Breath

Are we breathing right?

Breath is something that comes naturally. It happens automatically from within. There is no need to control how many times we should do it or how exactly we want to do it. It is vital for survival. It is inevitable that all life forms breathe.

Why is this topic gaining popularity in this modern age and time?

Our current lifestyle is full of hues, or so we may think. We fill our time with activities like meeting new people, learning new things, visiting new places, and much more. Perhaps with all the varieties lay upon us, we have forgotten the fundamentals, to breathe.

How many times have you felt short of breath? You are stuck in a traffic jam while driving to work. The car in front of you is not moving, the car behind you is tail gaiting. You are caught in between and you do not know where to go. Your heart pumps faster and you feel stress in your whole body. All your muscles are tensed. Your leg feels cramp for pressing on the brakes. Your arms are tired for holding on to the steering. There are so many things flying in to your mind right now. You are worried you may be late for work. You feel that there is not enough time to finish off because you are running late.

Now is the time to pause and relax. The breath angel knows what is best for you. You are delayed because she thinks that you need to take a breath. All alone in the car, leave everything behind, just breathe.

Science tells us that the lungs are responsible for proper breathing. That is why the lungs are protected by a set of rib cage. However, if you realize, breathing using your lungs is actually hard work. Because we are so concentrated in making sure that our lungs get all the air that we need, we expand the rib cage over and over we will feel tired in the end.

Breathing is subtle. That is why yoga and meditation experts tell us to breath with our abdomen. Every organ in our body works hand in hand. By using this technique of breathing, we get full breaths with our lungs whilst leaving the rib cage still. With little work done, this relaxes every single part of the body and ultimately clears up the mind.

The mind is a wonderful creation. When the mind is clear, it is ready for challenges ahead. Most often we clutter our mind to the extent we feel stuck within. There is information overload. This is not necessarily caused by reading up too much. Everything that happens in our life is a piece of information. We may not realize that our brain functions in such a way it loves to keep every little pieces of nonsense in archive to be called out later when the brain thinks that we need them.

While this is just a normal process, there is a better way to doing it. When the mind is calm, all the tiny dots can be categorized and arranged into proper spheres and build interconnecting links with each other. This, in the corporate world, is called filing system. A great filing system enables people to recall information in a split second. It is with a calm mind that this can be done.

Have you ever experienced that when you are in need of that word but it can never come out of your mouth? You know there is such a word. You know it sounds like that but you just cannot recall. It is there at the back your head but you just cannot churn it out. Try forgetting about it. Go somewhere you can be alone, even for half a minute. Leave everything behind and the word will emerge naturally. If not the word, a replacement of the word will guide you there.

The little time that we have to ourselves is the little time we can breathe properly. Very often our breath is so shallow we feel tiredness throughout the body. Though we may not realize but our hectic lifestyle, even scrolling thought the internet contributes to shortness in breath.

Words cannot describe. Just take time to breathe consciously and feel the difference.

 

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.     

Thich Nhat Hanh (Nguyen Xuan Bao), Vietnamese Thien Buddhist monk and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, 1926-present