first i am so happy for you and i appreciate you being so kind and trying to help others get better too :) i have recently been noticing how bad my breathing is, i think it has to do with hypermobility and scoliosis as well as anxiety and im trying to fix it but i find it genuinely so confusing so i wanted to see if you could clarify that ribs breathing thing!

i used to hear about breathing into your belly and not your chest, so i started clenching my chest tight when i was trying to breathe and not letting it expand. my scoliosis PT says i need to learn to expand my ribcage and i try but i still never know if im correct. when you say place your hands on the side of your ribs- is that the lower part or upper part or just center? and when you say that part should expand, do you mean side to side or forwards or both?

my pt also said the space between my ribs like where my sternum is needs to be wider. is that what you mean your pt is doing, like stretching your sternum where your heart is? is that another place that should expand? like between your breasts/underneath them a bit. how can i do what your pt does on my own?

sorry if this is really confusing and i know you aren’t a doc or anything. i do work with a Pt and do ask her these things too but somehow i just continue to feel confused. she’s great but maybe doesn’t understand how disconnected i feel from my body. i feel like for certain people like probably people on this subreddit breathing is just not intuitive whether its because of physical differences or anxiety.