body cavity. For the purpose of visualization, it’s once again nice to simplify.

Imagine the diamond shape created by your pubic bone, your coccyx (tail bone), and your two sits bones (the bones you feel when you sit down) on either side – the base of your pelvis. These four bones are connected by the pelvic diaphragm. The pelvic diaphragm supports and contains all the organs above it.

Moving all three diaphragms with your breath

It may take some practice to feel all three of your diaphragms moving with your breath rhythm. I love it as a meditation practice. Here’s how I tune in and feel it.

Start with diaphragmatic breathing in your abdominal diaphragm. As mentioned before, when this diaphragm is relaxed, it will naturally press down into your abdominal cavity on your inhale, and release up into your lungs as you exhale. This means your belly will swell and inflate with your inhale, and flatten as you exhale. Just place a hand on your belly as you relax and breathe to begin feeling this rhythm.

As you relax into diaphragmatic breathing, widen your attention to include your cranial diaphragm. If you are relaxed, the movement in your abdomen will affect your cranium as well; allowing for this second diaphragm to move in response. If you’re lying down, you’ll start to feel your head moving just slightly on your pillow as you breathe. You may be able to release long-held tension in your neck and shoulders as you feel your cranial diaphragm begin to move.

Next, begin to sense your pelvic diaphragm. Movement here may be more subtle, as the muscles are so strong, but you’ll still be able to sense your pelvic diaphragm expanding slightly as you inhale, and softening as you exhale.

Diaphragmatic breathing increases lymphatic flow (and other fluids)

Not only does this kind of full-body, diaphragmatic breathing calm the nervous system, soothe anxiety, and improve digestion, but it assists with lymphatic drainage and movement in all fluid systems.

As you may know, our lymphatic system has no internal pump. Typically, lymph moves through its ventricles pushed by muscular contraction during exercise. But the simple act of relaxing enough to allow all three of our diaphragms to move with each breath can help move our lymph as well.

Full body, diaphragmatic breathing helps to move lymph, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and interstitial fluid throughout the body. It bathes and massages our internal organs. This means that any time you can lie down and meditate on your breathing, you can help your body detoxify pathogens, toxins, and debris, and support health in every organ system.

You may unwind old patterns of tension and held emotion around different organ systems, allowing these systems to self-heal more effectively. I found it surprising how much tension I was holding around the base of my brain – releasing it may help my brain detoxify from neurological Lyme disease.

Thank you for reading! I hope you find this breathwork practice as healing and harmonizing as I do. If you‘d like more support with the detoxifying power of lymphatic flow, my Cleansing Lymphatic Flow meditation is here for you. Play with your breathing as you listen.

All the universe moves within you,

Shona