Breath:

Life is all about breathing, yet breath and its benefits are often left unnoticed. Inhale and exhale are common across different forms of life on our planet. Animals breathe, plants breathe; Even mother earth itself breathes … she be alive! The only thing that varies from one form of life to another is the duration and speed of breathing.

Inhale-Exhale loop:

Breathing cycle

Inhaling starts, a tiny pause and then the exhale begins that ends in another pause; Inhale-pause-exhale-pause, and then repeat. Or in other words, expansion, point of stillness, shrinking and then another point of stillness. This simple cycle explains life. Breathing includes two opposite forces, push & pull: pulling the air in and pushing it out. The air that comes in and goes out is the same air, only we change during this flow. And since it is the same air, it connects all of us together.

Push-Pull Operation:

Push & pull is a pretty interesting concept on its own, but it has been a major source of suffering for us recently: pulling things into our lives and pushing things out. I want this burrito, I can’t stand this boy, I need this car, etc. It is a circle of suffering that doesn’t allow us to be happy with what surrounds us, causing our minds to constantly process things it wants to pull in or things it wants to push out.

It’s intriguing how this circle is included in breathing. I tend to think if you come to understand this circle, the ramifications are awesome! Buddha became enlightened on this simple yet so hard, breathing technique and managed to free himself from the circle of suffering.

Life&Death:

OSHO

Breathing, includes life & death too! If you associate the inhale with life, the exhale is death! But how about the pause point in the middle? Osho explains this beautifully in his book of wisdom: it is the moment when neither life nor death exists! It is the point where cosmic energy flows in you and all you need to do is to simply be aware.

Universe:

Come to think of it, our universe may be breathing too! Based on the Big Bang Theory, we know our universe is expanding. Maybe our universe is in its inhale phase and there will be a point where expansion stops and shrinking begins and maybe then we will reunite with the Big Bang again and another breath/BigBang will form.

The history of the universe starting with the BigBang. credit : grandunificationtheory.com

Given the new astounding discovery, our universe is apparently expanding at an accelerating rate . If you compare it to breath, this might makes sense. Toward the end of inhale, the speed increases and the chest expands faster.

Why and how this breathing mechanism started and evolved is beyond me, but understanding and observing it seem to help us in many ways to live a fuller, happier and more connected life ☺

Namaste

Pouria