Natural Breathing

Natural Breathing

Yogis believe that our lives are not numbered by years or by days, but by breaths. This makes sense when you consider the tortoise, the slowest breathing animal, is also the longest living. Slow deep-paced breathing has many benefits to both mind and body. In fact, Dennis Lewis, The Tao of Natural Breathing (Mountain Wind Publishing, 1997), comments: “Our chronic shallow breathing reduces the working capacity of our respiratory system to only about one-third of its potential, diminishes the exchange of gasses and thus the production of energy in our cells, deprives us of the many healthful actions that breathing naturally would have on our inner organs, cuts us off from our own real feelings, and promotes disharmony and ‘dis-ease’ at every level of our lives.”(1)

It is the oxygen we inhale that, combined with carbon from food, provides energy to our bodies. A simple yawn, which is the deepest breath most people ever take, is a response to low levels of energy. In addition, those weaning themselves from smoking will find it helpful to take long deep breaths throughout the day because breathing deeply is an aspect of smoking that they miss and, without it, anxiety levels rise.

The natural breath is the breathing infants do while sleeping. It is a deep breath that pushes the diaphragm down and causes the belly to distends. The downward bend of the diaphragm massages the inner organs, and air is drawn “into the deepest areas of our lungs, where most of our blood awaits oxygenation.” (2)

Replacing our normal shallow breathing with the natural breath all day every day will also put less stress on the heart. It allows the pituitary gland (the gland that regulates all of the glands) to function properly. Also, it works to detoxify the body (70 percent of our waste is released through breathing). Natural breathing also assists in peristaltic functioning of the small and large intestines.

The real challenge comes when various emotions, especially negative emotions, arise. You will notice that, when experiencing these emotions, the breath resumes its conditioned shallow pace, becomes choppy, or stops all together. We have all actually created and attached habitual patterned breathing responses to different emotions and situations that arise in daily life. Becoming aware of our personal breathing responses at these times, and making conscious efforts to remain in a natural breath, will go a long way towards healing inflamed or out of control emotions and in actually changing emotionally charged situations in our lives. Conscious breathing is a key to being response-able. When we control how we respond, we have more control over the situation.

-- T.H. Rushdan

1. Dennis Lewis, The Tao of Natural Breathing: For Health, Well-Being, and Inner Growth (San Francisco, CA: Mountain Wind Publishing), 1997, p 17.

2. Id., pp 11, 33.