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that creates the usefulness of the vessel.

Cut out doors and windows in a house;

it is the empty space inside

that creates the usefulness of the house.

Thus, what we have may be something substantial,

But its usefulness lies in the unoccupied, empty space.

The substance of your body is enlivened

by maintaining the part of you that is unoccupied.39

Lao Tzu

To experience the natural healing power of breath is to experience its inherent “spaciousness.” Our breath can not only move upward and downward to help us experience our own verticality, but it can also move inward and outward to expand and connect our inner spaces with the space of the so-called outer world. In the same way that our experience of external space allows us to differentiate and relate to each other and the various objects and processes of the outer world, our experience of the internal spaces, the “chambers” of our bodies and psyches, allows us to differentiate the various functions and energies of our organism and keep them in dynamic harmony. As Chuang Tzu states:

“All things that have consciousness depend upon breath. But if they do not get their fill of breath, it is not the fault of Heaven. Heaven opens up the passages and supplies them day and night without stop. But man on the contrary blocks up the holes. The cavity of the body is a many-storied vault; the mind has its heavenly wanderings. But if the chambers are not large and roomy, then the wives and sisters will fall to quarreling. If the mind does not have its heavenly wanderings, then the six apertures of sensation will defeat each other.”40

Clearly, for Chuang Tzu and the Taoists, the various chambers or stories of the human organism—especially the abdomen, chest, and head—need to be experienced as “large and roomy” if our various functions and energies are to work in full harmony. Without some sense of spaciousness in our organs and tissues, we are unable to feel space in the other aspects of our lives. It is just this feeling that there is no space in our lives, that there is no room to expand our experience of ourselves, that lies at the root of much of our stress and dis-ease. It is one of the main reasons we so cherish trips to the countryside or ocean, where we find not only expansive vistas of land and sky, but also profound, inexhaustible silence. Though these spacious experiences of our eyes and ears help open up our psychological structure, including our feelings and mind, the sense of spaciousness and silence quickly disappears when we return to our ordinary circumstances.

The Tibetan Buddhists also put great emphasis on the importance of space to our well-being, making clear that the “feeling of lack of space, whether on a personal, psychological level or an interpersonal, sociological level, has led to experience of confusion, conflict, imbalance, and general negativity within modern society.... But if we can begin to open our perspective and discover new dimensions of space within our immediate experiences, the anxiety and frustration which results from our sense of limitation will automatically be lessened; and we can increase our ability to relate sensitively and effectively to ourselves, to others, and to our environment.”41

LEVELS OF SENSATION

The discovery of “new dimensions of space within our immediate experiences” lies at the foundation of health and inner growth. Because our most immediate experience is the sensation of our own body, it is here that we can most effectively begin this discovery. The sensation of the body can be experienced at many different levels, and it is just this organic experience of various levels, of various densities of sensation, that begins to give us a taste of internal spaciousness. These levels include the sensation of superficial aches and pains; the compact sensation of the weight and form of the body; the more subtle sensation of temperature, movement, and touch; the tingling sensation of the totality of the skin; the living, breathing sensation of the inner structure of the fascia, the muscles, the organs,