Gasp Inhale Belly

Obviously you can't start on the gasp inhale belly exercise until you have mastered the belly only breathing.

As simple as this exercise seems in description, it is intensely powerful when done correctly and fully. A gasp is an extremely short inhale (or later, exhale). Listen to the audio for examples. One final point: while the inhale is a gasp, the exhale is normal. The sound is still the soft 'ah' and the time of the exhale is the normal amount of time.

There are three things to be concerned with here; and you will not master all of these things at the same time so don't try. It takes practice and a real willingness to let it happen. The three issues are: (1) the chest is not involved in the breath, (2) the gasp is extremely short, (3) the 'percussive' effect gets all the way down to the pelvis.

1) The Chest Is Not Involved

I have listed this issue first because if you involve the chest in your gasp inhale belly you will never, in fact, be able to gasp properly. Therefore the first issue to practice is that you can gasp into the belly without having the chest move.

Many people, when they first start this exercise, actually start with a mini-inhale to the chest before they gasp inhale to the belly. You have already learned to do chest only and belly only breathing. Now you have to master doing a rapid belly breath without re-involving the chest in the breath. Just work to get the inhale as rapid as possible (and as full as possible) without any use of the chest.

2) The Gasp Is Extremely Short

Now I can turn to the issue of what a 'gasp' is.

As best I can put it in words and audio, the gasp is nearly instantaneous. It is not rapid, it is not quick, it is not short; it is a gasp. A good estimate is that the complete inhale is finished in 1/4 of a second. Let's put it this way: it can't be too short provided that you inhale fully.

Try this trick to get an idea of what speed a gasp goes at. Do a complete exhale. Now balloon out your belly as far as possible without letting in any air (that is, keep your throat closed). Attempt to get that belly really far out, a really big round abdomen; from the ribs all the way down to the pelvis. The photo below is the better of the two models for expanding the belly. But, note that the expansion is really quite limited and he is unable to expand the belly all the way down to the pelvis. His abdomen comes in sharply before it gets to the pelvic area.

Figure 32

When you have that, then open your throat to let the air be sucked in to fill the chest. This is a good approximation of what a gasp is like.

This is a good point to repeat the issue of the throat sound. If you have a throat sound — even a little bit of a throat sound — it is physically impossible to do this gasp inhale. In order to do a gasp, whether to the belly or the chest, and irrespective of whether that is a gasp inhale (as here) or a gasp exhale (later in this chapter), any throat sound will slow down the inhale or exhale to the point that while it might be rapid, it is not a gasp.

Now at this point I have to add a caution which becomes more emphatic for the next section on the 'percussive' effect. This gasp inhale belly is a full breath. Many people try to accomplish a gasp by lessening the inhale, by making it only a partial inhale. It should be a full inhale. If you do a gasp by making the full inhale shallower, then you are not doing it properly. The gasp inhale should be just as deep, just as full, as the slowly done belly only breath.

3) 'Percussive Effect' Goes To The Pelvis

Now to the really advanced part. It can take a long time to get to this point. Think of this as the final step and, in fact, the goal. When you reach this point you have mastered this technique.

I call this a "percussive effect." I call it that because of both the way it feels and the way it happens. Since diaphragmatic breathing starts at the top of the belly, when the diaphragm suddenly contracts (as in the gasp inhale) it sends a wave of pressure from the ribs downward toward the pelvis. This happens very quickly (less than 1/4 of a second) but it is real. So when you are able to (1) do the gasp properly, and (2) you are able to let the belly fully expand, then you get a kind of hit or strike to the pelvic area. You can begin to imagine the effects this exercise will have on your sexual experience.

Don't be concerned if you can not feel this strike to the pelvis. It takes considerable time to trust your body enough to let go of all the muscle tension in the abdomen so that the pressure wave can get down to the pelvis. Treat it as your goal. The first time or two it occurs, it will feel strange; but you will get used to it and it produces some strong effects.

Gasp Inhale Chest

It is evident that you can not do a gasp inhale chest before you can do the chest only breathing. So get that going fully before you try this exercise.

As with the gasp inhale belly, the total time for the gasp is about 1/4 of a second. Recall the following about this: (1) it is done only with the muscles between the ribs, there is no use of the accessory muscles of respiration; (2) it does not make any use of the diaphragm (the abdomen does not tense or get pulled in).

In terms of the muscles, this is not a hard exercise. It terms of being able to do it right, it is difficult. Even people who have learned to do chest only breathing properly, when they start this exercise tend to revert to tensing the belly at the beginning of the breath.

The muscles between the ribs are small and thus can tire easily. That fact tends to cause even people who can do this exercise to soon revert and start tensing the abdomen or pulling the abdomen in just before or at the same time as the gasp inhale chest. When you find that you are doing that, stop the exercise; you have done as much as you can of this exercise in this session.

After the gasp inhale, the exhale is at a normal speed with the normal 'ah' sound.