May 8, 2024: Breath Training

Yesterday, a guest group-support leader took a group of a dozen of us through a story of his experiences leading groups and a 20 minute breathing session.  

The session included varied patterns of breathing with rising intensity (accompanied with and paced by drum music).  The breathing included a focus on somatic awareness (body awareness) to “feel” the breathing as it flows into the abdomen and then up into the chest before before exhaling.  The trainer stressed his preference for breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, and drew a parallel with the power of breath control (including vocal sound) in the practice of martial arts.  

The training concluded with participants tapping and pressing onto their sternum (chest bone) in phase with natural breathing.  This tapping and pressing was discussed as an anchor which, in the future, could help access enduring benefits of the intense breathing drill.  Participants expressed a range of i dividual sensations and benefits from the training. 

The session closed with an invitation to join the guest leader’s martial arts training group. 

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