Breathing: Basic How-To's -- Dr. Weil

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Breathing: Basic How-To's – Dr.

Weil

At the very center of our being is rhythmic movement, a cyclic expansion and

contraction that is both in our body and outside it, that is both in our mind

and in our body, that is both in our consciousness and not in it. Breath is the

essence of being, and in all aspects of the universe we can see the same

rhythmic pattern of expansion and contraction, whether in the alternating cycles

of day and night, waking and sleeping, high and low tides, or seasonal growth

and decay. Oscillation between two phases exists at every level of reality, even

up to the scale of the observable universe itself, which is presently in

expansion but will at some point contract back to the original, unimaginable

point that is everything and nothing, completing one cosmic breath.

Breathing is a natural object of meditation. By putting attention on your

breath, you will change your state of consciousness, begin to relax, and detach

from ordinary awareness. Many systems of meditation use focus on breath as the

main technique. In the Buddhist and yogic traditions are many examples of people

who reached enlightenment by doing nothing other than paying attention to the

rising and falling of their own breath. In this sort of meditation you can try

to experience the dimensionless point between inbreath and outbreath and to

glimpse enlightenment in that space. You can come to know reality itself as an

eternal oscillation between being and nonbeing. All this is possible from

experiencing breath, which is the mystery of being unfolding right in front of

our noses, connecting us to the universal rhythm.

If today you can be aware of breathing for 10 seconds more than you were

yesterday, you will have taken a measurable step toward enlightenment, will have

expanded your consciousness, furthered communication between mind and body,

become a little more whole, and so improved your health. While diet and exercise

are important, they are not the sole determinants of health. People who eat

excellent diets and exercise faithfully are not always healthy, but the

likelihood of being a healthy person who does not breathe well is slim.

When learning how to breathe, begin by closing your eyes for a few minutes.

Practice moving your breath. Keep your back straight. Begin with a deep, audible

sigh, then quietly inhale and see how slow, deep, quiet and regular you can make

your breathing and still have it feel perfectly comfortable. You should feel

that you are getting enough air with no sense of not getting enough air. Do this

for at least eight breaths, then open your eyes and breathe normally. This is a

simple exercise but an effective one, and you should do it whenever you can.

Next, pay attention to your exhalation. If you watch people breathe, you will

see that most of them use effort to inhale but none to exhale. Exhalation is

usually passive and takes less time than inhalation. When you breathe this way,

you do not move nearly as much air in and out of your lungs as you can. The more

air you move, the healthier you will be, because the functioning of all systems

of the body depends on delivery of oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide. To get

more air into your lungs, concentrate on getting more air out of them by

attending to exhalation.

At the end of a normal breath try squeezing more air out. You will be using

your intercostal muscles to do this, and you will feel the effort as they

compress the rib cage. Try to make your exhalation as long or even slightly

longer than inhalation. Whenever you think of it, practice this technique of

extending exhalation and developing your intercostal muscles.

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