The article linked below shows that your nervous system will always prioritise respiration over spinal movement and stability if it is faced with that choice. Does the following pattern sound familiar to you? Life stressor(s) increase in intensity, and all of a sudden, for no apparent reason your lower back or neck pain flares up within a few days of this happening. (a stressor could literally be anything from financial to relationship to getting bad news to even this pandemic) I think the study linked here helps you make sense of this all. What does stress do to our physiology? It shifts us towards fight or flight type responses that affect our hormonal system and our respiratory system. When the respiration shifts, your nervous systems priorities shift. "Keep me breathing and with a steady supply of oxygen, who cares about stability right now, breath is more important." - Your nervous system during times of stress. For me this emphasises more and more how important breathing and awareness of changes in respiratory rate is. Anything over 15 breaths per minute is likely to be overbreathing. Something to check in with when you would consider yourself stressed during your day. And then ideally nasal breathe and slow the respiratory rate back down to 8-12 breaths per minute!