The Power of Breath

The Power of Breath

On average we take more than 20,000 breaths each day. Most of these go unnoticed and are taken automatically by our unconscious mind, which runs our body.

Oxygen is one of our most important nutrients. You can only survive for minutes without it. Yet, too often we take breathing for granted.

Many spiritual traditions have studied the breath. Breath awareness and breath management are simple, yet powerful, tools for personal development.

To understand how powerful these simple tools and techniques can be we first need to understand the power of our breath.

The power of our breath is partly related to the intake of oxygen and vital force (Chi, Ki, Prana) and partly to its relationship to our emotional state.

You see, our breathing changes as our stress levels increase.

When we are nice and relaxed our breathing is relatively deep and very smooth. As our stress levels increase our breathing becomes more shallow and more erratic. At the point of maximum stress we may even stop breathing for a short period of time as we internalize unprocessed emotions (trauma).

Pranayama (breath control exercises) are an ancient and important part of Yoga. Breath control is also an important part of shamanic practice.

We will look at the power of our breath in more detail in future blog posts.

For now, I encourage you to start paying more attention to your daily breathing. Start to notice how your breathing changes as your stress levels rise.

In Love and Gratitude,

Antonia Ruhl