Breathing

It is no coincidence that the act of singing is so connected with the act of breathing:

“Breathe deeply and gently through every cell of the body,
laugh happily, and release the head of all worries and
anxieties; and finally, breathe in the blessing of love, hope,
and immortality that is flowing in the air, and you will understand
the meaning of human life.”
Pundit Acharya

Most of us live our lives allowing our breathing to remain the unconscious process which it is. It is not something we have to think about very much and for many people the only time they become aware of their breath is when they are OUT of it. Just as our heart beats throughout our life without any conscious effort on our part, so our breathing continues even as we sleep - part of this amazing organism called our body which functions for most of us in ways of which we are unaware and uninformed.

Our breathing process however, presents us with a wonderful opportunity, for it is something which we can consciously influence. We can stop our breathing for a short while, we can quicken it, we can slow it down, we can take a deep breath, we can breathe lightly, we can blow out all the candles on our birthday cake in one go, we can breathe a light sigh of relief and we can practise our heavy breathing when we desire. Our breathing therefore is capable of being both a conscious and an unconscious process, and as such is a valuable connection with our conscious and our unconscious being.

“It is the premise of the many ‘teachings of the breath”
that the world has known, that bringing consciousness to the act
of breathing is of great physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
benefit to the human individual.”
Michael Sky

The famous Sufi leader, Hazrat Inayat Khan who was a renowned master of the music of northern India before he came to the West to spread Sufism says:

When we study the science of breath the first thing we notice
is that breath is audible; it is a word in itself, for what we call
a word is only a more pronounced utterance of breath fashioned
by the mouth and tongue. In the capacity of the mouth breath
becomes voice, and therefore the original condition of a word
is breath. If we said “First was the breath”, it would be the same
as saying, “In the beginning was the Word”...

The act of singing makes us much more aware of our breathing, and any good singing teacher will focus at some point on the singer’s breathing.
Nada Yoga, as part of our on-going sadhana (spiritual practice), is even more dependent on improving our awareness and practice of breathing. It is well worth remembering that the Greek word psyche, meaning ‘soul’ has the same root as the word ‘psychein’ meaning ‘to breathe’. And the Greek word ‘pneuma’, meaning ‘spirit’ also means ‘wind’, thus reinforcing an understanding of the body’s intimate connection with breath, vibration and sound. Om.