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The Holistic Mystic: |
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Self-Healing and Consciousness Expansion through
Passive Breath Awareness
by Lonny Brown, HHc. |
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A profound personal health and development practice known to yogi's and meditators for millennia is as available as your own breath. This simple technique, called Passive Breath Awareness, deeply relaxes the body, calms the nervous system, and fosters spiritual insight. It is an ideal stress buster, promoting inner peace and renewing one's energy. You only have to try this method for a few minutes to experience positive improvements in your body and mind.
Breathing is usually automatic and thoughtless. Evolution has insured that our breathing dynamically mirrors the moment-to-moment dynamics of life as we navigate and cope with the our material (and emotional) existence. Fast or labored breathing indicates exertion or stress, while regular, slow breathing accompanies relaxation, recovery, sleep, and regeneration. What many people don't realize is that we can access and improve various physical, mental and emotional functions through working with the breath. In other words, conscious, deliberate, slow deep breathing is good for you! (It feels great too.)
Bridging the mind/body interface, breathing holds the unique property of being either voluntary or automatic. It goes on indefinitely without our conscious consideration, but - unlike your heartbeat and other functions - you can "hold" or slow down the breath at will - thereby breaking the unconscious feedback loop between the sympathetic and parasympathetic functions of the autonomic nervous system. The potentials for this type of conscious breath auto-regulation are great. It can help improve serious medical conditions such as hypertension, asthma, migraines, and more. It is also the gateway to inner spiritual consciousness.
The passive method is the opposite of controlled breathing. It starts with regular, two-part diaphragmatic breathing. [illustration A]. The first part, the inhalation, naturally involves some initial active force. The physical mechanism of the in-breath primarily entails the distension of the belly, more than the expansion of the rib cage. (You can verify this with your hand over your belly: it swells out upon inhalation.)
Part two of the breath cycle is exhalation, and the beginning of the effortless release stage of Passive Breath Awareness (PBA). Just as you can voluntarily relax and "drop" your outer limbs or abdominal muscles, you can relax the large horizontal flat diaphragm muscle within your belly. Feel this release while letting out a full breath: the extended diaphragm contracts and flattens the tummy, emptying the lungs.
A relaxation breath begins with a deep inhalation, followed by a deep release, and subsequent smaller and slower breaths (illustrations B & C).
We usually think of breathing as two-part: in and out, but there is a third distinct component of the breath cycle, and it comes between the other two. [illustration D] At the "bottom" of each exhalation, before it turns into inhalation, there is a moment of motionlessness, called the still-point. Through deeper relaxation after each exhalation, the still-point increases in duration (illustration E). This is the gateway to the remarkable realm of Passive Breath Awareness.
A During normal breathing, inhalations and exhalations are equal and constant in depth and rate. Since there are no pauses, there are functionally two parts to the breath cycle: in and out.
B. Taking a relaxing breath entails shifting from controlled to automatic (passive) breathing. An initial deep inhalation and complete exhalation are followed by progressively more shallow and slower breathing, with the emphasis on letting go.
C. Breathing is shallow and slow during sleep, meditation, or in the case of many animals, during hibernation. The body is deeply relaxed, and even though overall oxygen consumption decreases, a greater percentage goes to the central nervous system, accompanied by quieter brain wave patterns. Practicing passive breath awareness (PBA) comfortably induces this uniquely beneficial and enjoyable metabolic state.
D. The practice of passive breath awareness utilizes a third breath component, called the stillpoint, after the exhalation, before inhalation resumes. At this juncture - with the body sufficiently at rest and oxygen requirements minimal - breathing is so rested that it momentarily ceases. The duration of this motionless phase of the breath cycle gradually increases with practice.
An excellent method of training in three-part breath awareness is to coordinated it with a three-part mental mantra, such as Be Here Now, with now corresponding to the stillpoint.
E. Passive Breath Awareness physiologically leads to extremely slow and shallow breathing with extended breath-less pauses. Unexpectedly, such non-breathing is completely comfortable, sometimes even euphoric. The practice extends the passive "effortlessness" of the out-breath to the next inhalation as well. |
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Lonny Brown,
HHC.
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Lonny J. Brown, HHC is the author of "Self-Actuated Healing" (Naturegraph, Publ.), and "Enlightenment In Our Time," (BookLocker.com/
LonnyBrown).
His writings on holistic health have appeared on AOL's Alternative Medicine Forum and in Alternative Health Practitioner, Yoga Journal, and many other progressive publications.
Lonny Brown teaches holistic health, mind/body healing, and stress reduction courses at hospitals, schools and businesses throughout the US. His Web site also features essays, tapes, books, and links to a variety of integrative health sources.
holistic.com/lonny
lonny@holistic.com
lonnybrown@aol.com
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