The process of breathing, of the fundamental movement of inspiration and expiration, is one of the greatest miracles of existence. It not only unleashes the energies of life, but it also provides a healing pathway into the deepest recesses of our being. To inhale fully is to fill ourselves with the prana of life, to be inspired; to exhale fully is to empty ourselves to the unknown, to be expired. Through a deepening awareness of these ever-changing rhythms of this primal process, we begin to awaken to the possibilities of being truly alive – in a conscious way.
Conscious breathing taps into the healing forces of your organic intelligence.
When receiving bodywork of any kind, you can double the benefits of the work by consciously breathing ‘through your core.’ In other words, no matter which part of you is being moved, touched, stretched, or deeply released, you can wholeheartedly engage in this process by directing your inhalation all the way down your back to your sacrum/tail bone and thus allowing your exhalation to truly empty you.
The resulting deep relaxation of that moment allows the work done by your therapist to join deeply with the healing forces of your organic intelligence. I say ‘organic’ because life expands and contracts at this subtle level flying under the radar of your personality, or your thoughts about ‘body,’ or your ideas of what you think needs to happen. There is an innate intelligence with keeps your heart beating and your nervous system revising itself to deeper levels of coherency that is exactly how life is being expressed in you – in this particular moment. We can join our consciousness to this process! And by so doing multiply the effects of the movement of bodywork that are initiated by your therapist.
© 2009 Lucia Miracchi. Lucia Miracchi is the founder and owner of Massage Therapy Center, Palo Alto. She is an educator, body therapist, counselor, artist, and entrepreneur.
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