July/August 2005 Alternative Health
Healing Yourself with The Breath

by Andy Caponigro

Thousands of years ago, great Hindu yogis and Chinese sages developed powerful systems of breath-control which they used for mastering fear, healing illness and attaining the state of enlightenment. These ancient sciences possess such remarkable powers because they tap into the spiritual life-force that gives our breath its life-sustaining powers. The Hindus call this life-force Prana; the Chinese call it Chi. Hebrews call it the Breath of Life; Christians call it the Holy Spirit.

Over the centuries, humans worldwide have developed countless systems of breath-control to harness the spiritual powers contained in the breath. For example, the Eastern martial artists discovered that all experiences of pain and fear are directly controlled by the breath. They used this knowledge to develop special systems of breath-control for cultivating extraordinary degrees of strength, courage and one-pointedness of mind.

Our breath not only controls all experiences of pain and fear, it also contains the most powerful healing energies in the universe. With dedicated practice, and reliable guidelines to follow, almost anyone can tap the powerful gifts of healing that lie dormant within their breath. Learning to heal or alleviate relatively minor problems, such as headaches, muscular tensions, chronic pain, and anxiety, is remarkably easy to do. However; the more serious or deep-rooted an illness is, the greater one's mastery-of-breath must also be to effect significant healing.

No matter why you wish to work with breathing techniques — to master fear, heal illness, or experience the Divine — when studying any system of breath-control, the first and most important technique to learn is meditation on the breath. The power and effectiveness of all other breathing techniques will ultimately depend on quality and depth of our meditations, because meditation is the only state in which we can access the spiritual energies contained in the breath and direct them where we will.

Meditation on The Breath

The following set of instructions will teach you a form of breath meditation that can be used as a foundation for working with most kinds of breathing techniques. Read them two or three times to fix their message in your mind, then lay this article aside and meditate on your breath for ten or fifteen minutes without interruption:

  1. Sit in a comfortable posture, then close your eyes and focus your mind on your breathing in any that feels easy to do. For example; you might notice your chest rising and falling as the air enters and leaves your body, (or) you might feel the cool air coming in and the warm air going out.
  2. It really doesn't matter how you keep track of your breathing. Just follow its movements as closely and trustingly as a baby duck follows its mother. Feel the air coming into your body—feel the air going out.
  3. No matter what condition your breathing is in, don't try to change its movements. If it seems too shallow, slow or erratic, don't try to deepen your breathing, or control it in any way. The best time to correct these (or any other kinds of problems), is after establishing your meditative state. For the moment, give your mind a vacation. Just keep watching your breath and let it do whatever it pleases.
  4. As your mind becomes absorbed in your breathing, accumulated layers of tension and stress will spontaneously begin to "lift" from your system. Your body will slowly begin to relax and your mind will gradually become more peaceful. Don't consciously "try" to relax your body or calm your mind. Just keep watching your breath and let the meditative process do all the work of helping your system relax.
  5. The Spiritual Life-Force that dwells in your breath is infinitely wise. It continually breathes for you and nurtures you, twenty-four hours a day with no conscious effort on your part. The more you absorb your mind in the movements of your breath, the easier it will be for the life-force to take care of you.
  6. If you sometimes forget to watch your breath because your mind has strayed to another subject, there's no need to worry. It's the mind's nature to wander. You haven't done anything wrong. As soon as you realize your mind has been wandering, just bring it back to watching your breath.
  7. When you're ready to end the session, open your eyes very gradually and gently to avoid disturbing the peaceful state your meditation brings. When you begin moving about the room again, hold onto that state for as long as you can. Move slowly and gracefully in accordance with your new found feelings of peace.

Most people find meditation to be easy and pleasant right from the start. By the end of their first session they usually feel more calm, clear and refreshed. Some beginners even find that symptoms of long-standing problems, such as chronic headaches or feelings of pain, have also improved or completely cleared up.

When you first begin to meditate on your breath, if you don't notice any immediate or dramatic changes, it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It usually takes from five to ten minutes before even experienced meditators begin to notice significant changes in their mental and physical tensions. As long as you keep your mind focused on your breathing, you can be sure that the meditative process is working, even if you're not aware of it.

Buddha once said to his own son: "Always practice mindfulness of breathing, for when that is maintained, it brings great fruits and many blessings." The fruits and blessings which Buddha spoke, are available to anyone willing to turn within and meditate on the subtle movements of his (or her) breath in a knowledgeable and disciplined way. The fruits and blessings which you personally gain from practicing breathing techniques will mostly depend on the strength of your commitment and the amount of quality time you spend in making this knowledge your own.

Andy Caponigro, internationally known "master of breath," is a former concert guitarist who has been healing people with the powers of the breath since the mid-1970's. His private sessions and workshops have provided remarkably effective help for hundreds of people suffering from chronic illnesses and and deep-rooted psychological problems that conventional approaches have failed to help.

Based on the book The Miracle of the Breath: Mastering Fear, Healing Illness, and Experiencing the Divine © 2005 by Andy Caponigro. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com or 800-972-6657 ext. 52.