September/October 2008 Alternative Health
Conscious Breathing

by Taylor Ellwood

Getting connected with the consciousness of your body doesn't have to be a strenuous exercise - it can take as little as 30 minutes.

It starts with the breath. Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. In Taoist breathing practices, this is done to complete the energy circuit of the body, circulating the body's energy with each inward breath.

Inhale through your nose. As you inhale, concentrate on feeling the breath enter your nose, flow down your throat and fill up your lungs. Breathe as deeply as you comfortably can. Ideally your stomach should expand when you inhale. If you have asthma or a similar respiratory condition, breathe as deeply as is comfortable for you.

When you exhale, breathe out through your nose. Draw your stomach in as you exhale so that you fully expel your breath. Continue this deep breathing for 30 minutes. By breathing this way, you'll create a regulated pattern of breath that you can use to draw your mind into a deeper meditative trance.

Now focus on how your body feels. Identify any areas where you feel stress or tension. For instance if your neck feels sore or your lower back is bothering you, take note. By focusing on the areas of stress and tension, you can communicate with the consciousness of your body.

When you are breathing and sensing the tension, you might feel uncomfortable at first. That's fine, but stay with the tension as much as possible. If you have distracting thoughts, instead of trying to get rid of them, consider that those thoughts might be coming from the tension you feel. Follow them back to their source. If the source is stress, such as relationship issues, this may be the reason you feel physical tension. Let the dialogue or visualization of the stress play out, then change it. What can you do differently to make the situation better?

Try different solutions through dialogue or visualization. As you do so, you may notice that the stress disappears. Physical stress is often the result of creative and emotional blockages we create for ourselves when we feel that we can't solve a situation. That blockage ends up affecting the body, because the body is where we store our stress. Your body is also trying to show you how that stress is affecting you on more than just an intellectual or emotional level. It also affects physical health.

As you continue to identify and work with areas of tension, you will find that your body responds by becoming more relaxed. By unknotting the emotional and intellectual tensions that you've encountered, you release all the energy you were putting into those blockages and conflicts. That released energy is now yours to use in dealing with other situations as well as to help replenish and rejuvenate your body.

If you find that you can't initially devote 30 minutes to this exercise, do it for as long as you comfortably can and gradually extend it to a half hour. Even five minutes of deep breathing will help you to relax more each day.

Taylor Ellwood is a creativity and wealth coach. He specializes in connecting entrepreneurs and professionals to their creativity and wealth, and believes that an integral approach to that process involves establishing a healthy relationship with the body we have. Visit www.imagineyourreality.com.