“The Breath of Awareness”
Breath as a tool for healing by Sonia Moriceau
As we breathe in we take in impressions via the senses, as we breathe out
we let go of what we took in. This process happens with each in-breath and
with each out-breath; the process of birth and dying.
Yet, as we breathe in we receive impressions and simultaneously we discriminate,
we assess certain impressions as favourable and others as not favourable.
In this act of in-breath we practise “becoming”, we shape our
reality, our sense of self; we identify with our likes and dislikes. We create
our personality.
The out-breath is essentially an act of emptying, of letting go, a freeing
of identity in order to receive on the next in-breath in an unconditioned
way, free from past fears or future anxieties. This is the potential of breathing.
Breathing is more the process of air passing in and out of the body, breathing
is also the consciousness, the level of awareness of each person.
In Healing-Shiatsu working with the breath of one’s client is a central
tool to diagnose and to evaluate the level of awareness of the client. By
working with the breath one is exercising and awakening the client’s
awareness therefore stimulating their own healing potentiality.
Students are often surprised that by working with the breath their clients
become involved in their own healing process in a most direct and immediate
way and at that moment strengthen their healing potential.
Letting-go of the breath, letting-go of becoming, letting go of the emotional
weight necessary to keep our personality going, is a first act of healing,
then taking in is free from conditions, free from holding on to a sense of “self”.
Thus the healing potential of each individual returns to its natural rhythm.
As students discover their own potentiality through the mindfulness practice
of breathing they also become more attuned to their client’s breathing.
In Healing-Shiatsu the touch-pressure is applied on the out-breath of the
client, gently releasing on their in-breath.
Furthermore through their own practice the practitioner will have experienced
that there is a gap between the end of the out-breath and the start of the
next in-breath. This gap is not the same as holding one’s breath. Naturally
as the out-breath ends there is a sense of “no-need to become, no need
to be reborn” and the awareness rests in that gap or space; this is
where the practitioner can meet the client’s awareness and potentiality,
this is where healing takes place.
To cultivate the awareness of the “space” between the out-breath and in-breath is vital in the assessing and exercising of the healing potential. If at that point both practitioner and client can rest their attention in that “space” a true healing is experienced. This is the beginning of healing the human condition from its incessant grasping at the next in-breath in order to reaffirm its “personality”.
In practice it is easier to feel the breath of the person when working directly
on their back, Hara or chest but with more experience it is possible to feel
the breath of awareness in the legs, in the arms, in a knee, in an ankle or
a toe. Basically where attention is, breath is; where attention is, energy
flows.
Breathing goes on all the time for all of us, regardless of the activity,
place or time. It is therefore a most suited tool to exercise awareness and
to stimulate healing. It is a true barometer of where we are at, at any given
moment.
Every thought, emotion, opinion or idea we have, is accompanied by a change
in the breathing! Many times we are not aware of this but it occurs all the
same.
By changing one’s breathing, by placing the attention on the softness
of the out-breath, one can change the energy of a room; one can turn an argument
into a dialogue. Therefore the practitioner can help change her client’s
kyo/jitsu condition simply by practising awareness of the breath, especially
at first the awareness of the out-breath in her own belly and simultaneously
in her client’s.
Recently on a meditation retreat an acupuncturist friend of mine and I decided
to test this, that breath is awareness, is one’s healing potentiality.
Daily he took my pulses to check the state of balance but did not give any
treatment. My practice was simply sitting and walking meditation. Both practices
are based on mindfulness of the breath neither holding nor pushing, just experiencing
the rise and fall of the belly as one is breathing in and out and allowing
all thoughts, feelings, emotions and ideas to do the same, to rise on the
in-breath and to fall on the out-breath, nothing more.
After the 7-day retreat my friend exclaimed that the energies were in perfect
balance, no need for any treatment and he was truly surprised. He did not
realise that awareness of the breath could be healing.
Practices based on sounds, laughter, chanting, all involve relaxing the belly
and a deepening of the breath. Furthermore if the awareness is placed on the
out-breath, the effects will be more long lasting and deeper, affecting the
whole person and releasing the need for “becoming”.
Giving Shiatsu with the emphasis on the breath touches the person at her
core; touches her consciousness thus triggering an awakening which always
sends healing waves to all layers of the personality.
I would be interested to know of practitioners who include the awareness of the breath into their work and who would like more practical suggestions to help them incorporate this into their healing practice. Please feel free to contact me.
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