The Healing Power of the Breath

In Breath Moving we use our imagination to move our breath and awareness to different parts of the body. This method improves the circulation of energy through the nervous system and improves blood flow. Many mind-body traditions use a variety of practices to increase energy flow. Some Eastern traditions consider blocks to the flow of energy to be the root cause of illness. They view mind-body practices as a way to open chakras (energy centers) and dissolve blockages in the body’s channels so that energy and vital substances can circulate more freely. Western science has just begun to study many of these techniques, and therefore we have much to learn about how they exert their effects. Nevertheless, you will notice definite changes in your mind and body as you practice moving your breath.

You may have found that when you do Coherent Breathing and Resistance Breathing your mind tends to wander. Breath Moving will help to keep your mind focused on the breath practices. It thereby increases concentration while at the same time maintaining a more open, rather than rigidly narrowed, focus. In this way, your attention has an inner focus while remaining open and receptive. This expands your awareness.

The ancient roots of Breath Moving are in China. Forms of it are also evident in Hawaiian mind-body practices and in qigong. Ancient Hawaiian Huna healing uses piko-piko breathing to move energy between the naval and the crown of the head. The technique of moving the breath was developed to a high degree by Russian Christian Orthodox Hesychast monks around the eleventh century. The monks used the practice in preparation for the Jesus Prayer to attain deep states of prayer and meditation. Because the practices were secret, they were never written down. At that time, the holy Russian warriors were defending their realm against invaders. The monks taught their breath techniques to the holy warriors to make them more resilient, so that they would sustain less damage when attacked in battle. In addition, the techniques heightened their awareness, a vital capacity in combat. They also believed that these practices increased awareness of the spiritual aspects of everyday existence. Traces of these practices have remained as part of the training for elite Russian Special Forces soldiers. A veteran of this Russian military training, Vladimir Vasiliev, moved to Canada and in 1993 founded a martial arts school of Systema that has developed an international following. Traditionally taught as a mind-body-soul method of health and conditioning, Systema employs intense breathing methods as the foundation of its combat training.¹

Breath Moving: The First Two Circuits

You may sit or lie down in a comfortable position.

Close your eyes and your mouth.

Breathe in and out through your nose.

Play track 4 of the Healing Power of the Breath audio program.
Breathe in through the nose on one tone.
Breathe out through the nose on the next tone.
Repeat breathing in on one tone and out on the following tone.
Breathe slowly and gently with the Coherent Breathing rate.
Remember to relax your face, neck, shoulders, and hands.

Basic Breath Moving, Circuit 1

On the next tone, as you breathe in, imagine you are moving your breath to the top of your head.
As you breathe out, imagine you are moving your breath to the base of your spine, your perineum, your sit bones.
Each time you breathe in, move the breath to the top of the head.
Each time you breathe out, move the breath to the base of the spine.
Breathe in this circuit for ten cycles.

Basic Breath Moving, Circuit 2

On the next tone, as you breathe in, imagine you are moving your breath to the top of your head.
As you breathe out, imagine you are moving your breath down through your body and out through the soles of your feet, like a bubbling stream.
Each time you breathe in, imagine the breath coming in through the soles of your feet and moving up your legs and body to the top of your head.
Each time you breathe out, move the breath down and out through the soles of the feet.
Breathe in this circuit for ten cycles.

Basic Breath Moving, Repeat Circuit 1

On the next tone, as you breathe in, imagine you are moving your breath to the top of your head.
As you breathe out, imagine you are moving your breath to the base of your spine.
Each time you breathe in, move the breath to the top of the head.
Each time you breathe out, move the breath to the base of the spine.
Breathe in this circuit for ten cycles.

Rest the Breath

Let your breath rest as you continue to breathe in the Coherent Breathing rate.
Notice how your body feels. Notice the quality of your mind.

We recommend that you practice basic Breath Moving every day for five to ten minutes while doing your Coherent Breath practice. When you can do it smoothly and easily, you will be ready for the Total Practice. Always begin and end with circuit 1, from the top of the head to the base of the spine. You can vary the number of times you do each circuit before switching to the other. For example: circuit 1 ten times, circuit 2 ten times, circuit 1 ten times, circuit 2 ten times, and so on.

Obstacles to the Practice of Breath Moving

Most people find it easy to learn Breath Moving. However, here are two obstacles you might encounter and ways to resolve them.

Difficulty Visualizing the Breath Moving

Some people find it difficult to imagine or visualize the breath moving inside their body. Visualization is helpful but not essential. First try different ways of visualizing the breath as an energy flow or as a stream of water or feel it as a breeze moving through you. If you have difficulty visualizing, just focus your attention completely on the place where you want the breath to go. Become intensely aware of that place. For example, to move the energy to the top of your head, focus on feeling either the top of your head, your scalp, or the hair at the top of your head. Then focus your attention on the base of your spine, the feeling where it meets the floor or the chair. Continue moving your attention to the focal points of each circuit. This will work even without actual visualization. With practice it becomes easier.

Feeling Activated Instead of Calm

While most people derive calm feelings from Breath Moving, for some it is more activating and energizing. If you respond to Breath Moving by feeling activated, then use this technique in the morning and during the day to refresh and energize yourself. For you, it would be better not to use it at night. Instead, at night use only Coherent Breathing and Resistance Breathing to prepare for sleep.

Total Breath = Coherent Breathing + Resistance + Breath Moving

Once you have mastered Breath Moving at the Coherent Breathing rate and you are able to perform it smoothly and without strain, you will be ready to learn the Total Breath. Each form of breathing we add to your practice increases the stimulation of the soothing, recharging, healing part of your nervous system. While these breath practices have traditionally been used separately, we combine them into one Total Breath practice in order to intensely activate the parasympathetic system and create the most powerful effects on the stress-response system in the shortest possible time. The Total Breath practice starts with Coherent Breathing, then adds Breath Moving, and then Resistance Breathing, combining these into one transformative practice. Instead of taking an hour to do three breath practices, you will be able to do all three together in about twenty minutes, as described in the instructions that follow.

The Total Breath

You may sit or lie down in a comfortable position.

Close your eyes and your mouth.

Breathe in and out through your nose.

Play the second track of the Healing Power of the Breath audio program.
Breathe in through the nose on one tone.
Breathe out through the nose on the other tone.
Breathe slowly and gently with the Coherent Breathing rate.
Remember to relax your neck and shoulders.

Basic Breath Moving, Circuit 1

On the next tone, as you breathe in, imagine you are moving your breath up to the top of your head.
As you breathe out, imagine you are moving your breath down to the base of your spine.

Each time you breathe in, move the breath to the top of the head.

Each time you breathe out, move the breath to the base of the spine.

Breathe with this circuit for five cycles.

Total Breath

As you do the Breath Moving circuit, begin to use Resistance Breathing.
When you feel comfortable using Total Breath in circuit 1, begin using it in circuit 2.
Alternate about ten rounds of Total Breath in circuit 1 with ten rounds in circuit 2.
If you begin to tire from the Resistance Breathing, let it go and just use Breath Moving with Coherent Breathing. You can do the Resistance Breathing for short periods of time until you develop the stamina to use it throughout the practice. It is most important to do the breathwork in a way that is relaxed, comfortable, and without any strain.

The Complete Practice: Movement, Breathing, and Meditation

Most traditional mind-body practices have multiple components. For example, classical yoga has what are called the Eight Limbs for complete mental, physical, and spiritual development. These include movement, breathing, meditation, and the practice of character virtues such as honesty, nonharming, and right living. Just as we need variety in our diets, we also need variety in our mind-body practices. The more we find ways to release tension, balance our nervous systems, and harmonize our personal lives, the more likely we are to achieve healthy changes. If you were to choose just one type of practice, you could choose the breathing you have learned so far, and just doing that every day would bring about positive emotional and physical changes over time. If you have the time to do a little more, however, we would suggest that you begin your practice with five to ten minutes of physical movement and end your practice with five minutes of relaxation or meditation. If you already have a meditation practice, you will find that by doing the Total Breath first, you will be able to quiet your mind and enter more smoothly and deeply into your meditation. The ideal sequence would be movement, breathing, and relaxation or meditation.

In chapter 1 you learned the body scan, a basic relaxation practice to follow Coherent Breathing. For the movement segment of your practice you can use any kind of slow movements, such as yoga, qigong, tai chi, or a basic set of warm-up muscle and tendon stretches. The warm-up could include head rolls, shoulder rolls, stretching the calves, heels, and thighs, spinal stretches, extending the arms upward and to the sides, and so forth. If you combine slow Resistance Breathing with these movements it will enhance the stretching and increase the benefits in the same amount of time. Chapter 5 will introduce you to additional techniques, each with their own benefits. The general rule is to inhale with rising movements and to exhale with descending movements. Here are two examples of how to combine Resistance Breathing with movement.

Resistance Breathing with Head Rolls

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Straighten your head, keeping your chin level, and relax your knees. Imagine your head being pulled by a string up toward the sky. Imagine your feet planted solidly on the ground, growing deep roots into the earth.

Allow your head to tilt forward until your chin rests on your chest. Slowly rotate your head in a circle to the right as you slowly inhale.

When you are halfway around and your head is tilted to the back, begin to exhale slowly with Resistance Breathing as you continue to rotate your head around to the left and bring it back to the center of your chest.

Repeat this rotation to the right five times and then rotate to the left five times.

As you rotate your head, if you notice pain and stiffness in a particular position, pause and take several slow breaths while you imagine the breath moving through the painful point.

Notice the change in how your neck feels.

Resistance Breathing with Shoulder Rolls

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Straighten your head, keeping your chin level, and relax your knees. Imagine your head being pulled on a string up toward the sky. Imagine your feet planted solidly on the ground, growing roots deep into the earth.
Slowly rotate your shoulders in a circle by bringing them forward and up as you slowly inhale.
When your shoulders get to the top of the circle halfway around, exhale slowly with Resistance Breathing as you continue to rotate your shoulders around to the back.
Repeat this rotation from forward to back five times, or more if you wish.
Slowly rotate your shoulders in a circle by pushing them toward your back and then bringing them upward as you slowly inhale.
When your shoulders get to the top of the circle halfway around, exhale slowly with Resistance Breathing as you continue to rotate your shoulders forward and down.
Repeat this rotation from back to front back five times, or more if you like.
Relax and notice how your shoulders feel.

Arm Raising to Stretch the Spine

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Straighten your head, keeping your chin level, and relax your knees. Imagine your head being pulled on a string up toward the sky. Imagine your feet planted solidly on the ground, growing deep roots into the earth.
Raise your right arm slowly, palm facing inward, with your fingers pointed toward the sky. Your left arm should hang at your side with your fingers pointing toward the earth. Keeping your spine straight, inhale slowly as you reach your right arm higher toward the sky while you stretch your left arm down toward the earth. Exhale slowly with Resistance Breathing each time you release the stretch. Repeat this five times. Lower your right arm.
Relax and become aware of the difference in how your right side feels in comparison with your left side.
Raise your left arm slowly, palm facing inward with your fingers pointed toward the sky. Your right arm should hang at your side with your fingers pointing toward the earth. Keeping your spine straight, inhale slowly as you reach your left arm higher toward the sky while you stretch your right arm down toward the earth. Exhale slowly with Resistance Breathing each time you release the stretch. Repeat this five times. Lower your left arm.
Relax and notice the change in how your body feels.

Additional Movements

If you have time to do more body stretches, just continue to use the breathing and pause after completing each movement to notice changes in how your body feels. This helps to teach your brain to listen to your body and improves your awareness of subtle changes. Use slow breathing with or without Resistance Breathing to enhance stretches for your neck, back, trunk, arms, and legs, as well as for joint rotations. While doing joint rotations imagine your breath moving into and through the joint. This will help improve your range of motion and reduce any joint pains you may be having. If you want to learn more stretches or yoga postures, you could participate in a class or follow a DVD program. For people who have never done yoga, it would be better to take some classes with a certified yoga teacher who could help assure that the movements are done correctly and without strain. In the resources section at the end of the book, you will find some suggestions for good programs.

Occupational Hazards

Every job has its pluses and minuses. Many jobs probably require the repeated use of certain sets of muscles or some degree of stress on your joints. This can lead to problems such as chronic pain, wearing down of joints, headaches, back and neck problems, or the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome. Whether from computer work, physical labor, or athletic activities, it is likely that at some time you will experience musculoskeletal problems, inflamed tendons, muscle spasms, or aches and pains. Below we look at examples of situations in which slow Resistance Breathing with muscle stretching and joint rotations can help to prevent muscle and joint problems from developing or help to relieve ailments that have already occurred.

Computer Blues

Even if your job does not require much keyboarding, if you are like most people you probably spend a good deal of time on your home computer. Once you become absorbed in whatever has captured your attention, you lose track of time. Only when your neck starts to hurt or you feel that twinge in your lower back do you realize how long you have been sitting without moving. Cyberspace has mesmerized your mind to such an extent that your brain has stopped listening to your body—until your body shouts out with a pang strong enough to break the trance. The body posture of people who spend the greatest number of hours every day sitting at a computer may even gel into a state of contraction in which the head extends forward, the shoulders and back are hunched, the elbows stay partially bent, and the movements become stiff. Stress from work or academic pressures also contributes to the build-up of muscle tension.

Whenever you sit at a desk or computer, it is best to take short breaks at least once an hour to do head and shoulder rotations. Head rolls and shoulder rotations are an excellent way to relieve tension in the neck, shoulders, and back. You can use Resistance Breathing while slowly rotating your neck and then your shoulders five times each way as you learned above. If there is residual tension, you can repeat the same sequence and do it more frequently. This will help prevent muscle tension from building up in the neck and upper back. If you become so absorbed that you forget to take breaks, use a small timer set for one hour to remind you to stop, stretch, and listen to your body.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

While carpal tunnel syndrome used to be a problem that mostly occurred in people whose jobs involved extreme overuse of their hands, such as dentists and musicians, in the computer era it has become a much more common condition. Overuse of the hands in keyboarding can lead to inflammation of tendons in the lower arm and wrist. The inflamed tendons enlarge, compressing the carpal tunnel, a passageway containing nerve fibers. The result is pain that may require wearing a hand and wrist support or possibly surgery to reopen the tunnel. Overuse causes tendons to tighten and contract. Tendons need to be repeatedly stretched to keep them healthy and flexible. One method to keep wrist joints and tendons flexible is the use of wrist rotations combined with slow Resistance Breathing and Breath Moving.

Wrist Rotations

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Straighten your head, keeping your chin level and relaxing your knees. Imagine your head being pulled on a string up toward the sky. Imagine your feet planted solidly on the ground, growing deep roots into the earth.
Raise both arms, holding them straight out in front of you. Curve your fingers toward your palms to form cup shapes and maintain the cups throughout the movements.
Rotate both wrists and hands slowly in circles turning outward so that the right hand is rotating toward the right and the left hand is rotating toward the left. As you rotate, do slow Resistance Breathing and focus your attention and your breath inside your wrists. Repeat ten times.
Rotate both hands and wrists slowly toward the inside so that the right hand is rotating toward the left and the left hand is rotating toward the right.
Shake both hands for a few seconds. Relax and notice the change in how your hands feel.

First Responders

Responding to emergencies is extremely demanding both physically and psychologically. In addition to everyday emergencies such as accidents, first responders are also called upon to deal with natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, and earthquakes as well as man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks, oil spills, and nuclear accidents. After years of doing such grueling work, first responders develop the same types of joint and muscle injuries that occur in military personnel. And like combat soldiers, their bodies absorb and hold the stress of witnessing victims being injured or killed.

Through our involvement with a nonprofit organization called Serving Those Who Serve, we have had the privilege of working with first responders and Ground Zero workers who have not fully recovered from the intense work, stress, and toxic exposures following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. We have been struck by the discipline and the stoicism of these individuals. They have not complained about their injuries but we have heard their groans and their sighs of relief as they learned to rotate and breathe through their painful joints. Over time, with regular practice, old injuries have begun to heal. We have seen similar responses in our work with military personnel, both those on active duty and veterans.

Sports Injuries

Whatever sport you play, you have probably developed a strain, a pain, or a crick somewhere in your body. Wherever you notice an injury developing, you can use the same method of rotating and flexing with Resistance Breathing, Breath Moving through the injury, and focused attention. These exercises help to lubricate the joints, preventing wear and tear; they stretch the tendons, improve circulation, reduce inflammation, and help to maintain flexibility. If you love sports, you will love the results.

Moving Forward

Let’s briefly review what you have learned about the core breathing practices, the Total Breath, and the Complete Practice. The core breathing practices are Coherent Breathing, Resistance Breathing, and Breath Moving. Coherent Breathing uses the Healing Power of the Breath audio program track to maintain a rate of five to six breaths per minute. Resistance Breathing creates a soft ocean sound by partial obstruction of the flow of air. During Breath Moving, attention is focused on moving the breath through body areas that need healing or on creating circuits that move the breath imaginatively between two places in the body—for example, between the top of the head and the base of the spine. The Total Breath is achieved by combining all three breath forms—Coherent Breathing, Resistance Breathing, and Breath Moving—to produce the Total Breath. Three breath forms are combined into one not only to save time but also to boost the therapeutic effects on stress resilience and the body’s regulatory systems.

Complete Practice includes a sequence of movement, breathing, and meditation. In the next chapter, we will focus on breath practices for stress, job burnout, anxiety, phobias, depression, trauma, and mass disasters. In the subsequent chapters you will discover additional breathing techniques that produce different effects, and you will also learn how to use these practices to deal with many different conditions, circumstances, and relationships. The healing power of the breath will help you overcome negative emotions, freeing you to be more creative, more connected, and more loving. If, after reading through this book, you still have unanswered questions, you are welcome to contact us at www.haveahealthymind.com and we will do our best to respond.