Again, a lot of this is based in the science of the brain, so getting a full understanding of just what's happening and why is, frankly, beyond all of us. What we can say is that there are a few "tricks" that humanity has discovered along the course of human history that seem to confer ... well(,) being. In this post, I'm going to present the most ancient, the most universal and the most powerful of all the techniques: Breath Work.
If you look through the core texts of the world religions, spiritualities, martial arts, meditations and magical pursuits, you find that breath is central to how we understand ourselves. In the Jewish tradition, references to the Divinity's creative and destructive power originates in breath - ruach (wind/breath/spirit/soul): In Roman and then Christian culture, Pneumos, breath means both breath and spirit. I can't help but see the phonetic similarity between this word and numinous (of, or pertaining to feeling the divine), but apparently, the words are not connected linguistically. In all honesty, I could go on for a while... Deepak Chopra does a really good job of talking about this.
One more thing to consider before I go into what to do. Biologically/physiologically, breathing is a pretty unique thing. It is the only life sustaining process that, naturally, has both a conscious level of control and a automatic level of control. If I ask you to stop your heart, increase your body temperature or make your belly gurgle in a specific way just by willing it so, I would bet that no one could. With your breath, you can consciously will yourself to breath deeply or shallow, stop altogether (for a little bit), breath quickly or slowly (though you might get light-headed and pass out if you do) or breath in a specific pattern (playing an instrument). You can also go about your daily life and not have to think about breathing at all! Pretty cool?!
So, the technique that I use with my patients is designed to 1) provide awareness of the body, 2) provide a locus of control within the mind, 3) gives a person insight into the way their mental state affects their bodily state (psycho-physiology) and 4) gives them a tool they can use to generate a state of calm within themselves.
Technique Number One: Breath Work
After explaining what I did above, I tell my patient to put his or her feet on the ground and sit back into their chair, feeling their legs against the seat and their back against the cushion. I encourage them to close their eyes (though this is not necessary) and then ask them to breathe normally.
I breathe with them...
"breathe in through your nose,
feel the rims of your nostrils get a little cold as you breathe in,
feel your belly expand out and your chest wall tighten as you let the air in,
feel the cold air in your nose and chest,
your diaphragm sinking into your belly.
Then breathe out through your mouth,
feel your lips cool as you breathe over them
feel your chest relax, your belly get smaller
feel your diaphragm contracting
Your shoulders dropping"
I go through this with them a few times, breathing and feeling with them. Sometimes, people complain that they fall asleep or that they think too much. Meditation, of which breath work serves as the foundation, encourages nudging the mind into a state of conscious presence. That's too much for anybody to do as they're starting to learn this stuff, especially if they feel as though they "can't stop thinking."
Here's what I say, preemptively:
"If you think of something, remember something that you need to do or have a day dream while breathing, that's great! You don't have to pay attention to it now. You'll have tons of time later. Just try to feel your breath on your nose, feel it in your chest and in your belly, feel how you straighten out your back as you breathe in and hunch more as you breathe out. You don't have to change anything. Just breathe. You can change things later."
I also tell them that its hard to just breathe. I have a hard time feeling my breath and I tell my patients, "if I get one good one where I can really feel it, that's a success for me."
This is the foundation of anything else I'm going to talk about. If you can get 10 breaths in a few times a day, while at work, or with your kids, as you're going to bed or waking up in the morning, before you eat or in your car... you can be well on your way!
More to come!
In addition to the faiths you've mentioned, I wanted to note that yogic philosophy also places much emphasis on breath. Specifically, pranayama: synchronizing the human breath with the movement of prana, the life force.
ReplyDeleteI have found different breathing techniques helpful to my recovery.