On Sunday, September 22, 1-3pm EST, I’ll be offering a workshop, Musicality of Breath.
This is not a workshop where you will learn a “correct” way to breathe. There is no such thing - although many traditions of working with breath might give you that idea.
Nor will we be doing ‘breath work.’
Instead, the emphasis will be on developing intimacy with your breath. Once you do that, you can more skillfully - and musically - work with breath to maintain a harmonious relationship to the ever-changing rhythms and circumstances of daily life.
In this post, I will share a wide variety of resources to support you in developing more intimacy with your breath.
To join the workshop, sign up for a paid subscription to this Substack for $17/month. Subscribers can also join the Musicality of Being workshop on Sunday, September 15.
Learn more about both workshops here.
I’d like to talk about five aspects of breath in this post:
- Infinite creativity of breath
- Breath & posture
- Global breathing
- Mouth breathing vs. nose breathing
- Breath as skeletal movement
I will also provide resources so you can explore each of these qualities experientially.
You may wish to bookmark this post and return to it often as a starting point for cultivating breath intimacy. These practices will help you naturally develop healthier breathing habits so you can find more consistent comfort in your body.
Infinite creativity of breath
If you have found meditation difficult because “paying attention to your breath” seems tedious and you can’t stay focused, it can be helpful to have a more colorful perceptual palette to explore.
Your breath is infinitely creative in its movements and expressive possibilities. It’s the ever-fluctuating dance of your rhythmic interweaving with the universe.
Get started with observing some basic breathing patterns and habits:
This video (originally made for a live workshop) stimulates the creative dance of your lungs:
Breath & posture
A flowing, comfortable breath rests on the support of your skeleton and your connection to the earth below you. Any degradation of your structural integrity also degrades your capacity to breathe.
Ideally, you do a minimum of muscular work to be upright in the world. But this is only possible if you have clear support through your bones.
Anytime, you ‘fall off your skeleton’, your voluntary musculature will ‘catch’ you. But unnecessary muscular contractions anywhere in your body will limit the freedom of movement of your diaphragm.
Developing greater sensitivity to the dynamic dance between skeletal support and the quality of your breath fundamentally upgrades the state of your well being at all times.
How to attune to the balance of breath & posture:
A deeper dive - you’ll lie on the floor for this one:
Global breathing
Your breath always conforms to the shape of your body.
Some shapes restrict your capacity to expand your chest and lungs. Some areas can’t move while others can. So each shape has a certain potential.
The greatest expansion you can feel is when the breath is able to move outwards from the center towards all cardinal directions: up, down, left, right, backwards and forwards
This full-length class will introduce you to the feeling of global breathing:
Waking up your capacity to expand your nostrils further facilitates global breathing:
Mouth breathing vs. Nose breathing
Breathing through your nose is the best option 99% of the time. You probably already knew that. However, this isn’t a rule of thumb. It’s a question of habit.
Clarifying the patterns that lead to breathing through the nose or mouth will make it easier for you to develop the habit of nose breathing.
An experiential taste of each of these patterns and how to shift between them:
Breath as skeletal movement
Free movement of breath involves the harmonious cooperation of muscles and joints.
A lack of skeletal awareness often limits the benefits of breath work practices like Wim Hof Method - so developing that awareness can dramatically boost their benefits.
The first of a 10-part series on improving Wim Hof breathing (click here for full playlist):
On the other hand, anxiety and breath holding creates movement limitations:
While there is no “correct” way to breathe, your nervous system is always seeking to nourish you via the breath. The more you educate your nervous system by developing breath awareness, the more naturally you will gravitate towards healthy breathing.
See below for information about the Musicality of Breath workshop. Subscribe to join.
WORKSHOP:
Musicality of Breath
September 22, 1-3pm EST
Life is better when more hours of your day include direct contact with breath. Intimate awareness of the myriad qualities of each breath and what they signal facilitates this practice.
Your breath may be deep or shallow, fast or slow, quiet or loud, flowing or held, voiced or silent, continuous or broken, on the left or right, in sync with others or not. Breath is musical.
When I read through this the first time, I thought I'd seen all the videos before. Turns out I missed one. Thanks for pointing it out. I may have to spend some time on your YouTube channel to make sure I didn't miss any other little gems! ;)