“Belly Breath” is a common focus in many yoga classes. The reason this happens is because there are so many people who breathe shallowly into their ribcage only, and in an effort to improve breathing capacity, mostly teachers coach the belly breath to be the focus. But like most things, we’ve gone to the other end of the spectrum now. Too far left, then too far right. Classic humans.
belly breath
4 Problems Only Using “Belly Breath” Can Cause
It’s a common practice today to place significant emphasis on belly breath, or more appropriately termed “diaphragmatic breathing”. I anticipate that much of its focus is the result of the popularization of yoga. In and of itself it’s a great practice to ensure that your [thoracic] diaphragm is moving well and aiding in a natural breathing cycle, but as with many things in life, leave it to humans to take it too far.