Breath work - Introduction

 

Hi Guys,

Continuing with our Air series today, and looking at Breathwork. Or rather, starting to.

How often have you been told to take a deep breath to calm down? When I know people are struggling, my advice is always 'breathe'. Do you take a deep breath before taking a plunge into water or making a big decision, maybe?

It is a crucial part of Mindfulness and most meditation practices. I know that my meditations usually have the words 'take three long, slow, deep breaths' near the beginning

There is a science behind it. 

It is a good way to manage stress, and calms your parasympathetic nervous system. Controlled breathing helps to control heart rate and blood pressure among other things. It helps while anxious and helps alleviate depression when used long term. It can help with pain control - pregnant people are taught how to breathe through the contractions, for example.

Being asthmatic, I was taught deep breathing exercises as a child to help expand my lung capacity and control an attack.

Tantric sexual practices place a lot of importance on breathwork (not my area of expertise).

A lot of sleep control practices rely on deep breathing exercises. It stimulates the body's relaxation response, another reason it is used in Meditation.

Yoga is another discipline that uses breathwork. The more oxygen you can get into your body, the better it functions. It can be used to bring power and focus into the body. Here is a link to different yoga breathing practices.

Thai Chi focuses a deep breath onto the dan tien, (an area between your sacral and solar plexus chakras) as part of your focussing practice.

Some Martial Arts have a breath focus. I know that the karate my girls used to do had a particular shout they did at certain times.

In a lot of Eastern practices, the breath is tied into the life force energy, variously called Chi, Ki, and Prana depending on which practice you are doing.

In magickal practice, it is used to cleanse an area or object and, of course, in oral spell work.

These are all the times I have used Breathwork in my personal life. 

This is just a quick introduction. I will move on to some techniques in another post soon.

There are many more, I am sure, so let us know in the comments below please.

Kerenza x

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