Breathe better to live better!
Breathing marks out our life from birth to death.
We are born on an in-breath and die on an out-breath.
So there is indeed a link between our body and our spirit, and this link is the breath, which we can experience through breathing.
Here the body/spirit duality appears. Either I do something with my body to feel better, and so the body comes to the aid of the spirit, or I do something with my spirit to feel better in my body.
Examples: I do sport to feel better.
I go and see a film to entertain myself, forget the worries of my life and feel better.
Is there an element between spirit and body that, besides linking them, could influence both?
Let us observe breathing and its qualities.
We have many kinds of breathing in our body:
Breathing with the belly, the ribs, the collarbones, the back...
We have many particular kinds of breathing:
Panting, fast, jerky, deep, silent, noisy breathing.
More surprisingly, we can also notice that there is a direct link between a type of breathing and a psychological state.
The slow, deep breath of the sleeper.
The high, fast breathing of stress or fear.
The jerky breathing of someone crying.
The powerful breath held in the throat at orgasm.
So each state of consciousness has its own breathing.
Mastering our breath will then allow us to control our mind and our states of consciousness, since we have seen that spirit and body interact.
Mastering the breath will help eliminate stress as well as all our psychological states. With a little practice it will lead us into extraordinary states of concentration and physical and mental fluidity.
IN PRACTICE, ON THE PHYSICAL LEVEL
Stress and prolonged sport or work tend to block the diaphragm. The result is a feeling of fatigue and heaviness. When the diaphragm blocks, the whole digestive system works poorly, because it is no longer massaged by the breathing. Moreover, the part used for breathing becomes higher, smaller and harder to move.
We have 3 areas in the body for breathing.
Collarbones: 3rd part
Ribs: 2nd part
Belly: 1st part
The first part uses the belly to breathe: the belly swells (pushes out) on the in-breath and draws in on the out-breath. In this phase the diaphragm descends on the in-breath and rises on the out-breath.
The second part uses the ribs: the belly does not necessarily move, but if it does, it draws in on the in-breath and pushes out (slightly) on the out-breath. Sadly, this is the breathing phase we use most in our lives. Sadly, because it calls on powerful muscles that must move ribs which are fairly stiff, compared with the belly, which is softer and therefore easier to move. Unlike in the first part, the diaphragm rises on the in-breath and descends on the out-breath, but its movement is small.
The third part is the collarbones: the breathing of the stressed!!
Sadly, it is THE breathing of our world!
It is very high, uses only a tiny part of the lung volume, and takes considerable effort to bring in a very small amount of air. It is therefore suffocating and very tiring. The diaphragm is frozen.
So the first part is by far the best way to breathe. This breathing will:
- Help intestinal transit and digestion
- Help the heart in its movement, since it rests on the diaphragm
- Ease the transfer of blood between the heart, the liver and the lungs, since arteries pass through the diaphragm.
- Finally, bring more oxygen to the whole body and the muscles with great ease.
Best of all, of course, is to do complete breaths that use all 3 breathing volumes.
IN PRACTICE, ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
We have noticed that there is a direct link between our moods and our breathing.
Indeed, each psychological state has its own very particular breathing.
The power of breathing is also that it takes us into our subconscious, because it is one of the only functions of our body that can move from a reflex (subconscious) stage to a controlled and therefore conscious one. I can speed up or slow down my breathing, but as soon as I stop thinking about it, it becomes a reflex again (and just as well for us).
Here we already have an interesting way of understanding that by mastering our breathing we will master our psychological states.
So by deliberately breathing like a sleeper (deep and slow), we have a chance of falling asleep much more easily.
Breathing techniques will allow us to change our psychological states in concrete ways and quickly put us in a harmonious frame of mind for the actions we have to carry out.
Mastering breathing will lead us to an understanding of the breath.
The breath is not breathing: it is its energetic side.
Breathing techniques allow us to discover the level of the energies that govern us, and perhaps give us the possibility of mastering them.
Finally, breath and spirit are very close...
IN PRACTICE...
- Babies breathe in a complete way, starting by breathing in with the belly, then continuing with the ribs opening out, and finally pushing the upper chest upwards. The out-breath follows the reverse order.
- But life upsets this order of things, and over time our breathing settles into the 3rd part because the diaphragm blocks and freezes.
- The practice of Yoga will help you relearn how to breathe and regain the well-being that naturally follows, feeling fulfilled and full of energy instead of feeling low...
- It will also release the diaphragm and stretch all the internal organs, which will tone and purify them.
- I invite you to rediscover this simple joy in a personal practice at home or in a group.
Feel free to contact me on my mobile: 06 11 10 66 24.
Denis Billo
Qualified Hatha Yoga teacher