BREATHING PROPERLY FOR HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© May 2023, LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Contents
II. The Toe Breathing Procedure
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Proper breathing is one of the most important healing and development procedures. It is a very ancient method to speed up healing and development. Proper breathing has many amazing benefits described in the next section below.
Development is the goal of the healing programs we set up and is just amazing. For details about development, read Introduction to Development and Introduction To The Development Program.
Recommendation. Practice proper breathing for at least half an hour every day and preferably longer. It takes some practice, but slowly become easier, more comfortable and more natural.
THE SCIENCE OF THE BREATH
Breathing is an entire realm of science. In terms of physiology, breathing is one of the few aspects of physiology that is both under automatic control and voluntary control. For this reason, by working with the breath, one can influence the nervous system to help it relax and balance.
Of interest is that the word to breathe in – inspire – also means to encourage. It is related to the words spirit and spiritual.
BENEFITS OF PROPER BREATHING
- A powerful massage of all the organs of the body. This has many benefits described in the Massage article.
- Increases Oxygenation, circulation and Hydration of the body. It helps to decongest all the internal organs and move the blood through them more vigorously.
- Turns off the sympathetic nervous system, which is partly controlled automatically but also able to be controlled through the breath. This is essential for deep healing. For details, read Healing The Autonomic Nervous System.
- Assists with proper movement of subtle energy - downward through the body from the head to the feet. For details, read Downward Moving Energy And Healing.
- Makes the body more yang in macrobiotic terminology. This is very important for healing and development. For details, read Yin Disease and Yang And Yin Healing.
- Very centering and grounding.
- A helpful way to tune into yourself.
- Expands your lung capacity and will often clear mucus and other nasal and bronchial obstructions.
- Warms the body in a gentle, safe way.
- Releases tension all over the body, particularly in the spine and abdomen.
- Reduces the buildup of carbon dioxide in the body, and helps eliminate many other toxins as well.
- Helps alkalinize the body in a powerful way.
- Assists good posture.
- Increased oxygen helps clear the mind and allows better thinking.
- Helps sleep if you do it just at bedtime or a short time before.
- Helps digestion of your food and elimination of wastes and to help end constipation.
- Helps clear infections, asthma, colds and many other health conditions. We hope to expand this topic in the future.
The basic development breath is the toe breath. It is very powerful as a healing and development method.
Procedure. The easiest way to learn it is to lie down comfortably on your back. Later, you can do it sitting, standing or in any position.
The inhale. Place your attention on or preferably about 24 inches below your feet. Then you have to split your attention.
Your main attention remains on your toes or just below the feet. However, on the inhale, breathe in from the top of the head and move the air downward. This will fill your upper and lower chest with air.
Do this very forcefully. The air will go about half way down the body.
The exhale. On the exhale, pull and push the air the rest of the way down the body all the way to the toes and below or beyond the feet. Do it very forcefully. You will feel it mostly in your abdomen and legs.
The total effect is a pumping action that moves a lot of subtle energy from your head downward to your feet and below the feet. It becomes easier with practice.
When done correctly, you will feel as though with each full breath you move a basket ball-sized wad of energy forcefully downward from your head to below your feet.
A little sexy. Men may feel a slight tickle in the testicles when they do this breath. Women may feel something in the vaginal area or ovaries. I assume this is an effect of moving a lot of subtle energy through the lower energy centers of the body.
A partner exercise. For even more effect, hug someone and do the toe breath at the same time. Each person will help the other to move even more subtle energy downward from the head to the feet.
You can combine several breathing procedures all at the same time such as toe breathing, down breathing, whole body breathing, bone breathing, the open position procedure and coffee breathing.
This takes some practice, so start with just one of the breathing procedures. When you are comfortable with it, add the next one until you are doing all at the same time.
Within a few weeks of doing this daily, you will be able to combine the procedures in a beautiful way. Just play with the procedures and enjoy! The procedure eventually becomes a new habit that is very excellent for healing and development. Here are details:
- Toe breathing is the essential procedure above.
- Down breathing means to move subtle energy downward at all times while you do the breathing procedure. The way I do this is to imagine two very fine wires, one attached to the bottom center of each foot. A third fine wire is attached to the floor of the pelvis around the genital area. I pull hard and continuously on the wires downward or away from the body, which is the correct direction of movement.
- Whole body breathing means you will visualize filling you whole body with breath, not just your lungs.
- Bone breathing means that you visualize filling your bones with air.
- The open position procedure means to position the body in a certain way that the joints and the structure take on an open quality. This combines very, very well with the other aspects of the combined procedure. For details, read The Open Position Procedure.
- Coffee breathing is a new development procedure that consists of putting your nose close to a cup or bowl of coffee and breathing it in with each breath. It is quite powerful. For details, read Coffee Breathing.
NO ABDOMINAL BREATHING
This is caused by:
A. Stress or tension in the body.
B. Poor breathing habits.
C. Wearing pants or a blouse that is too tight and does not move in and out when you breathe. Suspenders are better than a tight belt for this reason.
D. Not wanting your stomach to pop out a little when you breathe in.
The three-part breath and proper clothing can retrain you to solve this important problem.
NO BREATHING INTO THE UPPER CHEST
This is extremely common, especially among some women! The causes include:
A. A stooped posture, which is almost universal today.
B. Stress and tension in the body
C. Adhesions in this area that prevent full chest expansion.
D. A desire among some women to not show off the breasts. These women do not want to breathe deeply into the upper chest, as it pushes out the breasts, exposing the women to more negative attention.
E. Lung infections in this area, which are very common today.
F. Deformity of the chest cavity due to asthma, birth defects or other reasons.
G. Wearing a very tight blouse or a very tight corset or bra.
H. Wearing high-heeled shoes. This can alter posture and makes deep breathing less comfortable in some cases.
GENERAL SHALLOW BREATHING
This is also common. It is mainly due to:
A. Fear and stress. This will cause anyone to breathe in a shallow way.
B. Tension in the body. For example, people who are in a sympathetic dominant mineral pattern often breathe in a shallow manner.
C. Adhesions that prevent full movement of the abdomen and chest.
BEWARE! It is possible to hurt yourself with breathing exercises. Here are some cautions:
OVERBREATHING OR HYPERVENTILATING
One can breathe shallow, but too frequently. A person may take 15 or more breaths per minute, which is not normal. About 12 breaths per minute is normal for most people. Women tend to breathe more frequently, perhaps because their lung capacity is smaller than that of most men.
Breathing can be very deep. If deep breathing causes a headache, most likely you are over-breathing.
USING BREATHING TO CHANGE YOUR PH OR ACIDITY
To correct the pH of the blood, and not just change the urine or saliva, one must replace the alkaline reserve minerals in the body.
This is a slow process that is the result of following the development diet, and no other diet. For details, read Food For Daily Use, Food For Occasional Use and Forbidden Food.
NOTE: We do not recommend the Buteyko Breathing Method to change the pH. We find it is not needed if one corrects the pH of the body in the proper way with the diet.
We also do not recommend drinking alkaline water, taking hydrogen peroxide drops, (but peroxide baths are fine), drinking fruit or vegetable juices except for 10-12 ounces of carrot juice daily, or a vegetarian diets.
These are all “cheating” methods and they do not work or they have serious side effects. The main problem with all of them is they make the body more yin.
OTHER BREATHING TECHNIQUES
Be extremely careful regarding other breathing techniques. Some are definitely dangerous. Always follow the principles in this article for safety.
WOMEN AND BREATHING
Most women breathe in a shallow way, do not breathe into their abdomens, and do not expand the upper chest well.
These breathing problems tend to shorten women’s lives, sickens them, harms their appearance, and can cause depression.
The main cause can be fear. However, it may also be due to wearing tight clothing, tight bras, tight belts, and in some instances not wanting the breasts to protrude.
FRESH AIR AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY
It is always wise to have a window open a little wherever you live, work and sleep. Indoor air quality can be much worse than outdoor air quality if there is inadequate ventilation.
COMBINING WITH THE COFFEE BREATHING PROCEDURE
A new procedure is to breathe coffee as a healing procedure. Usually, it is combined with a coffee enema. Doing the combined breathing procedure with coffee breathing is powerful! For details read Coffee Breathing.
We also believe that one could place a bowl of coffee near one's head at night and breathe coffee all night. This is a research subject.
PEROXIDE BREATHING
A sleep remedy that works well and depends upon breathing is to place a bowl of hydrogen peroxide near your head when you sleep. You will breathe it all night and this has a relaxing effect.
AIR OZONATORS/IONIZERS
We recommend the use an ozonator/ionizer air purifier in the home. This is a squarish box that you place high up and just let it run. It converts some oxygen in the home to ozone and then more oxygen enters the home. The effect is to slightly increase the oxygen content of the air. For details, read Ozonator-Ionizer Air Purifiers.
SUSPENDERS AND LOOSE DRESSES
In the past, many people wore suspenders instead of using belts to keep their pants up. Suspenders are better for breathing because they allow the abdomen to expand.
Also, in the past more women wore loose dresses that also allow the abdomen to expand better than pants with belts or skirts with belts.
SLEEP AND BREATHING
Most people breathe the deepest when they are asleep. In fact, this is an important reason to sleep.
CPAP MACHINES
These help some people breathe at night. We believe if one follows the development program one will not need one of these machines, but this needs more research.
YOGA AND BREATHING
Yoga teachers often talk about breathing. The problem with most yoga is the postures and breathing that goes with them is not directed downward from the head to the feet. This aspect of breathing – down breathing – is extremely important.
Yoga has another problem. Many people are injured from it and the soft tissue injuries are subtle, at times. So we only recommend very gentle yoga or none at all.
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