WE move breath in our three planes, with our joints, and activate lymphatic flow. Every day morning warm up practice.

And then there is Breath. This not-so-secret “ingredient” is being talked about more than ever. Breath. What’s the big deal?

We take breath for granted. As long as you breathe, you are alive. You can go without food for several weeks, without water for several days, but without breath? Only a few short minutes. Every person breathes. Every person is a master of their breath, right?

James Nestor wrote a best-selling book with a bright yellow jacket entitled BREATH published recently. His main thesis observed the harms of mouth breathing and the benefits of nose breathing. In podcast interviews he opened the broader subject of breath to new audiences. Hours of discussion about Breath.

We have been breathing since we were born. But the breath is a unique function for us humans. We go to sleep and we breathe. We wake up and we breathe. The breath links the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system. The breath links automatic functions such as heart action, vaso-dilation, digestion, and the gland’s release of hormones with voluntary functions such as walking, eating, speaking. This observation of Breath as a bridge is essential. The functioni of Breath participates in both Autonomic and Somatic functions.

The breath practices are called Pranayama. To practice breathing introduces a true shift of awareness. The simplest practices begin by observing one’s “normal” breath just as it is without changing it. Then we make simple, intentional choices, as simple as simple as being still and making the breath quality even with its inhale and its exhale. When you are still and observing your breath, then we can observe the four phases of the breath Yes, we inhale and exhale but also the breath cycle includes the point where you can inhale no more as well as the point where you can exhale no more. Each of the four phases of one Breath cycle ave their function and value. To place your unbroken attention on the present moment of the Breath as it moves through the four phases — try that for nine breaths. A simple concentration exercise for mediate benefit.