I have always enjoyed seeing windmills spinning in the wind. Whether across farmlands in South Africa or along canals in Holland, these quiet, and often gracious structures are harnessing the wind for a life enhancing process like irrigation. As humans we are a bit like windmills because from the moment we are born to the moment we die, we are sustained by breath. To have energy, you need to be able to exchange oxygen with carbon dioxide in the factory component of your cells – the mitochondria. It’s like a mini-nuclear fusion plant. Now whilst this process is automatic and unconscious, we can capitalize on it by becoming conscious breathers – to think about our breath, just like I encourage you to think about your emotions, your thoughts, and your soul. By spending time consciously breathing, you start to collaborate with the life-force itself, ensuring that you are experiencing optimal input to facilitate optimal output – you are harnessing the wind!
After suffering with clinical depression and burnout in 2021, it became apparent that I had spent most of my life dominated by culture – everything on the outside. As a result, my connection with my own deep nature, my inner self, was lacking. I embarked upon a journey of learning to nurture my nature. This involved any practice which would support my ability to simply be, as opposed to all the culturally imposed doing that occupies our time. I started to understand the importance of two contrasting energy fields – masculine and feminine energy, which we are each responsible for balancing if we are to live authentically and well. Masculine energy is outward, action-based, doing; whilst feminine energy is inward, resting-based, being. The former is task oriented, whilst the latter is relationship oriented, primarily with ourselves and then with everyone and everything else. Unfortunately, over the last 4000 years of civilization under a predominantly patriarchal socio-economic and religious system, masculine energy has been glorified as superior to feminine energy. As a result, we have all become slaves to doing stuff, with very little ability to simply be. Hence the massive escalation in intrapsychic and interpersonal conflict we see in the world today. We have lost our balance as a species.
Learning to consciously breathe is fundamentally grounding and life-enhancing. It restores a large measure of the personal autonomy and responsibility missing from our lives. It’s the first step to liberating yourself from mental slavery. Scientific research confirms that by consciously breathing we get control back of our nervous systems through activating our parasympathetic nervous system, via the Vagus nerve. The parasympathetic nervous system is the rest, digest and recovery response that comes after activity driven by the sympathetic nervous system triggering adrenaline and cortisol production to enhance mental focus and physical performance. Without the ability to activate our parasympathetic nervous system, our only protection is sleep, which as we are discovering is not enough to compensate for the stressors of modern living. Hence the enormous escalation in addiction to alcohol, prescription drugs, nicotine, cannabis, cocaine, and food, not to mention behavioral addictions like gambling, sex, and extreme sports. All these practices are understandable, but counterproductive ways of activating the parasympathetic nervous system, to experience the euphoria of simply being.
So, what is conscious breathing? It involves two fundamental practices – nasal and diaphragmatic breathing. Firstly, let’s discuss the importance of nasal breathing. Seventy percent of the population are mouth breathers, literally opening themselves up to disaster. Nasal breathing is optimal because your nasal passage passes through your sinuses, which produce a most important gas called Nitric Oxide (NO). NO is essential for energy and immunity, as it’s a natural vasodilator signaling the blood vessels to relax for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and a natural anti-bacterial, the frontline of your immune system protecting your entire body from infection. When Covid19 arrived, the most important thing the health departments should have taught you and me was to shut our mouths and breath through our noses! Secondly, diaphragmatic breathing is important because you are using the very muscle that was designed to facilitate optimal breathing. The diaphragm is one of the strongest muscles in the body running across the base of our chest and above the abdomen. It is attached to the bottom of the lungs, so when we use the diaphragm, we are pulling oxygen right down into the base of the lungs where most of the blood vessels are located due to gravity. By practicing diaphragmatic or belly breathing, you are also stimulating your abdominal organs which require movement for the proper digestion of food. Hence you are not only resting, but also digesting, all wonderful parts of activating your parasympathetic nervous system – feminine energy!
Finally, now that you know the importance of nasal and diaphragmatic breathing, here are the three techniques for breathing to enhance your life. They are known as Water, Whiskey, and Coffee breath. Water breath is your ‘go to’ breathing technique, used for balancing yourself when you are feeling stressed, upset, or anxious (great in traffic). It’s simply a 5:5, which is five seconds inhalation and then five seconds exhalation. Repeated ten times in a seated position, nasal and diaphragmatic of course. See for yourself how it restores balance. Keep repeating until you get the benefit. Whiskey breath is a context specific technique used to bring calm and put you into a deep sleep state. It’s a 5:5:10, which is five seconds inhalation, five seconds pause or holding the breath, and ten seconds slow release of the breath. Repeated ten times in a lying down position for sleep, nasal and diaphragmatic again. Coffee breath is for energy and focus, when you have a project to complete, a presentation to give, or a dinner party that still wants you to stay another hour! It’s Warrior breath I am going to teach you for energy, where you stand up and reach for the stars with your arms up, hands open on your inhalation through your nose into your belly, then you drop your knees and punch your arms back past your waist with fists clenched on the exhalation this time through your mouth, making a roaring warrior sound. It’s a marvelous way to get the blood circulating, and you moving. Give it a go and enjoy harnessing the wind!!!
Acknowledgement is given for the information and techniques above to Breathwork Africa.