This month we focus on the art of Energy Breathing. Leonard Orr, the Father of the Rebirthing Breathwork Movement said; “Learning to breathe energy and not just air is the secret of Rebirthing.”
Mastering the art of breathing energy is a life skill with immediate and long term–even eternal benefits! And so I’d like to help support you on your path by getting you to drill down on some of the essentials of Energy Breathing.
We start with understanding what we mean by “energy.” We mean the Prana, Chi, Ki, Spirit, the ‘breath within the breath’. And the first step is to become aware of this subtle yet powerful life force energy.
Start by focusing on the physical sensations of the breath. Don’t do the breathing. Let yourself be breathed. Don’t take the breaths. Receive them! Focus and sense the breath at the tip of your nose as it comes in and goes out.
Feel the sensations deeper into your nasal passages and the bridge of the nose. Feel the breath in your sinuses and skull. Sense and listen to the breath as it passes through your throat. Notice the sensations of movement as the breath moves under your collar bones and into your upper chest, and your lower ribs.
Feel the movement of breath in your belly, all the way down to your perineum. Focus on bringing energy and aliveness, awareness and relaxation, to your head, heart, and belly. Follow the breath into your extremities, to all your organs, and to every cell of your body. Experience the breath with total body awareness–meditative awareness, with zen-like focus.
Relax and open around the incoming breath. Give it space. Allow it to expand you. Release the outgoing breath while you release your muscles and joints. Sense or imagine your energy body, the electromagnetic field around your body–your aura–expanding and relaxing with every breath.
Let every exhale trigger a total release and complete relaxation. Then use the inhale to deepen and broaden and embody the relaxation. Focus on opening the 6 bridges to produce complete relaxation during both the exhale and the inhale. Allow the breath to penetrate all those zones.
I like to use the analogy of the big revolving doors you see at airports and shopping centers. If you try to move too fast and push on the door, it stops. If you don’t keep moving, it hits your butt or your heels, and it stops. You need to move in sync with those doors.
You need to generate enough energy to be able to feel it, so you may need to breathe fast and full at first. If you breathe too lightly or softly, you won’t generate enough energy to trigger the process. But breathe too forcefully, you can’t relax.
And so, you need to find that sweet spot, the perfect “Goldilocks Breath:” not too fast, not too slow, not too hard, not too soft. While you are breathing, focus on the highest spiritual qualities you can imagine–qualities of the heart. And infuse every cell with those qualities–those energies! Use imagery, visualization.
Many people find that kum nye (equalizing the flow) helps to awaken meditative awareness of the subtle energy in the breath. And de-reflexive breathing is another thing you can integrate into this practice.
Put yourself into the most comfortable position, so that the body does not distract you from the meditation. And you might find that Coherent Breathing, the Triangle Breath, and Still Point Breathing supports or enhances the practice.
Trust your intuition. Visualize the breath as light. And use micro movements to help the breath energy get into all the cracks and crevices of your being.
Good luck in your practice, and many blessings on your path!
Dan (Guchu Ram Singh)
Breathmastery.com
February 2024
