Breathing and the subconscious are deeply connected. In this article, we explore the notion that the breath is really unknown, much like the inner recesses of our psyche and that this can be a source of comfort.
Everybody breathes. The mechanics of breathing are widely known, as are the reasons and the problems. We think we understand what it is to breathe, we know it is vital, and yet we are barely aware of it. Those who practice meditation or breathwork begin to perceive the subtlety of this process, one that most invariably take for granted. But even for the most ardent contemplative, the breath is really a mystery.
Try an experiment. Just sit comfortably and become aware of your breathing. For some moments, suspend your logical, analytical mind and feel your breath. From a solely experiential perspective, bereft of thinking or remembering, can you find its source? Is it you or is it outside you? Can you tell where it arises and where it ends? If you did not take recourse to logic and intellect, the answer is likely no.
Breathing and the subconscious are connected. Not necessarily from a thinking, reasoning point of view but at least from the point of view of perception. Most of our breathing lies beyond awareness, much like the workings of our internal organs, even though common sense suggests otherwise. Since we can access the breath and control it, we think it is like speech or movement. But is it?
Like the hidden recesses of our minds, the breath reveals itself only occasionally, perhaps when we are short of breath or actively conscious of it. But even with awareness, getting to know the breath is surprisingly difficult. Many would argue that there is no point in knowing the breath. That it is just an automatic, autonomic process, like the heart beating. After all, how much time would we want to spend in thinking about our heart beating!
We spend an inordinate amount of time trying to improve ourselves, trying to get better, attempting to know and understand ourselves and the external universe. We do this through the interface of our nervous systems, and I would like to argue that we should attempt this movement of knowing through the medium of the breath. If we do, we’ll find that much of what we understand as solid and real is ephemeral and evanescent, much like the breath.
Like the unknown, much of the breath lies outside direct experience, and yet it is the source of our lives, our being. Like the breath, the unknown is pervasive in its influence and need not be a cause for consternation or fear. We interface with the unknown through the breath and we can learn to revel in its lack of measure or definition. Breathing and the subconscious, if you happen to conform to such a notion can teach us the value of beginninglessness, of being without time, without struggle or effort.
Aligning with the mystery of the breath helps us to unravel the emphasis on control. More often than not, control is the problem and letting go can lead to better health, coherence and spontaneity. Spontaneity as opposed to fixation, once again undermines our need for certainty and confers an openness to our thoughts and action and generates the capacity for lasting flexibility and wellbeing.
Nothing new has been said here. Experienced practitioners of the contemplative arts know the value of looking and learning through the breath. If we were to let go of our dependence on what is apparently solid and permanent, we would welcome the uncertainty of our lives and of our endeavors.
Like meditation, breathwork can be surprisingly revealing, without any obvious reasons and it can lead to a healthy relationship with all that causes us distress and pain. I would like to think that this is because the breath is both conscious and unconscious, known and unknown and in looking at it, there is a willingness to surrender to forces that are beyond thought and logic or explanation. Doing so is not the least bit foolhardy and in fact gifts a sense of completeness that is hard to come by even with the most practical or robust of reasons, justification or judgement.
Breathwork is the fastest growing wellness movement in the world. If you would like to know about our approach to it, feel free to get in touch.