Our appointment with life occurs in the present moment only. The meeting point of this appointment is exactly where we are right now.
Thich Nhat Hanh
(Thich Nhat Hanh / Smile at your heart)
Our breath is continually shifting our emotions and our energy 24/7. Since thousands of years, the breath has been considered a bridge between the immaterial and material world. From the first breath we take, we are welcomed into this life at the moment of our birth. When we die we surf onto other realms with our last breath. The sanskrit word „prana“ as well as the chinese Chi (氣) can be translated as energy (-flow), breath or (life -)force.
Illness and suffering can be seen as blocked chi or prana.
Exercise, healthy food and above all breathing techniques support the removal of these blocks on every level. In Eastern traditions such as Yoga, Qi Gong and even in some shamanistic cultures, breathing is connected to our emotions / our state of mind and therefore it is often used for healing or recalibrating our system.
Our breath is our closest companion. It is the only emergency treatment we always have on hand. At times it keeps us from falling into the abyss of depression, pain and panic.
It calms our overpowering emotions and helps us to come back to ourselves and thus reclaiming our power. At moments of overwhelming happiness and ecstasy our breath embraces joy fully, nourishing every cell of our being. Its moving stillness always opens the door to wisdom and truthfullness to our hearts, the most precious treasure we have.
Therefore I have included some helpful videos of breathing techniques. I produced these clips several years ago for the reknown Yoga teacher Lalleshvari (Claudia Turske). If you are interested in her work, you can find out more at: http://lallaundvilasyoga.de/
These clips have a poor quality by today’s HD standards, but they show some fundamental Yoga breathing exercises that calm as well as strengthen. These exercises do not substitute for a teacher! These short insights serve more as emergency treatments that should be accessible to everyone at all times.
We are born into a society where being proactive and taking action seem to be the answer for pratically everything. However it is important to know that you are also part of the inifinite potential existing between one moment and the next, and everything returns to this inbetween moment of all possibilities ,to be continually transformed into new forms of life. Breathing in. Breathing Out.
Here you find an introduction to the sacredness of breathing by Lalleshvari.
Ujjay or „victorious breathing“ is a fast and effective way to attain inner harmony. It is important however to discipline your thoughts and try to listen only to the waves of your own breath.
It is followed by the exercise „Chandra Bedhana“. It strenghtens our so called Moon energy (female energy) and helps us to release stress. It is also seen as an insomnia remedy. Chandra Bedhana is a variation of Nadi Shodhana (alternative nostril breathing). The way Chandra Bedhana supports the moon / female energy is by using Nadi Shodana to help balance our female and male energy, active and passive. In this case, you need to alternate between the nostrils with each breath: breathing in on the right, breathing out on the left; breathing in on the left, breathing out on the right and so forth. Whichever variation you choose, you will get the best results if you breathe in while counting to four, holding while counting to eight, then breathing out, counting to eight and holding another count to eight, before breathing in again…
Bhastrika or bellows breath supports us in moments of lethargy. It provides us with power and courage in moments of weakness or even crisis.
Uddyana Bhanda is another excercise to regenerate and lighten us even in heavy and difficult times.
As mentioned above. If you want to go deeper with these exercises, you should visit with a Yoga teacher.
Last but not least, a mantra to help deepen your interconnectedness with everything that is. So-ham: I’m, what is. In everything that is. Everything that exists. Aham-Shiva, So-Shakti. The eternal dance between female and male, matter and mind. I’m in everything that is. Everything that is, is also part of me. So-ham.