| There can be many contributors to neck pain. The more you understand your habits, the more you can adjust yourself during the day and in the end, decrease neck tension. This applies to breathing habits. If you have chronic neck issues you could be: Raising your shoulders while you inhale Using your shoulder blades to inhale or exhale Using your throat muscles to lift the upper ribs Clenching your jaw Sinking your chest when you inhale What do you notice? Which one applies to you?
During a resting breath, if the diaphragm is working correctly, the chest will deepen front to back, the lower ribs will widen as the diaphragm descends, the abdomen will expand and the back will move backward.
In other words, if you had a balloon filling your torso from the collarbones to your pelvis all these parts will move evenly and at the same time generally.
If this happens there is no involvement of the neck muscles, and the shoulder blades. Rather then a lifting or lowering movement you will feel a general expansion in all directions during inhale and a deflation during the exhale.
No amount of stretching will help. If your breathing (and you need to keep breathing!) is contributing to the tension.
TBA: The next series of classes In MARCH will help you feel how to ease the neck and shoulders by noticing and changing how the breath influences these areas. Have you taken Take a Breath: Neck and Shoulder Relief before? I will be sending you a discount code to apply to your registration. | 
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