Affirmation: I take
several deep belly breaths throughout the day.
Stephen Levine, author and death and dying guru, presented
several workshops in the 1990's at Duke for The Flying Monkey Foundation. It was the first time I heard the expression "soft
belly." He suggested that one easy
way to reduce tension was to let the belly relax, to maintain a soft
belly. It seemed then as it still does
now to be the opposite of the cultural norm.
As far as I can see, most of our society is focused on tight abs and six
or even eight pack "wash boards". For most, the bulging belly is not
a thing of beauty unless it's filled with the potential of new life.
One of the eight limbs of yoga is pranayama, focusing on the
breath. There are many different
breathing modalities. Some require short
shallow pants, others slow deep breaths.
Some focus on nasal breathing, others include mouth breathing. Some encourage making sounds, others are
completely silent but the one thing they all have in common is that they keep
you present to the moment. As soon as
you stop focusing on the breath, you've lost your concentration. One of the easiest breaths to practice is
"dirgha" breath. You inhale
through your nose and slowly fill your lungs.
You begin with the upper part of your lungs, the chest area. Then you go to the middle part, expanding the
area around the heart finally you let the breath expand into the bottom of your
lungs, the belly section. It's the
deepest breath you can take. Once you
have filled all three parts of the lungs, you slowly exhale from the top down,
like you're pouring out a pitcher of liquid.
You squeeze out every last drop so that all the stale air from the very
bottom of your lungs is expelled. In the
process, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure drops and your mind
calms.
It seems like such a simple, essential rule, "Take a deep
breath." How many times have you
heard that statement, especially when someone is becoming agitated? "Take a deep breath!" It would seem like the most natural thing in
the world to remember to breathe, but we forget. How many times do we find ourselves holding our breath? One of the women in my
fiddle group forgets to breathe every time she's learning a new song. I know whenever I'm faced with a sudden shock,
I hold my breath. It's my first
reaction. There's also the fight or
flight reaction to distress which means our breath becomes faster and more
shallow. That's why some people actually
faint in those situations.
Yoga, practiced properly always includes a focus on the
breath. Sometimes the teacher will
instruct you when to inhale and when to exhale, other times they may simply
tell you to "watch" your breath and to decide for yourself. "Watching," the breath, however, is
always an important part of the practice.
I begin all my classes and my personal practice by calling attention to
the breath. "Watch the rise and fall, the in and out, the up and the
down." Just by creating that simple
awareness, the body and mind unite and calm.
Taking it one step further, you can let your exhale be longer than your
inhale. That has been shown to engage
the parasympathetic nervous system: The part of the involuntary nervous system
that serves to slow the heart rate, increase intestinal and glandular activity,
and relax the sphincter muscles. Karin
Johnson, yoga teacher extraordinaire at Rex Wellness in Cary took our inhale
and exhale to another level at one of our recent classes. "What qualities can you take in on your
inhale? What can you release on your exhale?" Ah, the gift of time deliberately spent
moving and breathing.
What additional benefits come from breathing "properly"
by taking deep belly breaths? Recently I
learned that if we want to keep our internal organs healthy and perky, we
should not be holding in our abdominals.
For me, that seemed completely the opposite of what I'd learned over the
years. I've always made an effort to
contract my abdominals but I have now been instructed by my PT, Sarah Talley,
to let my belly "blossom." It
has been explained to me that by sucking in my gut, I'm pushing my internal
organs down and constricting their ability to properly function. It makes sense but I must say letting my
belly be soft is taking a very concentrated effort.
My intention for the year has been to "let go of
struggle." I never dreamt, however,
that would include letting my belly relax but that's what I'm being guided to
do. In his book, Unattended Sorrow,
Recovering from Loss and Reviving the Heart, Stephen Levine offers this advice,
As we soften the belly, letting go of trying to control the
rise and fall of each breath but instead observing it as sensations come and go
with each inhalation and exhalation, we begin to free level after level of
holding. In the levels and levels of softening are levels and levels of letting
go. Let old holdings begin to float in the new openness created by softening,
as there arises a new willingness to heal, to go beyond our pain. As we begin
to soften the belly, we unburden the body and mind of their automatic
withdrawal from and walling-off of pain. As these burdens begin to lift, we
find ourselves a bit lighter and the road ahead that much easier to travel; we’re
a bit more able to continue on with our lives.
He goes on to suggest we make a conscious decision to soften the
belly several times throughout the day and that many people who use this
practice claim "a better day."
Give it a try. Take a deep "dirgha"
breath and let the belly expand and then slowly let it release. Not only will you be improving your day but
your health. All those crunched up
organs will thank you and you might just find that by softening your belly, you
also soften your heart. There will be
more room for healing and for love.
