Breath- The Life Changing Mantra-7

Friends welcome back. Hope all the readers who have been following the articles are now able to observe and enjoy breathing. And those who have joined in-between are able to catchup. I would also like to remind, there is no hurry in achieving this! Take at least two to three days for each article. And then go ahead with the next one.

This week, let us explore and check whether we are able to breathe effortlessly. I have been insisting that breathing has to be relaxed and enjoyable. How relaxed are we while breathing? How effortlessly are we breathing? Think about what are the organs involved in breathing. The nose, lungs, diaphragm and heart. So while breathing we observe movement in the external nostrils, chest and abdomen. When the diaphragm expands to accommodate oxygen inhaled, abdomen moves up. If any other body part or muscle tightens or contracts, that means we are using unnecessary pressure. Most of us use jaws, neck, shoulders. Slight movement of shoulders happens when the diaphragm moves and chest expands, but there should be no pressure or tightening of the muscles.

This is how you can check:

•Put one hand on the back of your neck and the other on your shoulder: now breathe deeply and quickly high into your chest while you monitor these muscles.

•Is anything happening in them? Are these muscles or places being activated when you breathe? Are they involved in any way in the breathing? Or do they remain soft and inactive while you breathe?

•Check some other people when they breathe to get a sense of this. And ask someone to test and monitor your neck and shoulder muscles as you breathe. And have them tell you what they notice as you breathe deeply and quickly into your chest.

•That's the practice: breathe big powerful breaths and make sure that these muscles remain relaxed and disengaged. If your habit is to contract or tense or activate these accessory muscles when you breathe, then change your habit!