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By Root 672 0

of our emotions on our breath, and thus on our health and well-being. By “listening” to the sensation of our body, especially our breathing, not only when we are in quiet circumstances but also when we are in the middle of difficult situations in our lives, we experience connections between parts of ourselves that ordinarily escape our attention. By sensing the way our breathing changes in relation to changing circumstances, as well as by sensing the attitudes, tensions, postures, and emotions that arise in these same conditions, we begin to learn, with exacting detail, about the intimate relationship of our breath to our overall sense of ourselves. This new, direct knowledge of ourselves in action gives our brain and nervous system the knowledge and perspective it needs to help free us from our habitual psychophysical patterns of action and reaction. Self-sensing helps create new connections between existing neurons in the brain and nervous system. These new connections help increase our overall awareness, and promote greater sensitivity and flexibility in our perception and behavior.

THE THREE KINDS OF BREATH

As we begin this work of self-sensing, we may observe three kinds of breath in our life. First, and most common, is the balanced breath, which more or less balances inhalation and exhalation, yang and yin, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. This breath, however shallow or full, reflects the automatic, mostly unconscious equilibrium of our lives. Second, is the cleansing breath, which emphasizes exhalation over inhalation. This breath sometimes takes place spontaneously as a sigh or moan when we are physically or emotionally overloaded with toxins or tensions. The long exhalation helps us to relax and to rid the body of these toxins, especially carbon dioxide. Third, is the energizing breath, which emphasizes inhalation over exhalation. This breath sometimes takes place spontaneously as a yawn when we are tired or bored. The long, deep inhalation brings us more oxygen and thus more energy, and helps motivate us to take action.

THE QUALITY OF OUR BREATHING

The quality of our inhalation and exhalation reveals a great deal about our stance toward life. We may observe, for example, how the extent and comfort of our inhalation reflects our readiness and ability to embrace life at that moment, and how the extent and comfort of our exhalation reflects our readiness and ability to let go, to trust something other than the accouterments of our self-image. We may notice how during fear or other strong negative emotions we restrict the flow of breath by contracting various parts of our body in order to reduce the energy available for feeling, and how during more pleasant emotions we increase the flow and duration of breath to take in more energy and thus to feel more.

Hyperventilation and Anxiety

In sensing the “quality” of our breath, many of us may also notice that even at rest we breathe faster than the “average” rate of 12 to 14 times a minute (a rate which is already faster than it needs to be). In fact, many of us, without knowing it, habitually “hyperventilate”—that is, we take quick, shallow breaths from the top of our chest. These quick, shallow breaths sharply reduce the level of carbon dioxide in our blood. This reduced level of carbon dioxide causes the arteries, including the carotid artery going to the brain, to constrict, thus reducing the flow of blood throughout the body. When this occurs, no matter how much oxygen we may breathe into our lungs, our brain and body will experience a shortage of oxygen. The lack of oxygen switches on the sympathetic nervous system—our “fight or flight” reflex—which makes us tense, anxious, and irritable. It also reduces our ability to think clearly, and tends to put us at the mercy of obsessive thoughts and images. Some researchers believe that hyperventilation can actually magnify our psychological problems and conflicts, and that chronic hyperventilation is intimately bound up with our anxieties, apprehensions, and fears.14