Your breath is essential for life. How you breathe is greatly affected by your physical, mental and emotional bodies and their experiences or ways of holding themselves. The reverse is also true in that how deeply, calmly, quickly, mindfully, naturally or forced you breath profoundly influences how you feel emotionally, physically and mentally.
Your breath connects you to the outside world. It is the thread from external to internal.
Here are some various and interesting perspectives on all that is our breath:
"Cellular breathing is the absorption of oxygen and removal of waste products in every cell"- Andrea Olsen, Body Stories
"If your breathing is in any way restricted, to that degree, so is your life"- Michael Grant White in Wheels of Life
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”-Thich Nhat Hanh
Collage by Travis Bedel
"Without breath we could not speak, for air is the force behind our voice. We could not metabolize our food without oxygen. Our brain could not think. Breathing is a grossly underestimated source of life giving, healing and purifying energy."- Anodea Judith, Wheels of Life
"It is a common belief that we breathe with our lungs alone, but in point of fact, the work of breathing is done by the whole body. The lungs play a passive role in the respiratory process."- Alexander Lowen
To "catch one's breath" and "in the same breath" are commonly used phrases that communicate an understood amount of time or tempo which cannot be quantified.
Breath is a layered, textured element that can be rhythmic, change qualities drastically and is the one nourishing activity we go the shortest time without. It is movement. It is both conscious and unconscious. It is the perfect bridge to connect mind to body.