The Relaxing Breath

The health that you enjoy today, and for the rest of your life, begins with your next breath. In fact, breathing is so crucial to your body’s ability to heal and sustain itself that Dr. Andrew Weil says: “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.”

Here, we will learn a breathing technique that Dr. Weil uses in his own life: “the most powerful relaxation technique” that he has come across and one that he teaches to almost all of his patients. Dr. Weil reports that breathing exercises get more favorable response from patients than anything else he teaches....

... I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, Alternative Therapies, and can be found in its entirety here: Breathing ~ The Key To Healing

Breath

Breath flows in, then surrenders to flow out again.
In this moment, drink eternity.

Breath flows out, emptying, emptying,
Offering itself to infinity.

Cherishing these moments,
Mind dissolves into heart,
Heart dissolves into space,
Body becomes a shimmering field
Pulsating between emptiness and fullness..

-Verse 3, The Radiance Sutras

Chanting From The Belly

Draw in a full and deep breath (see the breathing exercise), sing the tone, "Aaaaah." As you sing the tone, release the breath slowly, first from the belly, then up through the chest. ... Breathe in again, and sound out, "Aaaaah."

Imagine that there is a column of air resting on your belly extending up through your lungs to your throat. When you sing, visualize this column of air coming all the way from your belly, supporting the tone coming out of your mouth. In other words, sing from your belly!

Breathe into your belly and sing. "Aaaah."
Again - "Aaaaah." And again - "Aaaaah."

Singing from the belly gives us more air, the ability to sustain our tone longer, and more control over our voice. We initiate a self-reinforcing cycle: our deep and full breathing helps us to chant, while the elongated and rhythmic phrases of chant entrains our breath, making us one with the music.

Breathing Exercise

Chanting is said to be "breath made audible," and learning to breathe well is the first step in learning to chant.

Sit up straight. This allows your lungs to expand more fully.

Place one hand on your lower abdomen.
Feel your belly move as you breathe ... in and out ... in and out.

Make sure that your belly is expanding out as you breathe in. You can make sure you're doing this correctly by noticing if your hand is being pushed outward away from your spine.

As you exhale, your belly should contract, your hand settling back toward your spine. Try this a number of times.

Now, breathe again into your abdomen. After your belly completely fills with air, only then allow your chest to fill with air as well. Experience your breath like a wave, filling up your belly then rolling up into your chest. And as you exhale, let the wave begin in your chest, emptying the air from your lungs and then rolling down into your abdomen, until your abdomen is fully contracted and empty of air. Do this several times.

Now try removing your hand, but continue breathing and remembering the feeling of the air pushing your hand out and in.

As you continue with the exercise, gradually deepen your breathing. Without any sense of pushing, slowly increase the volume of air coming into your belly. The deepening of breathing should come from your belly - the chest is more like an afterthought.

Do this for several minutes, deepening and relaxing into your breathing. Feel the waves roll in ... belly up to the chest ... and roll out again ... chest into the belly ... letting go of effort ... letting the waves of breath breathe you.