Experiencing the Breath

It really is amazing how powerful and healing the breath can be. Just a short practice where you are doing simple postures where the central focus is the breath instead of the actual posture for itself can effect such a great amount of change in the internal system. Tension melting away, your mood changing, that ability to go far more deeply inside yourself; I guess it is hard to explain and put into words but the best things in life seem to be that way. I highly recommend to everyone out there, every once in a while to try a very simple gentle asana practice with the main focus being on the breathing in the postures. You can move into and out of the postures repetitively several times before holding them and then when holding them focusing on the breath ratio you established while moving, keeping the breath long and smooth, relaxed and even, almost like what you are doing is a breathing exercise while doing simple postures. Even just fifteen to twenty minutes of doing this kind of practice can put you in a new place and set the stage for you to hit new levels in other aspects of your practice. If you add a seated breathing exercise at the end where you focus fully on the breath you will notice how much the practice--doing postures while focusing primarily on the breath--can free your system for breathing. And then when you sit still afterwards that ability to go inside and how the breathing techniques can significantly enhance that ability to go deeper within. Freedom.

To explore more have a look here: A Breathing Seminar with Carl