And Breathe
In yoga we refer to the breath often – using the breath to help us move, focus on the breath. Breathing is an automatic function – surely, we all know how to breathe? Is it worth spending time and effort learning to breathe?
I have spent a lot of time over this year teaching online – and one of the things I often come back to is the mechanics of breathing. Which muscles to use, how to direct the breath by using different muscles, slowing the breath, and changing the ratio of the inhale to exhale.
Move with the breath
One of my often-used directions is for students to move to the rhythm of their own breath – to let their preferred breath rate and depth direct the 
speed at which they move through the practice. It is one of my pet hates to be in a class where the teacher directs the pace of the class at a rate which does not allow me to breathe fully and at my preferred rate (I have often found that in more freestyle classes I’m the slowest mover – I have a particularly slow breath rate). I feel stressed when they ask me to move too quickly and not at all relaxed or in the zone. Maybe that is their intention – who knows?
Take a breath
When people are stressed, we are fond of telling them to ‘take a breath’ – perhaps from somewhere we have acknowledged that focusing on our breath takes the body and mind focus back into the here and now – away from whatever it was that was causing the stress?
Breathwork
There is a very trendy focus on ‘breathwork’ these days. The focus being on attempting extreme feats and to attain states of consciousness in high-risk situations – practicing breathing exercises whilst swimming in ice 
baths, driving or sitting next to an open fire. Resulting is blackouts, hypothermia or even drowning. This type of extreme practice is not mainstream and should not be attempted without supervision under carefully controlled situations. It is very appealing to consider that we might have these types of superpowers within our grasp – but please understand that manipulating the breath can and does have powerful consequences and should be learned and appreciated with respect.
And Breathe
Our bodies are amazing machines. Learning to understand how they work may be one of life’s greatest adventures. And breathe…