Brain States
by Tom Kenyon
"In addition to sustaining life, breathing patterns can open the doors to altered states of consciousness. Such states can then be very useful for a number of practical reasons."
"[T]he air is charged with a form of life force called prana. Prana is breathed in along with oxygen, but it is not oxygen. It is subtler. . .its substance is so subtle that it will be some time before our instruments are sensitive enough to detect its presence."
"Breathing patterns are intimately entwined with our emotional states. Anger, for instance, can produce a volatile and deep form of breathing, while in depression, people usually take in shallow breaths. Every emotion has its corresponding breathing pattern unique to that individual. And it is physiologically difficult to experience a given emotional state while breathing the pattern of another emotion."
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Kum Nye Relaxation: Theory, Preparation, Massage
by Tulku Tarthang
"At first, lightly pay attention to breathing equally through both nose and mouth. The quality of the breathing is effortless, without strain. Just let it be natural; you do not need to think about breathing correctly . . . but somehow, way back, your awareness sees that your breath is equally distributed between nose and mouth, and between inhalation and exhalation."
"When breathing is consistently calm and even, energy increases, and health improves. We can sleep better. The whole mental and physical organism becomes balanced. The mind becomes lucid, and the body grows alert and sensitive: hearing is clearer, colors are more vibrant, and it is possible to savor more of the flavors of experience. . .Once we know how to contact the energy of breath, breathing becomes an infinite source of vitalizing energies."
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Quantum-Touch: The Power to Heal
by Richard Gordon
"The Hawaiian kahunas experienced the life-force in the breath and called it 'Mana'. They considered it an essential factor in the process of prayer and healing. [T]he early Hawaiians were dumfounded and amazed when they saw the Western priests suddenly drop down to their knees and pray without doing any special breathing whatsoever. The word 'haole,' which refers to these visitors from the mainland, actually means 'without breath.'"
"The 2-6 Breath — the name says it all: two counts for the inhalation and six counts for the exhalation.
"This breath requires a bit of effort. You have to really pull in a good deal of air to totally fill your lungs with a complete breath in just two counts. There is no breath holding in this or any other technique. The exhalation is smooth and even to the count of six."
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Vibrational Medicine: The #1 Handbook of Subtle-Energy Therapies
by Richard Gerber, M.D.
"All organisms are dependent upon a subtle vital force which creates synergism via a unique structural organization of molecular components. Because of this synergism, the living whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The vital force creates order in living systems and constantly rebuilds and renews its cellular vehicle of expression."
"The spiritual dimension is the energetic basis of all life, because it is the energy of spirit which animates the physical framework. The unseen connection between the physical body and the subtle forces of spirit holds the key to understanding the inner relationship between matter and energy. When scientists begin to comprehend the true relationship between matter and energy, they will come closer to understanding the relationship between humanity and God."
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Cut-Thru: Achieve Total Security and Maximum Energy
by Doc Lew Childre
"Sir William Harvey, who was the first to demonstrate the function of the heart and how blood circulates in the body, stated in 1628 that, 'Every affection of the mind that is attended to either with pain or pleasure, hope or fear, is the cause of an agitation whose influence extends to the heart.' Indeed emotions can trigger a gamut of disturbances in heart rhythms, including sudden death due to ventricular fibrillation."
"Studies have shown that positive feelings such as love, care, appreciation, and compassion, bring balanced and ordered internal energy flows, which in turn result in increased coherence and harmony in the physiology of the body. Negative feelings such as anger, anxiety, and worry, on the other hand, create disorganized, incoherent, and unbalanced energy flows which eventually result in accelerated aging and physical deterioration."
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Birth without Violence: The Book That Revolutionalized the Way We Bring Our Children into the World
by Frederick Leboyer
"To breathe is to be in accord with creation, to be in harmony with the Universal, with its eternal motion. More literally, it is to take in oxygen and to expel wastes, essentially carbon dioxide. But in this simple exchange, two worlds approach one another, attempt to touch, to mix, to meet: the world within and the world without."
"How do things unfold when we refrain from interfering, when we protect the umbilicus? Doubly supplied with oxygen, the baby's brain is never threatened, even for a minute. Nothing occurs to set off the alarm system. Thus, no attack, no anoxia, no panic or anguish.
"Rather, a slow and gradual progression from one state to another. . .the blood changes course without sudden disruption. The lungs are not convulsed into action.
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Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old
by Deepak Chopra
"Sit still in a chair listening to soft music, or outside listening to the wind in the treetops. As you listen, gently let your attention flow out of your ears as you easily exhale. Repeat for a minute, then do the same thing through your eyes, letting your attention go outward on the breath, slowly and gently. Repeat this through the nostrils, the mouth, then sit quietly just listening to the music with your whole body."
"Now allow your attention to sink into your chest. Feel where your heart center is (at the point where the breastbone and ribs join) and breathe out through it, letting your attention go with the breath. Continue gently for another minute, then sit quietly, aware of your body. This exercise takes about two minutes but can be extended by doing another cycle or two.
This exercise consciously links respiration and the nervous system, helping to promote their smooth integration."
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Breathing Underwater: The Inner Life of Tai Chi Ch'Uan
by Margaret Emerson
"My recurrent dream of breathing underwater is a dream of inner harmony, an idyllic meeting of body, mind, and spirit. It's about my above-surface self coexisting peacefully with my below-surface self, about yearning to know my subconscious, become comfortable with it and meld it with my conscious being. I believe it's possible to breathe underwater — possible to live in my subconscious, to close the gap between above and below."
"A continuous flow from conscious to subconscious — from spirit to mind and from mind to spirit — is imperative for maintaining good health. This circular flow is catalyzed and enhanced by the uninterrupted sequence of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Even the breathing, which draws air down the center — the abdomen — and then sends it back up to the head, without even stopping, back and forth, encourages this sort of exchange. Unobstructed movement, involving the entire self, inside and out, draws every part of me, visible and invisible, into the light."
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The Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle: Focusing As a Way to Grow
by Peter A. Campbell, Edwin M. McMahon
"Have you ever met people who twenty, thirty, or even fifty years after they have been wronged still feel exactly the same way about the aggravating person or situation? By retelling their stories they relive the entire episode again. All the old feelings are torn open once more. Their hurt has never changed or moved in any way. The old battle wounds remain unhealed."
"People out of touch with themselves have no real alternative than to constantly prepare for war. Anyone in conflict with himself or herself must inevitably view the world in exactly the same manner. Inner tensions, conflicts and struggles are projected outward into the life of our planet. Multiplied over and over, the momentum of massive inner frustration becomes, finally, in our time the horror of possible nuclear holocaust."
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Gesture of Balance: A Guide to Awareness, Self-Healing and Meditation
by Tarthang Tulku
"'Breath' is much more than our usual concept of breathing; it is connected with other energy flows, and its quality changes depending on our emotional states. When we breathe too shallowly or too heavily, this affects the rest of our system; when we balance our breath—by balancing our emotions—the body and mind become balanced as well. The breath is a bridge connecting body and mind."
"So sit back, breathe deeply about ten or fifteen times, and slowly and completely relax your whole body. Relax your eyes, let your mouth fall open. Follow your breath down your arms, your legs. Completely let yourself go. Give yourself time, and sense your entire body from your toes to the top of your head. Can you feel your heart beat? Can you feel the pulse in your toes? Then, very gently and very slowly, massage your head, neck, chest, arms, legs and feet—so that you feel a warm flow of energy in each cell."
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Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure
by Fritz Frederick Smith
"In the human body, there is great complexity of energy movement, currents, and vibrations. As in the ocean, body energy can exist freely, in layers, or in organized flows that maintain their integrity and have little tendency to mix. Energy can be blocked, flow freely, or vary in frequency of vibration; it can be in excess or deficient in quantity; and it can be of varying quality."
"If we care to give ourselves a quick 'energy pickup,' we can make a short sniffing action. Here we are creating the venturi tube effect, not by closing the nostril but by increasing the amount of air going through the same-sized orifice. The sniff needs to be strong enough to be audible. Immediately following one, two, or three sniffs, one often feels a tingling or chill moving through the body, as the increased vibration passes into the subtle body."
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Breathe Well, Be Well: A Program to Relieve Stress, Anxiety, Asthma, Hypertension, Migraine, and Other Disorders for Better Health
by Robert L. Fried
"An ancient Tibetan saying has it that 'Breath is the horse and the mind is the rider.' By controlling your breath, you will learn to master your thoughts and, in so doing, you will master your emotions and control your body as well."
"Breathing for health happens in the here and now. To breathe for health you must be right here, right now. You can't be somewhere else, at some other time....
"When you recall the pain of the past, or you contemplate the unknowns of the future, you are in a sense breathing there and then, and 'there-then' breathing obliterates its natural rhythm ... When you lose that natural body-breath rhythm you're in trouble."