21 Breaths

Breathing Techniques to Change your Life

Oliver James

• Publisher: Unify
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781914414015
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Self Improvement

Who knew there was a breath for everything? Oliver James, a body-led therapist and growing presence in the world of breath and Breathwork, introduces us to twenty-one simple but extraordinarily effective breathing techniques that will, quite literally, change your life. Are you desperate for a good night's sleep; do you require powerful pain relief or perhaps you wish to supercharge your fitness and self-care? 21 Breaths offers a means to look after yourself naturally, using the wisdom of your body and the extraordinary power of breath. Easy-to-follow instructions accompany beautiful sketches to help you experience the remarkable potential that has always been there, under your nose. This is a little book with huge potential and the perfect companion for 21st-Century living. Every copy of the book includes a FREE online Breathwork class with Oliver James worldofbreath.com (Ts&Cs apply).

The 21 Breaths

One of my favourite conversations to have is how there is a breath for everything. I know most people think I’m joking but, actually, I really do mean it. There really is a breath for everything! Whether you need to fall asleep, require powerful pain relief or perhaps just want to supercharge your fitness and self-care routine; there are breathing techniques that will help you. So connected is your breath to your mind, body and spirit, that it can, quite simply, inspire the extraordinary. Here are the 21 Breaths that will change your life.

1. BREATH TO RELIEVE PAIN

Mindful Breath

Mindful Breath is different from the usual breathing technique; consider it more of a breath observation than changing one’s breath. Though hugely and positively impactful on pain, how it works is not as we might expect. At first, you will notice how the breath prepares the mind and body to experience pain differently.

At some point, and varying from person to person, perception itself changes. This breath is like a riddle: it is nothing before it becomes something and, when something begins, you will notice pain to, literally, evaporate into the thickness of a continually expanding awareness.

An immeasurable number of things happen around and within us. Since it is impossible to perceive everything that occurs, we become geared to pick up only a limited number of stimuli. These become repetitively hard-wired within us and lean towards either pleasure or discomfort. By concentrating solely on breathing sensations, these focal points are disturbed: pain-combatting tools are forged in the process, including focus and expanded awareness. Both of these tools enable attention to move from something painful towards something less overwhelming. In the process, our thoughts and experiences are challenged but, in time, we open up to something far deeper: the inevitability of change and how something like pain shifts, rather than stays constant. Also, by placing attention solely on our breath, we invite new, healthier patterns of breathing to emerge. In the beginning, Mindful Breath works by supporting us to feel less pain. With practice, reality itself is confronted and skills are developed that clear pain altogether.

TIPS TO HELP

• This breath takes time and patience. Let the breath remain natural and free rather than controlling it.

• Practise in a quiet, gently lit room first. In time you will be able to engage this breath anywhere.

• This technique is about sensation. It is surprisingly easy to switch from feeling the breath to hearing or internally visualising it. If you notice your awareness switch, gently return to feeling it instead.

• The aim of this breath is to maintain focus during slow, quiet breathing. In practice, this is can be challenging. To reclaim a wandering mind, breathe rapidly for ten seconds to help create stronger, more stimulating sensations. Use variances of breathing pace to help maintain focus whenever needed.

THE BREATH

Choose the best position for you. Shut your eyes and bring attention to the surface on the inside of your nostrils.

Inhale and exhale rapidly. Observe the sensation in and around your nose. Seek to reduce intensity over time towards ever quieter breathing.

Maintain focus by increasing and decreasing breathing intensity for ten minutes or as long as is needed.

Repeat every day (and more than once a day during periods of inflammation).

Develop length of observation by five minutes each week, up to sixty-minutes. Practise for longer should you wish.

2. BREATH FOR TIREDNESS

Celestial Lift

Contemporary lifestyles too easily throw our energy levels out of balance. We choose to be active when we could be resting and inactive when what we need is exercise. Conflict is the result, leaving us tired and feeling the need to make up the difference with stimulants and depressants. Over short periods of time, substances such as caffeine, sugar and medication can be highly effective but, used regularly, we are left feeling out of sorts, tormented by cravings, and harbouring that strange sensation of being both wired and exhausted at the same time.

Celestial Lift works with our breath’s capacity to harness natural stimulation, offering a sustainable pick-me-up that only benefits long-term energy levels and metabolism. When we are tired, circulation is often sluggish and our body poorly oxygenated. Celestial Lift engages four key mechanisms to counter these symptoms: body shaking, spinal extension, breath-holding and lung ventilation. Body shaking helps to stimulate circulation and release tension; spinal extension also improves circulation but, more specifically, targets the nervous system, while breath-holding acts a multiplier effect for the other mechanisms and promotes cell oxygenation. Lastly, all of these combine to encourage dynamic changes in lung ventilation, improving our body's metabolic efficiency and ability to clear toxins. Perhaps the most interesting part of this technique is how it impacts heart rate a...