When an exercise is physically demanding, your blood flow will increase and your lungs will work more to accommodate your body’s needs for oxygen. In a meditative exercise, the body may not be doing this on its own and you’ll have to make a conscious choice to breathe in a different way to enhance your meditation efforts. That said, breathing differently on your own can feel a little far-fetched, but give it a go.
Circular breath is one of those simple exercises that is very easy to learn but is extremely helpful with drawing your focus away from the daily routine and all the stuff that’s going on around you and in your mind. It’s easy, once you get the drift of the process. When you breathe normally you would breathe in, stop for a moment, breathe out, stop for a moment. Rinse and repeat, forever. Circular breath is just that, but without the stops. Here’s how: start with an in-breath and when your lungs are full and you feel the urge to stop taking in more air, don’t stop and slowly let it out again until your lungs are empty. At that point, don’t stop either, but gently take air in again. Circular breathing means that you gently move from in to out and vice versa without a perceivable switch. Imagine a circle: you breathe in upwards and slowly reduce the speed and volume reaching the top, then drop down the other side right way by letting out the first bit of breath – and keep going. Same process at the bottom. And then keep going. This gentle virtualisation and motion of air flowing in and out is sure to keep you focused and will help you get into that meditative, reflective, calm mood you are looking for. And your energy has shifted to a less hectic, more relaxed state. Even in ‘real life’ we are making use of breath in similar ways: when someone needs to calm down we usually ask them to ‘breathe slowly’ or to ‘calm down and start breathing again’. That is in fact just the same thing in a non-meditative setting. Now try this: think of times and situations when your breath registered as unusual and look at just how your breathing pattern has been affected and why. Bring this learning to your meditation sessions and use it to make magic happen! There is nothing wrong with making use of what you already know is working…
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About me
These are my own thoughts on aspects of my work I feel strongly about. Archives
September 2021
|