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By Root 632 0

the various inner and outer movements of our breath as they take place. It is this sensitivity, and particularly its expansion into the unconscious parts of ourselves, that will enable us eventually to begin to sense the physical and emotional forces acting on our breath. It is only when we can sense these forces as they are—without any judgment or rationalization— that our breath can begin to free itself from its restrictions and engage more of the whole of ourselves.

The Outer Movements of Breath

From what we’ve said so far, it is possible to discern at least two levels of movement in our respiratory apparatus during inhalation and exhalation. During inhalation, as the air travels downward through our nose and trachea, the diaphragm also moves downward to some degree into the abdomen to make room for the lungs to expand, while the belly expands outward to make room for the diaphragm. Thus the first movement that we can sense in natural breathing is the downward movement of the diaphragm and air. As the lungs begin to fill from the bottom, however, there is also a movement of the air upward—the kind of movement that occurs when we fill a glass or a bottle—which is reinforced by a movement of the chest outward and the sternum upward, creating more room in the middle and upper part of the lungs (Figure 21).

During exhalation, we can sense the air moving upward and out in concert with the diaphragm, which relaxes back into its original dome-like structure pushing upward. Simultaneously, we can sense the movement of the sternum downward and the ribs and belly inward, all of which bring about an overall relaxation of the whole body downward into the earth (Figure 22). Thus, whether we are inhaling or exhaling, we can sense two simultaneous movements going in opposite directions. Indeed, it is through the simultaneous sensing of these opposing movements of air and tissue that we begin to develop the kinesthetic awareness—the inner sensitivity—necessary to relax our tissues and discern the movement of energy in our organism.

The Inner Movements of Breath

From the Taoist perspective, the main issue in natural breathing is the movement of the actual “breath energy,” the chi, in the organism. The movement of this energy is the result of the polarity between inhalation (yang, active, upward) and exhalation (yin, passive, downward), between filling and emptying. The Taoists have observed that as we inhale, the breath energy moves upward to the head, and that as we exhale, the energy moves downward into the whole body. They have also observed that as we inhale, we can also draw the yin energy of the earth, a powerful healing energy, through our feet and upward into our body. As we exhale, we can direct any toxic or stagnant energies downward to our feet and out into the earth. The Taoists also maintain that during inhalation we can draw the yang energy of heaven directly into our body through the crown, the energy center on the very top of our head, and that during exhalation we can distribute this energy downward throughout our body (Figure 23).

Figure 21

Figure 22

THE POLARITY OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

Whether or not we believe in the energies of heaven and earth, we know that it is the polarity of positive and negative, of yang and yin, that creates electricity and makes energy move. We also know that there are various electromagnetic fields surrounding the earth, and that these fields are themselves manifestations of this fundamental polarity. An American firm that has produced negative ion generators for the space program points out, for example, that a natural electric field exists between the earth and the atmosphere, and that this field—which has a strength of several hundred volts per meter in an open space with unpolluted air—is usually positive in relation to the earth. The company also points out that experiments have shown that this field attracts negative ions from the upper atmosphere and produces an electric current in the body that stimulates living organisms in a beneficial way.38

The Taoists, of