Click here to start ... and then continue from here .
(Lessons I've learnt about the breath and breathing)
page 4. I was being looked after. During the experience of pneumonia, and my inability to breathe, I was learning about the preciousness of the breath and its link with ill-health. I was also being reminded of my existence before the breath, and that I exist with the breath and, on some level, without it.
Years later, at school, I developed a love for long-distance running. I found that I ran best when I coordinated my breathing with the rhythmic beat of my feet on the ground. Breathing responds to rhythm. After school, judo training showed me how to use the breath to overcome the effects of my childhood illness to 'develop a strong body, and a calm mind'. Through judo practice, I discovered how the breath was linked to thought. Fear causes people to lose control of their breathing, whereas control of the breath creates a sense of calm, strength, and confidence. I have not forgotten the words of my instructor: 'When you need to be relax and serene, breathing is the key.' Sometimes, once a judo-throw was mastered, the accompanying breath control allowed me to enter a space where thinking disappeared. I did not know it then , but this was the meditative state to which all forms of breath work and body work can lead.
(Lessons I've learnt about the breath and breathing)
page 4. I was being looked after. During the experience of pneumonia, and my inability to breathe, I was learning about the preciousness of the breath and its link with ill-health. I was also being reminded of my existence before the breath, and that I exist with the breath and, on some level, without it.
Years later, at school, I developed a love for long-distance running. I found that I ran best when I coordinated my breathing with the rhythmic beat of my feet on the ground. Breathing responds to rhythm. After school, judo training showed me how to use the breath to overcome the effects of my childhood illness to 'develop a strong body, and a calm mind'. Through judo practice, I discovered how the breath was linked to thought. Fear causes people to lose control of their breathing, whereas control of the breath creates a sense of calm, strength, and confidence. I have not forgotten the words of my instructor: 'When you need to be relax and serene, breathing is the key.' Sometimes, once a judo-throw was mastered, the accompanying breath control allowed me to enter a space where thinking disappeared. I did not know it then , but this was the meditative state to which all forms of breath work and body work can lead.
No comments:
Post a Comment