BREATHING IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL EXPRESSIONS OF LIFE. When something is alive, it breathes. There’s a pulse, like a heartbeat.
Breath is one of the most fundamental manifestations of the energy that animates us and all living beings. Being aware of our breath is one of the simplest and most direct ways to access, enhance and balance or stabilize this energy.
Life energy is everywhere around us. It’s in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, in the atmospheres we live in, in nature, in things and in people. Everything is alive.
Life energy permeates the universe. It is the most abundant and readily available of all natural resources, always at our disposal for us to tap in. There is no scarcity, ever, of Life energy.
Among several ways connect with it, feel it (a very good feeling) and nourish ourselves with it, the easiest is to tune into our own breath, feel it, and experience how it replenishes us with energy.
Breathing is something we do all the time, but it’s like for thinking, making decisions, living or loving – we assume we do it well, simply because we’ve always been doing it this way. Doing something ‘naturally’ doesn’t guarantee we’re doing it well.
In fact, most people do not know how to breathe. They do not breathe in a way that can allow them to enjoy all the many benefits of the Vital Energy carried in the breath.
We’ve been taught to breathe with our lungs and it is good, but it is not enough. Lungs obviously provide us with oxygen, but breathing is not just about oxygen … it is also about energy and the source of energy is not in the lungs: it is in the lower abdomen, one or two inches below the navel.
Becoming aware of the breath ebbing and flowing in the lower belly is a very pleasurable experience. Not only does it calm and energise, but it also creates a natural sense of CLARITY, Inner Strength, Balance and Self Confidence.
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We’re actually doing two different things when we breathe: we absorb oxygen, and we absorb energy. Energy is absorbed in the belly; oxygen through the nose, throat and lungs. Both are fundamentally important to our well being.
Breathing fills our lungs with oxygen, but the origin of that movement is a pulse of life that can be found and felt in the lower abdomen.
Shift your focus from your lungs to your belly. The pulse of breath, of life is there, just below the navel. The movement of your lungs is a consequence of that original pulsation of life.
Start there. It is where your original rhythm is.
Breathing Feels Easy, Natural & Pleasant
It Feels Good to Breathe.
Breathe like when you are asleep – totally relaxed. This is not as easy as it sounds. We control our breath, often without realising.
Releasing that control is like releasing our attempt to control Life. It is something many of us struggle with because of insecurity – and the first manifestation of that is a certain tightness in the chest area and in the lower regions of the abdomen – in the breath.
One easy way to understand – feel – what it means to release the control we exert over the breath, is to notice that moment, just before we fall asleep, when we release our control over our nervous system and the breath naturally falls back into its source in the lower abdomen.
Breathing Feels Powerful
It Feels Great to Be Alive.
Breathing in this relaxed manner is akin to feeling an ocean moving inside you. it is very pleasant – almost joyful.
In the video above, I explain how we can breathe like an ocean – and this is not just a nice image: this is how breathing actually works.
Become aware – or imagine – that all around you is an ocean of life energy, and your breath is one wave from that Ocean entering from a point below the navel and filling your belly with energy.
🌬️ Everytime you breathe IN, you absorb Life Energy; the wave enters your abdomen.
🌬️ Everytime you breathe OUT, you release the wave, you empty yourself; and the wave goes back into the ocean.
Fill the belly; empty the belly.
Absorb the wave; release the wave.
Breathing in the belly may not feel natural because we have been trained to breathe with the upper part of our lungs and to control our breath, as if ‘I’ was breathing, when it is actually LIFE that is breathing through me …
Give it some time and attention to that practice – there are tremendous benefits in that simple new habit!
There are actually two ways to Breathe: Natural or Voluntary
Natural breathing moves like water in your belly. You do not do anything, you just watch it happen. It feels very good and it can be very powerful. It replenishes your body with fresh energy and nourishes your tissues very deeply. It is involuntary. It just happens as a natural consequence3 of being alive and naturally fluctuate according to your heart rate, state of mind and the emotions you are experiencing.
Voluntary breathing is different. It is you deciding to breathe in a certain pattern, rhythm or location. You can decide to breathe deeply in the belly, strong in the solar plexus, or fast in the lungs or even in the clavicles.
Watch which area of your body is moving when you are breathing. Each one provides a specific experience. By controlling your breath, you can modulate those experiences as well as your energy levels and moods.
But the real thing about voluntary breathing is not about forcing your breath. It’s more about tuning in the natural movement of your breath, the feeling of your breath, and slowly amplifying, directing, ‘moving’ it.
It is said that where you put your attention, you focus the energy of your consciousness and you empower what you are looking at. When you focus your attention on your breath, you amplify it – the amplitude, the depth, the feeling.
Try it.
Life energy amplified and directed by your attention moves from the belly up into the solar plexus, and then into the chest, and at this point, you fill your lungs to the fullest to oxygenate your body, brain.
This is full breathing: belly, solar plexus, lungs – in that order.
Now, when you reach the chest, you are not only filling your lungs, but you’re also FILLING YOUR HEART – I mean the space in your chest where the energies of appreciation, kindness, gratitude, trust and love live.
Breathing in the heart heals you and generates a natural RADIANCE in your being.
Then, breathe out by emptying the lungs, the solar plexus and the belly. Relax. Trust. Surrender.
PUSH THE EXHALE TO ITS END, without forcing, but until you reach the point where you cannot exhale anymore – when the breath turns like the tide of the ocean and the next wave of breath energy naturally comes back as your next inhale.
You do not ‘take’ a breath – you ‘receive’ a breath.
We’re taught to actively inhale but natural breathing, energy breathing focuses more on the exhale.
You do not ‘take’ a breath, but you ‘RECEIVE’ A BREATH. This is a much more respectful, graceful and elegant way of relating with the world around us in comparison to forcefully grabbing oxygen from the trees!
When you are aware that every time you breathe, you are actually ‘receiving’ a next lease of life with your next breath, you start to feel life your existence is a gift. It is given to you.
GRATITUDE naturally arises in the heart.
Breathing is not an act of will – it is more a grace, although you can also choose to exercise will to activate our energy and hyper oxygenate your brain and body.
Exhaling is like dying out; Inhaling is being born again
RIGHT! NOW, LET’S TURN THAT INTO A SET OF INSTRUCTIONS:
Breathe in as we described earlier – belly, solar plexus, lungs.
Hold the breath for a few moments as your breath reaches the end of the inhale.
Wait for a few moments without blocking your breath – like holding it in suspension for a few moment before it naturally turns and flows down into exhale.
NOTICE THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE INHALE & THE EXHALE.
This silence between two breaths is the STILL PRESENCE OF AWARENESS.
It is the observer.
It is a gateway into the still centre of your being.
It is also an opening into the peace and freedom of spaciousness.
Allow the breath to merge and momentarily disappear in that stillness … and let the next breath arise from the stillness like all living forms emerge from that unified field of potentialities that we call LIFE.
DO THIS EXERCISE OFTEN.
It is simple and holds a treasure store of abilities that we explore in more depth in the Meditation and Yoga workshop.
For now, look at it as a very simple way to calm down, stabilise, clarify, re-energise, refocusing and FEEL REALLY GOOD AGAIN!
This is the first foundation of internally focused.
With much love and to my best friend: YOUR GROWTH!
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PS. Those articles are written to inspire reflection and practice. We do not earn by keeping your attention hooked on this site. If something has touched you in what you read, log out and take a few moments to see how it could allow to better care for the life you are.
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