Top-Shelf Breathing

Breathing is automatic, but how you breathe can make the difference between feeling calm and feeling like you’re perpetually bracing for impact. Many people default to shallow, upper-chest breathing—what we can call "top-shelf breathing"—instead of fully expanding the lungs. It’s like taking tiny sips from a straw when your body really needs to drink deeply from a full glass.

When the breath stays up in the chest, accessory muscles like the scalenes (those small but mighty muscles along the neck) get stuck doing extra work. They lift the first rib again and again, pulling the shoulders up like they’re auditioning for a permanent role as earrings. Over time, this leads to stiffness, restricted movement, and a neck that feels about as flexible as a rusty door hinge.

A Simple Breath Reset Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman suggests a simple breathing technique to help shift the body into a parasympathetic (relaxed) state: two short inhales through the nose, followed by a long exhale through the mouth. It’s a quick way to clear excess CO2 and tell your nervous system, “Hey, we’re not running from a tiger—you can relax now.”

A full, diaphragmatic breath—where the belly expands and the ribs move—engages the entire respiratory system. This helps prevent the domino effect of tight scalenes, locked-up neck muscles, and those stubbornly elevated shoulders. Making deeper breathing a habit can improve mobility, ease tension, and help you feel less like you’re stuck in survival mode.

So, let’s retire the top-shelf air sipping and start breathing like we actually own all that lung space. Your neck (and your sanity) will thank you.