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We don’t think about breathing, we simply breathe. It is a vital, automatic function, like our heartbeat. We even breathe in our sleep. And yet this vital function is very special, because we can act on it and change the way we breathe: we can learn to breathe so as to enjoy the many positive effects of good breathing.
The different types of breathing
Chest breathing
This is the technique we use most often.
When we breathe in, air enters through the mouth or nose and fills our lungs, and the diaphragm and intercostal muscles contract to lift the rib cage. When we breathe out, the process is reversed and the muscles relax to let the air out.
Because our chest swells, we feel as though our lungs are full of air, but that’s not the case! This is a mechanical or emotional way of breathing: it uses only the upper body and neglects the abdomen.
Abdominal breathing
This kind of breathing is practised in meditation, and also by shiatsu practitioners when they give a session.
This time, as we breathe in, it is the belly that swells; the diaphragm also comes into play, contracting upwards. Then, as we breathe out and the abdomen relaxes, the diaphragm relaxes too, which massages the digestive organs.
This breathing eases and balances the functions of the digestive system, and it also allows us to use ki (vital energy) consciously.
Clavicular breathing
This breathing involves the upper part of the rib cage. On the in-breath, the collarbones rise, which means the person is breathing very high up and the air does not go down at all. It takes a lot of effort for very little air. This is the kind of breathing that stressed or anxious people often fall into without realising it.
Complete breathing
This is the breathing we practise in Do-In or in relaxation. “Complete” means that the air fills the whole body. This gets the ki moving again and lets it flow throughout the body, helping to regenerate the tissues and, in particular, to activate the meridians when it is practised in Do-In together with the stretching of a meridian.
A few negative effects of poor breathing:
– less oxygen reaching the brain cells (we lose clarity)
– disrupted digestion
– increased tension in the body
– general fatigue
– poor elimination of toxins…
– imbalances in all the organs
Breathing: what you need to know
The very first function of life is breathing: without it, there is no life.
Lung ki is an energy of transformation: it transforms air into ki,
which means that the lungs turn the air we take in into energy, hence the importance of breathing deeply.
The ki of the air nourishes the blood, and therefore nourishes the whole body and the mind.
The ki of the air also plays a part in turning food into nourishment for the organs: during digestion, food is transformed into nourishment for the organs, which means that the “essences” are extracted from the food and sent on to the organs.
If lung ki is weak, the person seems disembodied, as if not really taking part in reality and unable to ground themselves.
What’s more, if the breathing function is impaired, it affects almost all the other organs.
