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42. Full Breathing Session 1/31/04
“My mental state, I think,
is quite peaceful, quite calm. If there’s some sad news, some heart-breaking
news that comes, for a short moment, I am very disturbed, very sad, but then it
goes. So like an ocean, the waves come and go, come and go.”
The Dali Lama. From Words of Wisdom 01/31/2004 daily calendar.
Below is a session for feeling the expansive nature of breathing and how to become familiar with the feeling of alignment. Because of the low impact nature of this position it is applicable across the age spectrum. For introducing alignment to others this position works well for me since I can keep my instructional commentary to a minimum. By laying in this position and comfortably breathing and filling the spaces of the upper body we can experience many insights about our body, our breathing capacity and our alignment. Doing this for half an hour or longer, will provide you with a change in the body that corresponds to better alignment. When you get up the evidence of a more open, and upright position will speak for itself.
The use of the pillows accelerates the experience because it naturally rests the upper body in an open position where the breath can fill the upper body with oxygen with out much effort. This position also provides some lengthening or stretching of the muscle throughout the rib cage for a period of time. Exchanging with another person or doing this alone, the position is relaxing as well as recuperative.
Instruction
Place two firm couch pillows under the back and legs, while allowing the shoulder blades, arms, neck and head to relax on the floor. The arms and hands are relaxed to the outside with the palms open and the fingers open. Now, feel the breath come in with a long slow inhale that fills the spaces of the body. On the exhale some breath comes out and we start the in breath again. This exploration with the breath can be maintained for the time of the session.
This is also a modified
experience of mindfulness of the body and the breath. Knowing that we can trust
the body to use this position for opening provides the comfort to persist
through 'discomforts' or concerns that may arise.
Working in this position when we can, whether its for 10 minutes or longer, will
help us understand its basic usefulness. As we become more comfortable with this
position we may start to change the patterns of breathing and the breath can
become more energetic. This position is an excellent start for releasing
tensions and addressing conflicts that may be housed in the body.
Because the body has a naturally curative nature we can trust any energetic outburst, change of breathing pattern or body somatics to be a positive unwinding of energy that may have been held still. The intuitive actions of the body may often surprise us, which is fine indeed, as we observe and developed a respect for the bodies ability to unwind the knots of confusion in a natural way. Any vocal sounds we feel free to make are also welcome as we sing this song of unwinding.
Animals display an ability to breath and heal themselves, with out 'knowledge', by following their instincts. An experience that brought this notion home happened while feeding squirrels in Central Park in NYC. I witnessed a squirrel fall from a tree branch that may have been some 40 plus feet high. She hit the ground bellywop fashion with a loud thud. I thought for sure this was fatal, then with out hesitation the squirrel got up, ran up the tree, and hung limp half in and half out of a hole in the tree. The squirrel was then joined by another squirrel that placed itself on her back! They started to energetically breath together. As I watched I was struck by the breathing they were doing with each other. I have never seen animals breath with such a fullness and intention. they remained, breathing together as if one body, in this position for the good part of 15 minutes doing what I assume was healing on a level of dignity and love that is admirable.
Recently I gave a friend I have known for many years his first session. I put him in the position above, gave him some brief instruction and let him work. As the session progressed his body became totally engaged by the breathing, then started to breath as if starved for the openness that each breath brought. He went on like this for an hour and a half, breathing full and energetically. His feeling of the results, are a testament to the healing nature of our intuitive body.
Stomach cramps, Menstrual cramps
Releasing muscles, intestinal cramps, constipation can be addressed in this position.
Lying down, as in the above illustration, place both hands upon your lower stomach. Breath gently into the lower stomach so there is some expansion of your belly and feel the area that is upsetting you or feels congested. Do this for five minutes.
Then with one of your fingers find a spot that feels like it has pain or tension in it, once found direct breath to this point so there is expansion of that area, then feel a relaxation of this point on the out breath. Keep doing this until you feel some change. Finding another spot, this process can be repeated. As you work with this position and feel comfortable with the procedure you can work with placing some gentle finger pressure on different points throughout the lower body while breathing in and out.
Trust, explore and discover while relaxing with this session.
“It is the finite that
suffers, the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
peace
Posted by Harmon January 31, 2004
Comments
Love the story about the squirrels! That's amazing!
Posted by: Jordan February 1, 2004
Yes Jordan it was amazing,
and illustrative of how much we can learn by appreciating our animal friends.
~~~~
Harmon,
As usual, your advice is excellent. The sad part is that so many people resist trying these wonderful, healing techniques. Instead of endeavoring to adopt a healthy lifestyle, they go on hurting themselves through poor posture, diet, etc. And when they become ill, they go to the local MD for drugs. It's very sad. But for those with a little ambition, your techniques are a wonderful alternative to even more drug therapy.
Posted by: Solstice on February 4, 2004 12:54 AM
****
Solstice, Thank you for your comments. It seems more people are opting for
alternatives to traditional treatment for their aches and pains. Of course, a
large majority of people with the ‘benefit’ of Medical Insurance do put there
bodies through some very questionable experiences thinking that the only way out
of discomfort is a visit to the doctor. Hopefully as time goes by we will come
to trust the basic intelligence of our body. For this, some simple experiences
with breath-work and understanding our alignment can be invaluable.
Posted by: Harmon on February 5, 2004
~~~
What an interesting story about the squirrel and her helper. Yes you are right about animals knowing instinctively what to do during episodes of illness or injury. A lot of your teaching seems to be about getting people to trust themselves when they get a cue to do something spontaneous, either with moving around or with breathing or making sounds. This is a very "freeing" idea.
Ruth
Posted by: Ruth on March 29, 2004
~~~~
Ruth
Yes, that squirrel provided me with a ‘once in a lifetime’ observation. The intuitive side of working with the body does open as we respect and trust the body. We have two ways of opening the body with breath and alignment. This can start with the mechanical application of following a particular session which is fine. This mechanical aspect is used as a discipline for introducing unfamiliar patterns to the body or deciding to do a particular practice for a long time to experience those results. We can decide to work with full breathing while doing a chore or office work for some hours, which is a fine discipline and usually very productive.
The intuitive tends to come out of the mechanical aspects, however, some people go right to the intuitive play of opening the body and their sound, because they have done a lot of different practices. The intuitive tends to locate and handle what arises in a spontaneous fashion which is quite efficient.
Ruth it is pleasing that you can find these presentations ‘freeing’, which is a fine point of much of what I have to say about the body. Thank You
Posted by: Harmon on March 29, 2004
~~~
Harmon, thanks for showing me this exercise. I'm going to get right down to doing it and intend to get my group to do it too when we meet next. Do you have any more to share? Would love to have a whole series of them.
Peace & Blessings,
Dil
Posted by: Dil on April 1, 2004
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