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of this pause between exhalation and inhalation as a timeless moment—an infinite space—between yin and yang, nonaction and action, in which we can go beyond our self-image and experience our own unconditioned nature. See if you can at least sense this pause as an entranceway into yourself—into the healing spaciousness of your own deepest sensation of yourself. Don’t try to force anything. Just watch and sense. Work like this for at least 10 minutes.

7 Spacious breathing under stress

It is relatively easy to have the sense of spaciousness when we are in quiet, undemanding circumstances. And it is important, especially at the beginning, to practice this kind of breathing in such circumstances. Eventually, however, you will want to begin to try spacious breathing, especially into your navel area, in the often stress-filled circumstances of your everyday life. For it is here that you will, with practice, have the largest impact on your overall well-being and health, and it is here that you will gain important new insights into your own nature. What’s more, it is here that you will have an opportunity to discover a deep inner sensation of yourself that is somehow “separate” from the automatic reactions of your sympathetic nervous system (your “fight or flight” reflex), an overall sensation of yourself that will, if you can stay in touch with it, dissolve any unnecessary tension and bring about the appropriate degree of relaxation to meet the real demands of the moment.

To help prepare for working in such conditions, try the following practice. Stand with your weight balanced equally on both feet and your knees slightly bent. Sense the whole of yourself standing there, breathing. Let the sensation of yourself go deeper and deeper with each breath. Without losing this overall sensation of yourself, let your weight shift to your right foot. Bring your left foot up along the inner side of your right leg all the way up to your groin. Use your hands to help you position the heel of your foot in the area of your groin with your toes pointed upward if possible. Now raise your arms up from your sides (palms facing up) until your palms meet over your head (Figure 30). If this posture is too easy for you, if it does not arouse any stress, you might try closing your eyes and moving your arms up and down as you stand on one leg. If your health will not permit you to stand on one leg or to raise your arms above your head, then be inventive—find other ways to make the posture challenging for yourself.

Now, staying in this posture, let your chest and belly relax, and then begin to breathe into your lower abdomen. As you inhale, sense the spaciousness filling your lower abdomen; as you exhale, sense all your tensions going out with your breath. Breathe in this way for two or three minutes; then put your tongue to the roof of your mouth and see if you can also sense the pulsation of the cerebrospinal fluid. When you finish, slowly return your arms to your sides with your palms facing down and return to the original standing position with both feet on the ground. Sense your whole body breathing. Can you notice any differences between the left and right sides? Reverse your legs and repeat the entire process.

Figure 30

Because it is relatively difficult, this is an excellent exercise to prepare you to practice spacious breathing in the midst of tension and stress. The key is to learn how to relax inside this difficult posture. If you find that your belly and chest stay tense, put your attention on your face, ears, and tongue, and just let them relax. Because your face most directly reflects the tensions of your self-image, it is by learning how to relax your face that you can begin to relax the rest of your body. Try breathing directly into your entire face, especially in the area of the upper tan tien. Let space permeate your nose, eyes, ears, and so on. Then return to breathing in your lower abdomen.

If you begin to lose your balance at any time during this exercise, don’t resist, don’t try to compete with gravity. Whatever happens,