Notice Your Breath

Your breathing is constantly happening, but awareness of it comes and goes.

The breath changes with effort, thought, posture, emotion, speech and anticipation. It may become shallow before a difficult conversation, pause during concentration or accelerate before you consciously identify anxiety.

Because breathing is available to voluntary influence, it is tempting to correct it immediately.

Today, the task is to notice breathing before trying to change it.

Through observation we seek to determine what the breath is doing before adjusting to what we think it should be doing.

Initially the breath does not need to be deep, peaceful or smooth.

It needs to be accurately perceived.

Stand or sit in a comfortable upright position.

Let your hands rest naturally. Close your eyes if you wish, and only if doing so feels safe and helpful.

For three minutes, notice:

• where movement and tension is most apparent;
• whether the inhale or exhale feels longer;
• whether there are pauses;
• whether the breath feels smooth, restricted, quiet or effortful;
• whether the abdomen, ribs, chest or shoulders move.

Do not deliberately deepen the breath.

When you notice that attention has moved into thought, return to the next inhale or exhale.

If observing the breath makes it change, notice that too. There is no need to recover the “original” pattern.

If you feel uncomfortable, shift attention to the feet or sounds in the room and allow breathing to continue naturally.

• Where was the breath easiest to feel?
• What changed simply because you were observing it?
• Did you judge the pattern as good or bad?
• At what point did observation turn into control?

Breathing is unusual because it operates automatically while also being accessible to conscious control.

Respiratory sensations form part of interoception: the nervous system's perception of conditions within the body. Attention can be directed toward the movement, effort and rhythm of breathing, but greater attention does not automatically mean greater accuracy or better regulation.

This practice develops recognition rather than necessarily inducing calm. Noticing a restricted breath may be useful even if the restriction does not immediately change.

Formal breathing practices can influence autonomic and cardiovascular activity, especially when rhythm and exhalation are deliberately altered. Those are later developmental tasks. The first task is learning to perceive the breath without immediately forcing it into an ideal pattern.

Breath is central to Chinese martial arts and cultivation practice, but traditional training does not begin by applying the most complex method.

The practitioner first develops the ability to attend.

In standing practice, the instruction is to notice where the breath moves, whether it is free or restricted and how it relates to posture. Over time and training, attention may settle toward the lower abdomen and develop into natural or reverse dantian breathing.

The traditional quality of yi is relevant here. It is not analytical thought about the breath. It is purposeful attention in the practice to facilitate reorganisation from within.