Spend fifteen minutes with me in a recording studio or Tae Kwon Do class and you’ll become witness to some seriously bizarre patterns of breathing—long stomach filling depths of wind sucked into a system that acts as if it’s starving for attention. Then, without hesitation a more natural way to breathe utilizes the presentation of each lungs offering.
No human on earth is taught how to breathe at birth. It’s in…then out…in and in and in and out.
Vocalists, musicians, public speakers, preachers, some runners, mountain bikers and long winded brothers and sisters learn before writing how the body acts and reacts when receiving what it rightfully and thoroughly deserves…oxygen.
When you elect to protect during times when having more air is a better way to travel and you decide not to offer, the end result is pressure. If the system you keep isn’t properly nourished with air at the amount its asking for…it’s not funny when the head starts spinning or your thought process becomes twenty five yawns followed by a desire to Red Bull it after that incredibly tasty chocolate candy bar.
Breathing with your lungs gives you about five gallons of gas in a thirty gallon tank. You can push your engines about a half mile then stop, stomp your feet, walk slowly back to the car only to get locked up in a sixty minute self conversation about how life and all things connected to it really stink.
Discovering the art of inner breathing creates space. Inside those available gaps you’re given a quiet place to think. By breathing properly gone will be the repetitiveness, uninspired decisions and lack of spark required to ignite your ambitious engine.
I first came in contact with inner breathing through my Karate Sensei Julio whose vicious former professional fighter brawl until you puke winning spirit took his students beyond the limits of I quit into a world of how did I do this? He shoved our unmotivated tails into spin and step classes, made us run in snow storms up flights of stairs followed by martial arts forms, pushups, sit ups and squats. Then we’d study our breathing habits, learning on the spot to fill the stomach not the lungs with the necessary ingredients to continue moving forward.
They say Buddha was a rounded man not because of the foods he ate but rather the inner lining of his shell was properly protected by the muscles that helped him breathe into deeper realms of spirituality.
Being aware of your breathing takes attention away from thinking which then creates space. Author Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hahn and massive amounts of other walkers allow ink to thread itself within the pages of a once living tree explaining a purpose and or reason why gaining control of your breathing will enhance your availability. Taking note of how your chest and abdomen expand when pulling air into your system allows your body to speak to you. By opening your body to a long form of breathing you’re gifting the entire self with energy without having to sip on coffee or fork out $3.99 for a giant Monster.
Breathing happens by itself but if you pay close attention to what you do naturally, only the edge of your upper torso is affected and you’re expecting that little bleep on the map to fulfill your brains wishes and commands.
Breathing properly requires no stress or strain…to get there become aware.
I remember sitting in the hospital attached to that manmade machine driving the nurses crazy because until my most recent sickness I didn’t realize how much control I physically had over my breathing. I’d stop and they’d come running into my room. Smiling at their hardworking desires to keep life locked on positive pitches, their reaction to my connection to what is and isn’t breathing taught me to think deeper about giving what this mind body and spirit seemed to be missing…more air.
Why do we breathe badly? Breathing has no form. Without awareness there can be no act or encouragement to change habits that quite honestly are invisible.
In Tae Kwon Do, I can stand three to five feet from the opponents desire to take me out and know exactly how to handle his aggression just by watching his breathing pattern. Upper lungs means he’s exhausted—if there’s movement in the stomach, the goal is to either penetrate his abdomen with a quick front kicks no higher than his stomach or round house the upper thigh or just below the rib cage…if those measures fall short, then its time to play a better foot game to get them tired, so that an inside out kick to the side or back of the head can score me what could be the winning two points.
How do you think straight under pressure? Breathe…
When you are conscious of your breathing you are absolutely without a doubt present. Being aware of how you take in and release air gifts your mind with amble space to layout a winning game plan. It allows you to be in control of your present moment. Welcome to the arrival of space consciousness.
The number one reason why people elect not to breathe with their stomach is every reason why Western Culture continues to sag at the shoulders and knees. When you breathe properly you develop a tiny Buddha belly. Tell that to the freaks that spend thousands of dollars a year on chemicals to look skinny and or pumped up…share the conversation with the other group that pours every cent they have into a big name gym that requires more cha-ching to teach you right.
Martial arts is no different…it’s a business and knowledge pays the rent. I’m the werido who will sell out the secret to the magic trick knowing your journey is about to become worth living.
Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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