How to breathe
“Calm is retained by the controlled exhalation or retention of the breath.” Patanjali, Yoga Sutra 1.34, Book 1 This post was first published on the Healing Space blog . Are you breathing right now? Go on, have a check. Look down there at your torso and see if it’s rising and falling. If you can’t be bothered to move your head, see if you can feel the chest and belly moving in and out, up and down. The feeling of air passing through the nostrils is another tell-tale sign that you are breathing. You are? Good. See? You didn’t need any instruction on how to breathe after all – it happens all the time without you even thinking about it. Phew! Did you notice a subtle shift though, when you started paying attention to your breathing? Did your breathing suddenly become faltering, discontinuos… sticky? Did you find that you needed to consciously decide when to start and stop your in breaths and out breaths? Are you finding that it’s now quite difficult to not be conscio...