Breath
I was doing Qigong tonight and while I should have been thinking about my breathing, but rather than relaxing into my breathing I was literally thinking about, and analyzing, the idea of breath as sacred. I had looked into this idea a while ago when I first started to do Qigong–Qi being Chi or breath. One of my life goals is to learn at least the shorter version of Tai Chi, but I have found that it is something that will have to come when I can take actual classes rather than DVD time. Qigong, however, I can manage enough to make me feel energized and relaxed and so for now, it satisfies the desire.
While Chi can be translated literally as breath, it is more than just breath, Wikipedia (yes, I know this isn’t a scholarly site, but for my purposes, it is a great resource) defines it: “Qi is believed to be part of every living thing that exists, as a kind of “life force” or “spiritual energy.”" What is interesting is that this idea of the breath of life is wide spread throughout many different religions and philosophies. Early Greek Christians spoke of pneuma which is again breath–but more than breath, the soul, that which is divine. Jewish people called it ruah, wind, breath, spirit. The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus which means breath but also soul. Those aren’t by any means all: Polynesian mana, Oboriginal maban, Egyptian ka, Inuit inua or sila, Norse seid, Druid awen–and these are just some that are listed as examples.
For all that, we seem to pay very little attention to our breathing, we are hurried, agitated, stressed, slouched–all things that affect our breathing and make it shallow and less effective. I’m so bad about this, I sit slouched over my laptop, I find myself taking rapid little shallow breaths as I get stressed rather than deep ones and have to catch myself and force myself to breath. The front of my cell phone says “breathe” and I’ve told my children so many times to “stop and take a breath” or “just breathe” that my daughter reminds me of it now when I start getting worked up, “Just stop and take a breath, mom, breathe it out”–only 14 and she already is throwing my words back at me, at least these are positive ones.
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? ~Kahlil Gibran
The first change I usually as my clients to make is to take a few minutes each day and breath in and breath out. Focus on the breath slow and even in and slow and even out. When they come back they usually tell me what a difference that makes. It is amazing how it will bring you back to the moment and take you out of panic mode. The next thing i ask of them is to do a shoulder check. Most people find that when they think of them they are usually in their ears. Push them down, pull them back. Now, breath. . .
My yoga practice causes me to take note of my breathing more than I think I would otherwise but, when I’m off the mat, I don’t notice it really at all. Very sad and unhealthy too! I need to get more into the habit of settling into my breath, of deep inhales and long, slow exhales. It would behoove me greatly, I know.
Curious…. do you practice meditation?
[...] this idea of breathing in Christian terms, but Rob Bell has an excellent Nooma (short video) on Breath (the link is to a youtube clip, not the whole piece). Anyway, I rambled on about breath early in [...]
I have been taking Tai Chi classes for several years now and it has been life changing, not only for the breathing and gathering chi, but for the fluid like moves that make all of life seem more fluid.
this is a wonderful post mate.