What is the Breath and what is a Breathing Practice?
Breath
is life. We know that with breath there is life and without oxygen the brain is
harmed, which can lead to death. The
breath therefore sustains all vital functions of the human body. All of our
cells rely upon oxygen, which is delivered by the breath. The more efficient
the breathing process, the more efficient the delivery and uptake of oxygen
supply to the organs, glands, tissues and cells.
Oxygen...
I will
discuss the actual process of breathing in more detail shortly.
A
breathing practice is the awareness that you give to your breathing.
When
you take a few moments or minutes on a regular basis, this can be termed a
breathing practice.
“How
can I practice breathing? How can I practice something which is totally natural
and which I can’t survive without, even if I tried?”
Well
this is absolutely true. Your practice is to observe a process which is always
occurring in you and do so on a regular basis.
The breath is the one bodily function which
is under the control of the conscious and unconscious mind.
In this image, the Conscious Mind is above water, Unconscious is below......
The
breath is the medium to allow the conscious mind to tap into the unconscious
mind. This integration allows for the reprogramming of the mind and its
patterns, to achieve a more refined and desired state of being and thinking.
Highly advanced practitioners
are able to lower the pulse dramatically; the most advanced can even stop their
heart. Naturally this is not something that we are covering in this course, I
just use this classic example to demonstrate that access to the unconscious
mind, gives access to the involuntary nervous system as well as to limitless
amounts of information, which are
stored in what Jung termed the ‘collective unconsciousness’.
Let’s
pause for a moment.
When we
take this pause, quite spontaneously it is usually followed by a nice deep
inhale.
It may be that you were exhaling or began
exhaling also.
This is
all stating the obvious isn’t it?
Well
yes it is.
It is
so obvious but that’s not the same thing as being conscious.
If you
are conscious of HOW YOU BREATHE then you are in the right place to review
whether you would like to change or improve anything about it.
When
you feel happy, relaxed, calm and free, how is your breathing?
When
you are hyped up, how is your breathing?
When
you make life changing decisions how is your breathing?
I’ll
return to the idea of successful people. The one thing that they all have in
common is that they are calm and relaxed. The world’s greatest long
distance runner may be tired when she/he finishes an event, but if you observe
runners, you’ll see that the very best ones seem to look the least tired, the
most relaxed. This is harmony, or the LAW OF LEAST EFFORT in effect. These
runners are performing their practice, their WAY. They do what they ARE and
they feel freedom because of this. They are in tune with their inner purpose
and so they are doing what comes to them naturally.
The
good news here is that the breath comes to us all naturally.
Even
those who have breathing difficulties (remember my story), experience the
process of breathing as a natural phenomenon.
By the
process of nature, the lungs expel or draw in air. Whether there are
restrictions or conflicts with this process, the truth is that ‘gaseous
exchange’ between the lungs (including artificial ones) and the outside world,
is a process of nature, caused by pressure changing as it seeks equilibrium.
The
difficulty that I used to face as an asthmatic was that I couldn’t breathe
without struggle. There was a physical limitation and restriction.
In
hindsight, I see the reason why I ‘suffered’ for so long was that I always
‘tried’ to breathe from inside my box.
Remember Einstein
– “A problem can never be solved by using the same thinking processes that
caused it”.
I
didn’t need to stop the physical disability; I needed to stop my inner conflict
with it. I needed to allow myself the space to be myself. This is the
starting point for a fulfilling practice. I needed to acknowledge that I was
angry and impatient. I believed that God and the World ‘owed me’.
I needed to be at one with my disability.
A funny
thing was that a short time after I first told people without shame or guilt
“I’m an asthmatic”, my asthma went away. I had finally owned it. To be more
precise, I had accepted responsibility for myself. I stopped blaming and
shaming and became one with the actual reality. I began to work with thoughts
like “Okay so, maybe this is it. I’ll always be like this”. This acceptance
brought inner peace. As these thoughts embedded into my cells, my cellular
memory began to change.
When
you breathe, your thoughts either change or stop.
This is
how you get of out of the ‘thinking mind that caused the problem’.
When your mind is stuck in the rut.....
All of your thoughts will be coloured with
the same mix or emotion that placed you there in the first place. They have a
certain frequency to them.
In
order to move, you need to change the frequency.
Humanity is learning how to move
from frequencies like
You
step in to a new mind, which is open and spacious; a mind which is tuning in to
the state that you are be-coming.
‘Great minds think
alike’.
‘If you want to be
healthy and happy do what healthy and happy people do.’
The
above said, I think it is always useful to have this prayer at hand;
Lord
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The
courage to change the things I can
And the
wisdom to know the difference.
This is
what we mean by tuning in.
Such a
mind has room to receive the new information required to affect the change that
you are looking for.
Slowly and steadily. We all know that it is better
to practice a little, regularly than a lot, sporadically. Two steps forward and
one back are better than the other way around.
I
suggest that you make a note of any techniques which appeal to you the most,
perhaps because you find them easy, or because the benefits described appeal to
you the most. You may wish to have a pen and paper at hand.
If you
can, select a time of day that you will give
to yourself as you enjoy the course journey. If you can ‘sit’ around the
same time every day, then this will help you to create a rhythmic routine
faster. It doesn’t matter what time and depends largely upon your current
lifestyle. When are you most likely to have a few minutes to yourself in order
to enjoy the methods shared?
You
will see that you create a momentum each time you come to your practice. It is
something that you look forward to because
it gives you back your energy and makes you feel good about yourself.
It makes you so much more aware of your feelings and how to use these to
increase positive energy within and around you.
Life is all about balance. We are looking
to obtain a panoramic perspective; a seasonal outlook that shifts organically
as the inner and outer climes change accordingly. You may wish to just dabble
with these ideas at first, trying and testing them a few minutes daily
over the next few months, or you may decide to really go for it, choosing all
of the exercises that you feel are appropriate for you to do regularly,
establishing an hourly daily practice (for example) right from the
onset.
Panoramic View.....
What helps enormously is to have your Goal
in sight. Without even knowing the
exercises you are about to practice, have you tuned in to which of the above
three types of people you are? Will
you dip your toes in just a little, will you ‘go for it gunning’, or will you
aim somewhere in between?
If you can aim in between then you have
already confirmed an inner balance, which is matching what is coming from the
outside, with what is already ever present within.
By the end of the 3 months, you may know
that you are definitely established in an enhanced
way of being and continue to practice unceasingly. You may alternatively
wish to drop the practices altogether in order to test their efficacy by not
doing them. How do you feel when you don’t ‘do’ them? This contrast is a very
important gauge. It’s like being in the eye of the storm, the core of power. Or
sitting in the stillness and listening to hear what’s really important for you.
The aim of this course is to bring you
closer to truth. It is to help you to align with yourself more easily, on a
moment by moment basis.
The best time to
practice is when you feel ‘inspired’.
Some of the
exercises can be practiced at any time of day or night.
For maximum
benefit allow at least four hours after food.
First thing in the morning is therefore a
great time to practice;
Where the technique involves the abdomen -
locking, pumping, churning or compressing, make sure that your stomach is
empty!
If you
feel exhausted or de-motivated it may be better to rest. It’s about getting to
really know ourselves, rather than constantly satiating our senses, every time
we feel anxiety stirring from within. There may be times where you might give
yourself a little nudge in the direction of HOW TO BE FREE, rather than ‘how to
continue exactly as I am’. Be aware that this is what you are doing.
The
actual process of transformation takes place, ‘in between the lines’. It is not
what you are reading, watching or doing that provides the platform for growth.
It is the space in between, the space
opened up by the ‘reading, watching and doing’ that causes major and lasting change.
It’s
like the difference between spending your whole life in your head, working
things out, or shifting your awareness in to your breath and body and then
starting to live again like a young child with inexhaustible amounts of energy.
There
will be times where one feels inspired and then the mind will rush in with an
alternative, like “a good cup of finest filtered coffee’, ‘a bar of chocolate’
or ‘I’ll just have my cigarette’.
This is
where it is useful to have your intention at hand.
If you
think that saying this intention aloud a few times will help you then do this.
For
example ‘I will do the breathing practice first and have coffee afterwards’, or
‘I have enough time to do everything I want to. I will do a ten minute
breathing practice now followed by a ‘whatever’
later, if I feel like it then’.
What I
would like to draw your attention
to, in others words, please be at
your intention. Be with the “why do I want to do this course anyway?”
“What
prompted me to want to try in the first place?”
“What is it about myself that I want to
change?”
Within your
in-tention lies the balance of the tension.
This intention holds the necessary
information required to open you to true freedom.
The question contains the answer.
When you ask the right question the answer
will always come to you.
HOW TO
BREATHE naturally builds up a momentum of its own. People often ‘do’ the
breathing and don’t really feel, see or get the point.
Learning
to surrender or give yourself to the breath and the ‘not doing’ are invaluable.
Learn
the basics, exercise by exercise like an alphabet and then experience will
guide you how to string it all together. You are making
music, creating
art and watching science in action. With seven notes, we have music in infinite
array.
Complete Breathing will begin to change
your brain chemistry.
At
first you may have thoughts like, “Oh I can’t do this. It’s silly. I don’t see
the point”.
This is the voice
of your CONDITIONED mind.
You are now on a journey in to your deepest
heart-mind.
Your INNER TUTOR;
your In Tuition.
You have Felt intuitively that you
can find some or all of the answers and resolutions that you are looking for,
RIGHT HERE and NOW.
Please let me tell you, from my deepest and
non material being,
You can.
This is my promise
to you which is worth far more to me than any financial gain I have ever
received.
All I wish is that
you give this same promise to yourself.
Regular
and consistent optimised breathing improves cerebral performance dramatically.
Enhanced production of Neuro-chemicals and functioning of hormonal receptors
within the brain and body will switch the system over to a healing response
with ease. This triggering of the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) or
healing response of the Central Nervous System (CNS) stimulates the production
of the necessary hormones for optimum vitality and immunity. This takes place
by way of the endocrine glands releasing hormones in to the blood to regulate
all body systems; respiration, circulation, digestion, absorption, assimilation
and elimination.
To add to all of this, your body
will constantly be building stores or energy reserves for you later on.
THIS IS THE GREATEST
PENSION.
IT FREES YOU TO
SEE AND BE YOU.
When
you taste that mental and physical health is a state of inner perspective, you
have truly begun to stand on the ground of your own Well-Spring.
Well Spring
The
benefits of HOW TO BREATHE apply to us all. For example, they have a beneficial
effect upon vitality, addiction, weight loss, senile dementia, cancer, sleep,
digestion, IBS, crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, the list is growing. If
you name the condition or state, effective breathing will affect the cellular
functioning without fail.
It is
essential to remain patient and willing to let the life force teach you about
yourself. Never force the breath or suspension of it (in some cases we will be
holding the breath, depending upon your current condition) and let life and
your innate wisdom, grace you with what you need. Be generous with your
perception and see that life is always being favourable in return.
At 42,
I understand LIFE to be harmony with reality as it is now.
The
great perfection is all inclusive. It has been revealed to those who have been
interested enough to find out. Those who
persisted have walked a multitude of paths which all lead from the same place
to the same destination; here to here.
The journeys of countless beings in search of themselves have all revealed the
same result, in varying degrees.
HOW TO
BREATHE is a doorway through which those who have completed this harmony or reunion
with their soul, have passed. It is that place where the outside and the inside
meet. Where the space in between provides the stage upon which the mind and
personality ready themselves for honouring their source. This space of joy
beckons us inward, to examine further; ‘who’ ‘what’ and ‘why’ we are.
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