The Miracle of Breath – in relation to health
First of all, I think it will help if we define health. Most people consider health to run along side fitness, fitness and health are not the same thing and depending on what fitness training or sport you are doing, it could actually be detrimental to your health.
Before we look in more detail about the affects of breathing, lets look at what fitness training does. The most obvious one to look at is resistance training or weight training. This involves putting strenuous loads through a muscle or a group of muscles in order to tear the muscle fibres. At a basic level, these damaged muscle fibres then repair themselves with the aid of proteins making them stronger and larger.
Most people want toned bodies and toned muscles, but what this really means is a lean body with little body fat. Resistance training is extremely beneficial for tone and other goals, but for immunity and health I would be less inclined to prescribe due to the nature of that type of training.
For the majority of people resistance training will create enormous amounts of stress and tension throughout the whole body system, and not just within the muscles but also our internal cavities as we tense the whole body when stressing the muscles. If we are interested in high performance sport or other physical activities then this is exactly what we should be doing, but for health I'm not so sure, and it is certainly not the traditional Eastern way.
As a former personal trainer/strength and conditioning coach, I have not come across many people who did not fall ill on regular occasions, while training at any substantial level. As they push their body’s to where their body’s do not want to go, they put tremendous tension through their systems. If we could release this tension afterwards, it wouldn’t be that detrimental to the immune system, but having the ability to release external tension is no small feat, any Tai Chi beginner will tell you. To have the nerve and body control to release underlying and internal tension, which is after all probably the most destructive, take great skill and awareness.
I think we would all agree that tension (stress) weather it is mental or physical can be extremely damaging to our health and well-being, unless we can competently remove it.
On a personal note, and as a person who has completed in sport at a high level, I can honestest say I feel ‘healthier’ now than I've ever been. At 46 years old I might not have a six pack, but my body is more flexible, more mobile and looser than it has ever been. My body no longer hurts as it always did (especially in my shoulders) and I feel mentality and physically the most relaxed I've ever been. This is due to the lack of intense physical activity. I keep moving regularly and open my lungs through gentle cardiovascular exercise, but I always keep it moderate.
Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation has had the most dramatic affect on my health, after many years of continued practice, I am rarely sick and at best only get the odd runny nose or swore throat. This only happens to me when my stress (tension) levels rise.
With each breath you are doing a form of Qigong, the only difference is that your not usually conscious of it. Qigong amplifies the mind, body and energy processes that are already there. Through conscious awareness, we become aware of the bodies processes so we can then take the opportunity to manipulate the subtle changes needed for better health. For most of us we don’t give the breath a second notice, but if we just start playing a little more attention to our breath, then our immunity and health would sky rocket.
In this article I'm not going to go through all the different types of breathing methods and practices, as they are wide ranging with numerous outcomes depending on your goals. I’m more going to talk generally about what happens when we bring our attention to our breath.
Lets look closer at the miracle of breath, as we breath correctly we can make our body become and feel fully alive. The increased movement and strength of the diaphragm will gently massage your internal organs, especially the liver, spleen and kidneys increasing more rich oxygenated blood to them. It will also help remove any stagnation that may directly or indirectly affect them.
You can think of it like a workout for your organs. As we age the diaphragm will normally weaken and become more ridged, putting strain on your internal organs, and starving them of life giving blood, and the organs will eventually lose their efficiency to perform their job.
When we are stressful and anxious, conscious breathing in the lower abdomen will help calm the mind and oxygenated all the cells. By placing your awareness on the lower Dantein, this will draw the Qi and energy down away from the mind. This will enable us to remain calm, logical and maintaining a sense of clarity as the pre-frontal cortex is no longer inhabited and is still available for logical and creative thinking.
This type of breathing will also avoiding the possibility of involuntary clenching of external and internal tension, keeping our emotions in check so they don’t run away from us. If we are practised then the likelihood of extreme stress is very much diminished in the first place, the calmer we are the more easily the Qi will flow and cultivate.
People’s leisure or work activities as mentioned previously, have made their body’s become tense and hard (visually nice on the eye, but bad for health) which will restrict Qi flow, fluids and many other things, including the nervous system.
The nervous system governs all voluntary and involuntary actions and sensations. When your nerves are calm and smooth, those actions and sensations remain crystal clear, so the entire body will be efficient and in top working order. But when the nerves are sparking, strained and overloaded, the information flow becomes hindered and confused and the body’s functions and sensations start to break down.
Unfortunately and especially in this fast pace world of instant gratification followed by dissatisfaction and the individuals need to be right and heard, creates a churning mind and we can very quickly become stressful without even realising it, putting our nervous system under extreme pressure and tension.
If you have discomfort or pain in the body, it is probably caused by tension. If this discomfort is per-longed then dysfunction will occur due to the lack of blood, fluids and Qi, and we might possibly get into some serious issues. It is arguably the nervous tension that causes the majority of dis-ease within the body, numbing us literately of happiness and joy. Through achieving higher levels of body and breath awareness we can relax the nerves, keeping them maintained in tip top condition.
Breathing can be used like a portal into the body’s nervous system, it is the easiest tool we have at our disposal and is accessible 24hrs a day. It is this ability to access the nerves that is responsible for internal awareness and control. This is the gold dust that Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation can give us, having the skill to release tension from anywhere in the body.
Inflammation is also a major cause of disharmony (again caused by tension) within the body. If we do specific breathing techniques we can calm and reduce the internal inflammation within the body. The results of these advanced and ancient breathing techniques have had scientists bemused until 2007. This is due to the fact that they thought it impossible to access the reptilian auto bodily functions, let alone have the ability to be able to reset the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This can take us to levels of body awareness that we thought could not be humanly possible, but all it takes is a bit of know how and dedication and we can defy modern science, Wim Hoff is one of the more well known examples of this.
It is wise to point out that science, as great as it is, is not everything. Our scientific knowledge is only as good as the time in which it is presented. Science is always evolving but can only really evolve as the technology and computer development evolves with it. Science is only now proving what the ancient Daoist’s and Yogi’s already instinctively knew as they turned their attention inside. We do not need to look outside to discover the worlds mysteries, we just need to turn the spot light around.
If we develop consciously through awareness the quality of our breath will become naturally calm and gentle. Full lower abdominal breathing or at advanced levels whole body breathing, will produce a breath quality that will be replicated by the blood, nerves and Qi. If our breath is short, harsh, erratic and shallow than this will be the quality of our blood, nerves and Qi. If we breath properly, Qi, blood and fluids will move more freely, delivering fresh nourishing oxygen to the deepest cells of the body.
It’s well worth spending a little time everyday on the miracle of breath, and take a moment to feel just how alive you become.
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