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Based on my own work on myself, as well as on my observation of others, I believe that it is only after many months (or even years) of progressive practice rooted in self-observation and self-awareness that most Westerners can experience the deep inner relaxation, the freedom from willfulness, needed to benefit in a lasting way from advanced breathing exercises—whether yogic, Taoist, or otherwise. Breathing exercises involving complicated counting schemes, alternate nostril breathing, reverse breathing, breath retention, hyperventilation,3 and so on make sense only for people who already breathe naturally, making use of their entire body in the breathing process. It is my experience that natural breathing is in itself a powerful form of self-healing. That is why The Tao of Natural Breathing explores this kind of breathing in so much depth, describing in detail some fundamental perspectives and practices that can, through increased inner awareness, help us see and transform our own personal obstacles to its manifestation in our lives.

One could say, of course, as some Taoist masters and other teachers have said, that since natural breathing is natural, any effort to breathe naturally both misses the point and is counterproductive. They maintain that when our mind becomes calm and empty, natural breathing will arise automatically.4 Accepting this assertion, however, does not solve the problem; it simply puts us in front of another question: what are the conditions that allow us to calm and empty our minds? What personal work is needed? It is no use to shift the problem from the body to the mind or from the mind to the body. Natural breathing involves the participation of both.

The appearance of natural breathing in our lives is not just a matter of what we do, but also—and perhaps more importantly—of how we do it. If we approach the practices in this book as mere techniques to be manipulated by our so-called will, they will bring us nothing. If, however, we can approach them as natural vehicles to explore the physiological and psychological laws of our mind and body—through direct impressions coming from an inner clarity of awareness—we may in fact begin to learn what it means to calm and empty our minds. No matter how we live or what we do (or don’t do), we are always doing something; we are always practicing something—if only mechanically repeating and further entrenching the narrow, often unhealthy, habits of mind, body, and perception that shape our lives. To gain real benefit from the practices in this book, then, we must approach them as consciously as possible, taking care to understand their aim, feel their spirit, and sense their effect on our entire being.

EXPANDING OUR NARROW SENSE OF SELF

The real power of the ideas and practices described in this book is to help us first experience and then free ourselves from the many narrow, unconscious attitudes we have about ourselves and the world—attitudes that create stress and other problems for us in almost every area of our lives. It is often these very attitudes—deeply entrenched in our minds, hearts, and bodies, and manifested through and supported by our breathing—that diminish our awareness, constrict our life force, and prevent us from living conscious, healthy lives in harmony with ourselves, with others, and with our environment.

Fortunately, we do not have to try to deal with each of these attitudes individually—an impossible task in one lifetime. Like spokes radiating out from the central axle of a wheel, our attitudes radiate out from the axle of our own particular self-image: the narrow, incomplete, yet strong image of self, of “I,” that permeates almost everything that we think, feel, and do. According to Lao Tzu, if we can somehow expand this narrow image we have of ourselves and live from our wholeness, then many of our problems will disappear on their own:

What is meant by saying that the greatest trouble

is the strong sense of individual self