So, you think you know about breathing and meditation? Prepare to learn something new in the next few minutes!
Last week I took part in a free 2-day charity event hosted by Ben Harvey from Authentic Education called, “How to Heal Your Life.” I said on my about page that I’m an information junkie, and like sharing what I’ve learned just as much as I like learning it. I learned so much last week; they really laid out heaps of tools backed by neuroscience and experience that they use in their paid programs to implement, for free, so I’d highly recommend having a look and attending a free event to see what you think.
That said, there are three things I learned about breathing in those two days that I found particularly mind-blowing, and how meditation is often not what we think it is.
Before I begin, I’d just like to say that no copyright infringement is intended. I just found the following information useful and want to share it. Anyone can reach out to me at [email protected] for any queries. See also the disclaimer page.
So let’s get into it!
1) You breathe through one nostril at a time
Yep, you read that right. I always thought that when inhaling through my nose, the air travelled through both nostrils equally. But apparently for survival reasons, air only travels through one dominant nostril at once while the other sort of blocks or sleeps.
I didn’t quite believe this, and thought maybe I’m just being gullible, but since I’m a naturally curious person and trust the information source, I decided to breathe and take note. And sure enough, I can feel the air going through one nostril more than the other.
This morning when I woke up, I inhaled through my nostrils and my left nostril was most active, while my right nostril was sleeping. As I write this, my right nostril is most active and my left nostril is sleeping.
If nothing else, this curious exercise really gets me to pay attention to my breath through the nose.
As you read this, inhale through your nostrils (if you can) and let me know which nostril is active, and which is sleeping.
All the focusing on the breath I’ve tried, all the focusing on points where the breath is in the body and the sensations over the years, and I never twigged the nostril thing.
Speaking of all the breathing techniques I’ve tried…
2) Square breathing is the best breathing technique
Apparently, move over all other breathing techniques, it’s hip to do square breathing.
I’ve always found that shape breathing in general (whether square or triangle) is very beneficial to promoting calm in the body and mind.
So to hear that square breathing is the best of all breathing techniques, it made sense.
I’ve tried various numbers (like 4-4-4-4 square breathing, 6-4-8 triangle breathing, other number patterns, repeating these numbers a certain number of times etc.).
The exercise demonstrated during the program was to breathe in for 5 counts, hold it for 5 counts, exhale for 5 counts, then hold that for 5 counts. And only one sequence of this is required to reset your system apparently.
One of the most interesting things about this technique is that Ben said what helps to reset the body and mind when engaging in this technique is not about getting more oxygen through the blood or anything like that, it’s because the nervous system kicks in for survival.
The way I understood it is as follows: When you breathe in and then hold the breath, you’re consciously not breathing. The way he described it (and I’m paraphrasing here), your brain then goes, “What the heck mate you’re not breathing! Are we dying??” which then zaps full attention to the body and being present (to make sure you do breathe again and don’t die).
This is also what holding the breath after the exhale and before you breathe in again does as well.
Give it a try and let me know how you get on with it!
3) Meditation isn’t what we think it is
This was probably the most surprising thing to me. There are so many meditation techniques out there, guided meditation, meditation with music, classes, CDs, walking meditation, and many more.
But apparently, these techniques we’ve been taught (and sometimes sold) are mostly not meditation in its truest form.
Anything other than the following is apparently not meditation: Sitting still (like an immovable stone statue), breathing as you’re breathing (without changing it in any way), and focusing on breathing.
That’s it in its simplicity.
So any “guided meditations” are actually “guided imagination healings.”
And a lot of what I’ve listed above actually go by official different names. They’re not meditation.
As for the time that’s optimal to meditate, 20 minutes was said to be a good time, and doing it in the mornings will set you up for the next 24 hours we were told.
I meditate (in its true form) for 10 minutes sometime in the morning (not straight away, I have a hungry and demanding cat to feed first) and I notice that on the days that I do I feel less reactive and a bit more at peace (the why of which was explained in detail by Ben, but is more than the scope of this blog post).
If I do meditation in the morning and write in my journal doing what I call, “My Pages” (Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron), it sets me up for a wonderful day.
Final Thoughts
I’d be really curious to know your thoughts about the 3 surprising things I learned last week about breathing and meditation!
Did you know about the nostril thing?
Have you tried shape breathing or square breathing? What’s your go to technique?
Do you meditate? What’s your experience?
Let me know in the comments below or reach out to me at [email protected].
Love,
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