Breath is no longer a routine inhalation of air but a quivering intake of life.
Stephen Bachelor: Buddhism Without Beliefs
How “well” we breathe is crucial for our quality of life. In situations of stress or anguish our breath gets shallow. Some people’s breath never reaches their diaphragm. That has a significant impact on their health: the body remains in a cyclical state of stress, where stress causes shallow breathing and shallow breathing causes stress. Such chronic stress results in lower amounts of a type of white blood cell that helps to defend the body from invading organisms, and lowers the amounts of proteins that signal other immune cells. The body is then susceptible to contracting acute illnesses, aggravating pre-existing medical conditions, and prolonging healing times.
Diaphragmatic breathing, or “belly breathing,” can be trained. Here you can find some simple instructions. I really enjoy practicing relaxed breathing all the way down in my abdomen. In such moments breathing really feels like Bachelor puts it: as a quivering intake of life. It is nothing less than a miracle how we keep alive by taking in and letting out the air around us...
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