Life is made up of many breaths. Therefore, your
consciousness of your breath is your consciousness of life, as well as of many
other things in life. Consciousness of breath begins with breathing.
Consciousness of the Importance of Breath
Are you constantly conscious of your breath—your
breathing in and breathing out? Most people aren’t.
Breathing is the most subconscious and yet the most
important activity in human life. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t conscious of
it.
Breath
and the Bible
The Bible has made references to the importance of breath from God,
which is not only life itself but also divine understanding.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
“In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And
the breath of all
mankind?” (Job: 12:10)
“But there
is a spirit in man, And the breath of the
Almighty gives him understanding.” (Job
32:8)
Breath
and Chinese medicine
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the two most important
health regulators of the human body are breath
and blood flow. Optimum breathing
brings oxygen to every cell in your organs and tissues; while smooth blood flow
carries nutrients to nourish them. The effective and efficient functioning of
breath and blood flow is conducive to the balance and harmony of the yin and the yang, which are the fundamentals of Chinese medicine.
The Chinese breath is longevity breath because it helps you not only get
but also use oxygen 24 hours a day. The Chinese breath lowers your blood
pressure, calms your nerves, and alleviates your body pain, if you have any. In
addition, the Chinese breath improves the overall emotional health through
clarity of thinking, and even detoxifies your body system
through internal cleansing. The explanation is that your body organs, including
the liver, spleen, kidneys, glands, and digestive valves are all connected
to the diaphragm (the muscles between the lungs and the abdomen), which
basically moves the air circulation within the body when you breathe in and
breathe out. Without moving the diaphragm muscles, and using only the muscles
of the chest, you breathe only partially and incompletely. As a strong
testament to its significance, the Chinese breath focuses on correct breathing
with the diaphragm; Chinese exercises, such as Tai Chi, and Qi Gong, also focus
on the importance of breath.
The Chinese breath is also related to qi, which can be interpreted as the "life energy" or "life
force," which flows within the human body. According to TCM theory, qi is the “vital substance” constituting
the human body; it also refers to the physiological functions of organs and
meridians (energy highways assessing different parts of the body and their
respective organs). It should be pointed
out that breath and qi are similar
but not quite the same. The air that flows through the lungs at each breath has
many similarities to the qi energy
flowing through the meridians of the body. That goes for oxygen as well; the
substance that breathing transports to the blood, and the blood distributes to
all of the body—just like qi energy
traveling through its many meridians.
Consciousness of Correct
Breathing
Breathing
has to do with the lungs, which serve two main functions: to get life-giving
oxygen from the air into the body, and to remove toxic carbon dioxide from the
body. Therefore, it is important to be conscious of a longer breathing out than
a breathing in so as to maximize the removal of the toxic carbon dioxide from
the lungs.
But the
functioning of the lungs may have compromised due to aging or incorrect
breathing over decades of misuse. Compromised breathing is often due to changes
in bones and muscles of the chest and the spine: bones becoming thinner can
change the shape of your ribcage, making it less capable of expanding and
contracting during your breathing. In addition; the muscles supporting your
breathing and your diaphragm may also have weakened due to age, such that you
have difficulty in breathing in and breathing out enough air. Furthermore, the
lung tissues near your airway may have weakened, leading to their incapability
to completely open and close the airways. As a result, air that is trapped in
your lungs may also prevent efficient inhaling and exhaling, thus making it
harder for you to breathe. On top of these, a weakened immune system may also
make your lungs become more vulnerable to infections and less capable of
recovering from your exposure to smoke and other toxic environmental particles.
To add insult to injury, as you age, your nervous system that controls your
breathing may have become less functional, making your airways more sensitive
to germs and infections. As you continue to increase in age, your lungs may
become more vulnerable to lung infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia,
resulting in many health-related problems due to a lower oxygen level in your
blood supply.
First and foremost, learn how to breathe correctly;
many people don’t breathe right because they are not conscious of their
breathing. Breathing right may help you in many ways in your everyday life and
living. Remember, a healthy mind always has an easy breath, giving a relaxed
body. Humans tend to focus
on breathing in, to the extent that they may completely neglect what happens
when they breathe out, as if it were not that important. This discrepancy
between breathing in and breathing out needs to be corrected in order to create
a free-flowing breath. Concentrating on breathing in may fill up the lungs with
air all the time, such that the breathing becomes quicker and shorter, and thus
stressing both the body and the mind. This may, ironically enough, lead to
“feeling out of breath.” The wisdom of correct breathing is to empty the lungs
of air completely so that it may be
filled fully with air.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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