How to breathe

Observing the breath with awareness

When we breathe without awareness we develop the ability; and some of us are experts at it; to think while we breathe. This is necessary for survival because we have to think and breathe, but what this means is that we never stop to just breathe. Why am I stating the obvious? Well, by the time we start a dedicated practise of breathing, it is very difficult to just breathe without the mind interrupting. This is not a problem if we want to breathe to take in oxygen but if we want to use breathing techniques to create wellbeing we need to deepen our relationship with the breath. We have to actively stop thinking while we are breathing. This is not easy and is very much the same process we follow as beginner meditators and goes as follows:

Keep coming back to the breath, again and again and again...

We sit or lie down and bring our awareness to the breath, the moment we start to do this, the thoughts come storming in like a herd of bulls in a china shop. We really want to be with the breath but breakfast options, shopping lists, meeting schedules, emotionally charged memories or future predictions roll in to disturb this process. Now, this is why we call it a practise because what needs to be done regularly is to get the mind to keep returning to the breath. We have to find the breath first and the cyclical nature of the breath helps us because we have two different motions to keep coming back to. We keep returning to the inhalation and we keep returning to the exhalation, both have a very real quality to it that gives us the possibility of returning from our raging thoughts to the breath.

It is like finding a closed door to the stillness of the mind but the mechanisms of the breath opens the door and we can allow ourselves to come back again and again because the door is open, even if ever so slightly. And at some point when we are able to consciously keep bringing ourselves back we can actively start following the breath, we get to stay with the breath for longer, perhaps a full inhalation, perhaps an exhalation as well. The point is just that you are doing it, you keep doing it and at some pivotal point in the practise you get to choose to keep doing it for more and more cycles at a time.

Inhale and exhale

When we start to consciously observe and feel the breath with all of the senses, within and without, above and below, we indeed set out on a marvellous journey that continues to unfold and develop and deepen our awareness throughout our life. It is a journey we can all start; because of the ease with which we are able to find the breath. We all have the capacity to breathe, it requires no equipment, financial investment or scientist to locate. Right now you are breathing while reading these word. So, for a moment, pause and just sense the presence of your breath:

Do you breathe through the mouth or the nose?

What is the breath doing? Is it short or long.

Where is it moving? Is it shallow in the chest or deep in the belly.

Does it have a sound?

What is the texture of the breath? Raspy, smooth, jaggerdy, silky.

What is the volume of the breath? The size you can feel it expand into when you inhale and exhale?

Where and at what moment does the inhalation turn into the exhalation?

Is there a pause before the exchange between inhalation and exhalation?

Is the length of the inhalation and the exhalation of equal length?

Do you breathe through both nostrils or only one?

These are only a few questions we can all feel our way into and I am sure that all of us can experience at least one of the questions. Let me ask you a further question:

What happens to your state of mind and your state of being whilst you are bringing your awareness to the different aspects of your breath when asked the above questions? Has it changed? If I ask you if you are able to experience yourself through the breath even if just for a brief moment, would the answer be yes, or no? Honestly.

Just keep at it!