Art of Living - Know breath, know life

Our breath holds a lot of secrets because, for every emotion in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath.

By His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Our breath holds a lot of secrets because, for every emotion in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath. And each rhythm affects certain parts of the body, physically. You only need to observe it to feel it. For instance, we feel a sense of expansion when we are happy and a sense of contraction when miserable. Though we feel that happiness or misery and the sensation, we fail to notice the connection.

Knowledge is knowing that which expands. What is that? This knowledge, this enquiry is the study of consciousness, is the study of life. Have you ever counted how many times you breathe in a minute? Breathing is the first act of life and it's the last act of life. In between, the whole life we are breathing in and out, but not attending to the breath.

Ninety per cent of the impurities in the body go out through the breath because we are breathing 24 hours a day. However, we are using only 30 per cent of our lung capacity. We are not breathing enough.

See, the mind is like a kite and the breath, a thread. For the mind to go high, the breath needs to be longer. You don't have to take Prozac if you can attend to the breath.

We breathe nearly 16 to 17 times a minute. If you are upset, it may go up to 20, if you are extremely tense and angry, it could total 24 per minute. Ten if you are very calm and happy, two to three breaths if you are in meditation. Deep meditation can reduce the number of breaths you take.

If you observe an infant, you will be amazed at how balanced they breathe. They breathe from all the three sections of the body. As they breathe in their belly comes out, as they breathe out their belly moves in. But the more nervous and tense you are, you will do the reverse. When you breathe out your tummy will come out and when you breathe in, it goes in.

You don't have to go to a school to learn these things if you have the sharpness of mind. But our mind is so preoccupied with so many things, that we are unable to observe, perceive the refined things in nature. So we need to study.

(His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the founder of the Art of Living. He will be visiting Andhra Pradesh on a four-day tour from January 2008. The public is invited to attend the satsangs in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Tanuku and Vijayawada.)

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