bill,
most shallow breathers keep the muscles in their abdominal region too
stiff. some schools of teaching, i think, make it worse by making a big
production out of inhaling.
when you exhale, you are creating a vacuum in your lungs. by simply
relaxing on the inhalation, you can use that vacuum to do the inhalation for
you. the better your posture is set up ( doesn't have to be perfect ) and
the more relaxed your abdominal muscles, the 'lower' your breath will be.
a good way to feel this is to turn a chair around and straddle it ( just
like riding a pony ), lean your elbows on the back of the chair, then exhale
all your air while contracting your abdominal muscles. for the inhalation,
relax your muscles as instantly as you can feeling as if you just dropped
your belly ( to me, it feels like i've dropped my belly out a window ).
this drop will take the air in for you.
of course, i've described what it feels like to me. to you it might
feel like a drop or it might feel like nothing. you may feel the air being
taken in for you or you might have to help it a little at first. the
important thing to realize is that you have to start with coarse adjustment
before you fine tune it.
this is the type of breathing that qi gong and tai chi use as i
understand it. there are plenty of books on those two arts and you might
find better or additional tricks for getting a lower breath in them.
mike
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