Breathing

This book covers the three pathways of awareness that are built into our bodies, and that can help us to improve the beneficial aspects of our breathing. It is suitable for all body workers, yoga teachers, other movement facilitators and anyone who works with chronic pain. The scientific literature on attachment, Polyvagal Theory, interoception, autonomic feedback loops and heart rate variability, point to the crucial importance of the breath. These pathways can be characterized as 1) the Breathing Bodymap of the Fingers; 2) the Breathing Interrelationships of our Functional Diaphragms; and 3) Skin Breathing, or bringing blood to our capillary beds in precise locations throughout the body.The benefits of learning these approaches are as follows: Accessing these pathways can greatly increase our options as we work to improve the functioning of our bodies. These approaches also deepen our understanding of the inherent wisdom of ancient body awareness systems such as mudras, yoga and chi kung, and how these systems can have such profound affects on our physiologies. They offer immediate solutions to inefficient and dysfunctional movement patterns and can be immediately brought into use by professional musicians and athletes as they perform. By breathing deliberately, we can;* interrupt the upsurge of our sympathetic nervous systems; * interact with our parasympathetic nervous systems to take ourselves out of a state of "runaway mind" to relax or put ourselves to sleep; * re-route or repattern pre-existing breathing patterns and fixations in the respiratory diaphragm itself that have not served us well; * bring extra blood to areas of chronic discomfort, helping us to endure adverse circumstances.This book includes links to voice recordings of three meditations on the three pathways, as well as a video on breathing and the autonomic nervous system.