Edwards - Breath Psychology - Fundamentals and Applications

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2008 20: 131Psychology Developing SocietiesStephen D. Edwards

Breath Psychology : Fundamentals and Applications

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Psychology and Developing Societies 20, 2 (2008): 131–164SAGE Publications Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/SingaporeDOI: 10.1177/097133360802000201

Address correspondence concerning this article to Stephen D. Edwards, Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, Private Bag X1001, KwaDlangezwa, 3886, South Africa. [email protected]

As the study and use of the breath, breath psychology is an ancient applied science. While it is more obvious and fl ourishes in an holistic way in economically less developed countries of the world, it remains a foundation for modern forms of psychology, however academic and professional these have become, in the so-called fi rst world countries. The aim of this article is to reintroduce this original psychology from a pragmatic, fundamental and applied perspective. Breath psychology fundamentals, which have been extolled for millennia in the form of various wisdom and spiritual traditions, are explicated in relation to the themes of consciousness, embodiment, ecology, spirituality and healing. Breath psychology applications are discussed with reference to health, sport and skills training. It is concluded that general breathing exercises constitute an immediate form of energy management, illness prevention and the basis for cost-effective public health promotion in both economically developed and developing countries. In an ecological and cosmic context, with threats such as pollution, overpopulation and global warming, optimal use of the breath becomes a planetary imperative.

Breath Psychology: Fundamentals and Applications

STEPHEN D. EDWARDS

University of Zululand, South Africa

Psychology may be said to have a short history but a long past. The short history of psychology refers to modern forms of psychology which stem from the work of such people as Wilhelm Wundt and William James, who respectively established scientifi c laboratories to study behaviour in Leipzig, in Germany and Harvard, in the United States of America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century after the birth of Jesus Christ. The work of such fi gures has led to the proliferation of various academic and professional, theoretical and applied forms of psychology, such as physiological, clinical and community psychology that we fi nd on planet earth in the twenty-fi rst century today (Hergenhahn, 2001). The long past of psychology includes



132 / STEPHEN D. EDWARDS

Psychology and Developing Societies 20, 2 (2008): 131–164

everything implied by the original meaning of this Greek word as the study and use (logos) of the breath, energy, consciousness, soul or spirit of life (psyche) that leaves a person at death and continues in some other form. In order to distinguish it from other modern forms of psychology as well as honouring its historical and holistic, literal and metaphorical, obvious and subtle dimensions, this original form of psychology may be conveniently termed “breath psychology”.

This fi rst form of psychology gives full recognition to the function and meaning of breathing for living. Over many thousands of years, humans have experienced and observed that individual human life on planet earth begins with the fi rst breath of an infant, usually continues for millions of breaths and ends with one fi nal clavicular breath. After birth, our primary form of world relationship changes from liquid to gaseous form as we are required to adjust from the warm, dark, enveloping, watery environment of our mother’s wombs to an airy world, where, if fortunate, we receive, then give continued human nurturing in long, healthy, creative cycles of life and death. Breath psychology recognises that the breath is our fi rst form of environmental relationship and earthly nourishment, which is followed by nurturing liquid and then solid foods. We become conscious of the special energetic nature of this relationship in early childhood. In physical activity, we become aware that this life–breath–energy is easily depleted through sprinting and restored with sleep. In noticing the energy demands of emotion or concentration and the energy generating function of rest, we learn how to pace ourselves in conserving energy. We learn to preserve dignity by hurrying slowly so as to complete tasks in a required time or cover distance for an appointment. Ultimately, we discover infi nite spiritual realms. This article is essentially concerned with an original psychology aimed at improving our everyday breathing so that the constant stream of life–breath–energy fl owing through us is experienced as balanced and harmonious, linking infi nite time and space in effecting its essential purpose of survival, energy control, improving quality of living, preventing illness and promoting health, well-being, ecology and spirituality. Due to the fact that such psychology is practised in more obvious form in economically less developed areas of the world such as Africa and Asia, these will be the main focus of the article.

We may also learn, early in life, that holding our breath can suppress painful feelings and that restricting the depth of breathing reduces our intensity of feelings. This happens through muscular tension, which pre-vents spontaneous movement. Energetically speaking, every tense muscle also reflects previous breath restrictions, which often cover layers of



Breath Psychology / 133


traumatic events. Releasing such restrictions, tensions, traumas and character armour requires breathing fully into the affl icted areas. If full breathing is complemented by conscious intent, felt bodily sense, imagery, gesture, movement, dramatic re-enactment and reconstruction of events, a new, more meaningful and adaptive personal narrative and way of life emerges. Breath psychology holds that conscious breathing is a key to solving many such problems as well as the way to return to the ‘Breath’ beyond breathing, a euphemistic way of recognising a greater ‘Breath’ breathing us, which has been called many names, Spirit, God, Almighty, Absolute, Allah, Tao, Brahmin, etc. In therapeutic situations, relaxed and/or synchronised breathing facilitates congruence, unconditional regard, empathy and other benefi cial, effective ingredients of helping relationships. As problems clear, breathing becomes progressively easier. Problems disappear when breath becomes totally free. Full conscious breathing alone and/or as practised in many different ways, thus, becomes an ultimate method for balancing energy, preventing illness, promoting health and spiritual realisation. In order to recognise, honor and do justice to the original and holistic nature of breath psychology, the subject will be discussed from fundamental and applied perspectives.

Breath Psychology Fundamentals

It is beyond the pragmatic purpose of this article to become embroiled, in depth, in discussion on the sort of history and philosophy of psychology that is typically found in modern Western psychology texts, nor engage in debate on the nature of the soul, vitalism, pragmatism and phenomenology. Instead, it is contended that breath psychology fundamentals have already been extolled for thousands of years in many countries in the form of various wisdom and spiritual traditions. These fundamentals may be more immediately, meaningfully and relevantly explicated in terms of such themes as consciousness, embodiment, ecology, spirituality and healing.

Consciousness

This breath-energy is usually unconscious. Conscious breathing is typically experienced as a form of vitality fl owing within and without the body in a continuous exchange with the wider human and non-human environment.





Breathing also provides a measure of consciousness, as well as the quality and quantity of life in its reality as a fi nite number of breaths and breathtaking moments. Humanity has long recognised the vital link between breath and life in terms of various beliefs and practices to preserve and promote life in this world and in the afterlife. In a characteristically introspective insight, a famous North American founding father of phenomenological, behavioural and functionalist schools of thought in psychology, William James, remarked that the stream of consciousness, was only a careless name for what, when scrutinised, revealed itself to consist chiefl y in the stream of his own breathing (James, 1890). A widely travelled man, James was distilling thousands of years of knowledge of the art, science, spirituality and controlled practice of breathing, found in African ancestral breathing (umoya), Yogic pranayama and Taoist chi-gung methods, which will be discussed in detail later. This vital, life-breath is experienced and conceptualised as the connecting link between matter, mind, energy and consciousness in the great chain of being (Hewitt, 1977; Ralston, 1999; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984; Wilber, 1998).

Prana exists on all the planes of manifestation, as the connecting link between matter and energy on the one hand, and consciousness and mind on the other. Consciousness expressing itself through the mind, cannot come into touch with matter and function through it without the intermediate presence of prana. (Hewitt, 1977, p. 421)

A vital activity, breathing spans all levels of human consciousness. Highly developed acts of skill such as swimming, crawling and typically human forms of expression such as talking and singing require some form of breath control, which may be conscious or unconscious, depending upon various factors such as adaptation, need, arousal and cognition (Hewitt, 1977). Over centuries, conscious breathing, in itself and various conscious methods of breath control, has received increasing recognition. As evident in African ancestral breathing, the earliest forms of conscious breath work seem to have been related to spiritual beliefs and practices such as those concerning God, ancestors and human existence with special reference to such matters as survival, health, life and death.

From an evolutionary perspective, converging lines of evidence from various disciplines such as behavioural genetics, linguistics, palaeontology and archaeology, all point consistently to Africa as the cradle of civilisation for all humanity, with homo sapiens evolving over 100,000 years ago and gradually





emigrating across the Sinai Peninsula some 50,000 years later (Jobling et al., 2004). While an infi nity of factors such as language and creative intelligence would have played a role, it is clear that contemporary humanity has survived primarily because of a remarkable facility to form and maintain social re-lationships (Jobling et al., 2004; Sykes, 2001). The fundamental form of these links in human relationships is poetically portrayed in the Zulu saying “umuntu umuntu ngabantu”. This saying, which literally refers to the fact that a person becomes a person through other people—only through you do I become an I and I am because we are—has the deeper implications of a shared sense of self in both temporal and spatial dimensions that include the common ancestral heritage of contemporary humanity.

Sykes (2001, p. 353) has pointed out how we use our ancestral mitochondrial DNA formula constantly: “Every atom of oxygen we take into our bodies when we breathe has to be processed according to the formula that has been handed down to us by our ancestors. This is a very fundamental connection in itself.”

In conscious recognition of breathing as first life need, primary mode of person–world energy exchange and therapeutic modality, various online journals dedicated to breath work have been established. These include The Healing Breath, Breathe Magazine and the International Society for the Advancement of Respiratory Psychophysiology. Modern psychotherapeutic traditions, which have used breathing methods, typically combined with relaxation and visualisation techniques, include autogenic training, Jacobsen’s progressive relaxation, holotropic breath work and philophonetics (Loehr & Migdow, 1999; Taub-Bynum, 1984; Wolman, 1977). Conscious breath work forms a meaningful foundation for exploration of temporality, spatiality and spirituality related to personal and social worlds, ecology and the cosmos.

Embodiment

Experience of, and refl ection on our ongoing fl ow of breath reveals that this consists mainly of embodied experience, sensations and feelings. As persons we inhabit our worlds in a primarily pathic way. We are primarily feeling bodies involved in ongoing dialogue with the world of other people and things, before we are thoughts and stories. This is typically a moving, changing embodiment in world relationship; it is through breath and movement that we realise the feeling bodies we are (Cromby, 2006; Merleau-Ponty, 1962).





Breath fl ow forms a pre-refl ective essence of our embodiment, vibrating our core of being in the world. We experience its reassuring rhythms in harmony with nature and during rest. During arousal, any sensation, movement, feeling and thought affects the fl ow of breath. This fl ow provides a measure of the quality and quantity of life energy. The physiology of breathing affords us an objective perspective on this essentially subjective bodily experience.

An individual human life may last about 100 million breaths. Blood fl ow is greater in the lower part of the lungs because of gravity, for example, 0.07 litres per minute with clavicular, 0.66 with thoracic and 1.29 litres per minute with diaphragmatic breathing. Thus, the deeper and more fully the lungs are used, the greater the ratio of useful air exchange to dead space through oxygen–carbon monoxide energy transformations in the trachea, bronchi, bronchioli, alveoli and capillaries of the lungs. As the strongest muscle in the body, the diaphragm has a pump-like action to change the size of the chest cavity, massage the internal organs and act as a second heart in distributing energy, blood and oxygen throughout the body. The amount of air delivered by diaphragm and chest varies widely during the day. Bedrest requires about 8 quarts of air per minute; sitting, 16; walking, 24; and running, 50 (Loehr & Migdow, 1999; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984).

On inspiration, the diaphragm relaxes downwards creating a vacuum and leading to fl ow of air into the lungs. On expiration, the diaphragm contracts upwards, causing air in the lungs to be expelled outwards. Every in-breath is energising and stimulating to the sympathetic division of the autonomous nervous system. Every out-breath is relaxing and stimulates the pneumogastric nerves along the spinal column and parasympathetic division of the autonomous nervous system. Deep breathing literally saves breath by slowing respiratory patterns and increasing volume of air per breath from 500 cc to up to 3,000 cc. Besides being the primary human energy exchange with the environment, breathing balances and harmonises all internal and external systems, for example, digestion, circulation, neurochemical and endocrine systems, central, peripheral and autonomic divisions of the nervous systems. The mentioned effect of breathing on the all-important sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system, respectively responsible for rest and arousal, is the key to energy control through various breathing methods. This essentially means that if more energy is required, inhalation must be longer than exhalation and conversely, if rest is required, exhalation must be longer than inhalation. Breathing duration can also be measured in breaths or in heartbeats. For the beginner, this means listening





to the body and/or measuring heart rate at the wrist or jugular vein. The human rate of breathing is approximately a quarter the rate of heartbeats per minute (Loehr & Migdow, 1999; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984).

The psychologist, Maslow (1971), postulated a hierarchy of survival and growth needs ranging from physiological, safety, belongingness and love through to self-esteem and self-actualisation needs. In terms of physiological needs, we may list in order: breathing, sleep, water, food and movement. Except in cases of extended cellular respiration in infants, yogis and other breathing adepts, humans only live for a very few minutes without breathing.

Ecology

Just as we need the planetary atmosphere to breathe, so the cosmos needs our breath for life. The biochemist, Lovelock’s (1979) Gaia hypothesis that the earth as a whole is one living, self-regulating organism, echoes ancient views of a vital breath-energy animating the entire cosmos as implied in the African, Asian and Greek concepts of umoya, prana and pneuma respectively, and reminds us of cosmic need for our personal breath-based embodiment. For the yogi, the Self is the universe, which unfolds in terms of sheaths of being ranging from materially dense to infi nitely subtle forms. Wilber (2007) describes these realms in terms of spirit refl ecting the interiority of being and matter, the exteriority of spirit. Lovelock’s (1979) views echo the wisdom of the sages and contemporary physics in regarding the entire range of living matter on earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond its constituent parts. Abram articulates this wider ecological interdependence as follows:

In concert with the other animals, with the plants, and with the microbes themselves, we are an active part of the Earth’s atmosphere, constantly circulating the breath of this planet through our bodies and brains, exchanging certain vital gases for others, and thus monitoring and maintaining the delicate make-up of the medium. (Abram, 2007, p. 2)

Consequently, the way we perceive the world will depend on the way we understand this interdependence in all its ethical implications. In simple concrete terms, we recognise that plant life depends on the carbon dioxide provided by us from gaseous changes taking place in our lungs.





For example, with overpopulation, fi rewood needs, and slash and burn agricultural methods, we denude planet earth of oxygen-producing rain forests and accelerate the ozone layer. With each destructive act of disturbing the delicate balance of nature, we threaten our very Self, making responsible ecology an ethical imperative for every individual, groups and nation on the face of the earth and beyond.

Spirituality

Ancient African, Indian, Greek and Chinese traditions have long recognised the subtle, vital, animating and energising aspects of breathing in such concepts as umoya, prana, psyche and chi, which form the essence of various spiritual traditions.

In that the English term ‘spirit’ is derived from the Latin word ‘spiritus’, meaning breath, and healing implies a process of making whole, spiritual healing is concerned, quite particularly, literally and originally, with holistic breathing transformations. Such beliefs and practices are grounded on the experience and observed phenomena of life and death. In essence, the spiritual healing task is to balance and harmonise various patterns of breath-energy fl ow within and without our physical and subtle bodies and in our interpersonal, social, ecological and spiritual relationships, through tuning in to the rhythms/vibrations of the cosmos, nature and humanity. This phenomenology has always been the special province of the shaman, traditional healer, diviner, psychologist and priest. The African and Asian spiritual roots of this experience will be discussed as follows.

Similar spiritual themes occur in various world religions such as Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. From the Judaic perspective, Genesis 2, verse 7 reads, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” One particular branch of Buddhism, Zen, places great emphasis on the life-breath. In Zen breathing techniques, special emphasis is on breathing as a grounding and meditation technique, through life-breath stored in the energetic, intestinal area of the belly, referred to, in India, as the second chakra or svadisthana; in China, as the lower tantien; and in Japan, as the hara (Brasier, 2003; Galante, 1981; Reid, 1998). Another Buddhist breathing technique is to walk barefoot on the grass, in grateful consciousness of all previous ancestral beings beneath one’s feet. In the New Testament, John 20:21 reads: Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the father has sent me,





I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Various stages and levels of spirituality are outlined in the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufi sm. For example, seven unfolding levels of soul are distinguished in all people; the mineral, vegetable, animal, human, angelic, secret soul and soul of the secret of secrets. The term nafs refers to a process involving breath, essence, self and nature of the incarnated soul in its quest to return to the realm of spirit through (Frager, 1989): commanding nafs, of physical and egoistic desires; accusatory nafs, who cause repentance and intention to improve; inspired nafs, motivating compassion, morality and service; tranquil nafs, bringing trust and gratitude; fulfi lling nafs, motivating spirituality above selfi sh bodily desires; perfected nafs, bringing realisation that individuality and separateness are illusions and only God exits.

Attempting to integrate Western and Eastern traditions, with special reference to the chakras, Judith (2004) has defi ned soul as the individual expression of spirit and spirit as the universal expression of soul, symbolising the energetic pull of mind and spirit on the one hand and that of soul and body on the other, in terms of ascending and descending currents of liberation and manifestation respectively. In an empirical attempt to examine the soul, Jung (1931, p. 345) investigated such names people have given to their ex-periences as the Gothic saiwula and old German saiwulo from which the German seele and English word soul derive as well as the old Slavonic sila or strength. These words are etymologically linked to the Greek ailos (quick moving, twinkling iridescent); anemos (wind); animus (spirit); anima (soul); psyche (butterfl y); psychein (to breathe); pneuma (wind or spirit); psychos (cool); psychros (cold, chill); physa (bellows); and connote the experience of a moving life force. The Gothic us-anan (to breathe out), the Latin anhelare (to pant) are linked to Old High German, atum (breath). In Arabic, ‘wind’ is rìh and rûh is ‘soul, spirit’. These connections indicate clearly how in Latin, Greek, Gothic, German, English, Slavonic and Arabic languages the names given to the soul are related to the notion of moving air and breath and are the basis for endowing the soul with an invisible breath-body.

In his commentary on “The Secret of the Golden Flower”, Jung (1957) notes that the Chinese alchemical metaphors of “diamond body” or “holy fruit” refer to the purifi ed, incorruptible breath-body or spirit-body sought by Taoist adepts in their search for spiritual immortality, an essential quest for all humanity and of special relevance in the second half of life.

Psychologically these expressions symbolize an attitude that is beyond the reach of emotional entanglements and violent shocks—a consciousness





detached from the world. I have reason for believing that this attitude sets in after middle life and is a natural preparation for death…Chinese yoga philosophy is based on this instinctive preparation for death as a goal. In analogy with the goal of the fi rst half of life—procreation and reproduction, the means of perpetuating one’s physical existence—it takes as the goal of spiritual existence, the symbolic begetting and birth of a “spirit body” or “breath body” which ensures the continuity of detached consciousness. (Jung, 1957, p. 46)

Recognising that apart from all religious connotations, there is actually and literally more life in our total soul (psyche) than we are at any time aware of, William James was able to trace varieties of religious experience in terms of an uneasiness, a solution and the ongoing search for greater spiritual being (James, 1902). Complementing orthodox Christian faith healing, the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner distinguished four main energy layers or bodies which surround the physical body: the etheric/health; emotional/astral; mental/I am; and causal/I AM energy bodies (Dziemidko, 1999). There are over 80 hospitals world-wide that are now run by the anthroposophical medical model (Evans & Rodger, 1992). Viewing matter and spirit as exterior and interior aspects, at all levels of evolution and involution, Wilber (2007) has integrated traditional, modern and postmodern views on the great chain of being, linking matter, life, mind, soul and spirit into an integral psychological model consisting of four quadrants: representing inseparable dimensions of human being-in-the-world; fi rst-person, second-person and third-person accounts: the I of self and consciousness; the we of culture and world view; the it of brain, organism, social system and environment.

From a spiritual, breath-body perspective, ancient and modern healing practices, counselling, psychotherapy and all other forms of caring, healing, illness prevention and health promotion have their ontological foundations in breath-based behaviour patterns and are mediated by various breathing experiences. The following discussion traces such practices to their roots in African and Asian forms of breath-energy healing.

Breath-energy Healing

The life-breath is the basis for various forms of energy healing, the term which today refers to holistic forms of health care, medicine or therapy





that integrate modern and traditional forms of healing for which there is a recognisable, phenomenological evidence base that has stood the test of time and demonstrated its utility in practice. In addition to its practical value in preventing illness and promoting various forms of health care, breath-based energy healing has the theoretical potential to integrate common components of health care and blend modern, traditional, Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern healing practices that view diverse aspects of body, mind and spirit as energetic patterns that interrelate and can be transformed by human intervention (DiNucci, 2005; Graham, 1990; Reid, 1998).

Modern energy healing is characterised by a holistic approach, where all parts of the universe are viewed as fundamentally interrelated at the energetic level (DiNucci, 2005; Wilber, 1998). Contemporary views take into account the infl uence of relativity, transformation and quantum theories, the uncertainty principle and a holographic universe with dissipative structures. With the recognition of the infl uence of a moving, fourth, curved space–time dimension for all material objects, special and general relativity theories overturned the static mechanistic Newtonian model of the universe. Quantum theory illuminated the sub-atomic reality of this fourth dimensional universe as a dynamic interrelated web of inseparable wave–particle energy patterns of tendencies called quanta, which continually appear and dissolve. The uncertainty principle suggested that this reality of continual fl ux is not only dependent on, but also, shaped by the observer’s intent with regard to precisely what s/he is investigating. The recognition of a holographic uni-verse and human brain within which each part is a microcosm of the whole, amplifi ed the explicate order of manifest reality as an abstraction from the blur of primordial reality of human beings, who, like all dissipative structures, maintain their form by a continual dissipation of energy in times of fl owing wholeness and fl ourishing health. This results in a positive view of illness as a necessary re-ordering of a system grown increasing coherent and complex, with greater instability and potential for novel restructuring interactions. It also leads to the possibility of perfect health through harmonising the human individual, interpersonal and environmental energy patterns with those of the universe (Capra, 1983; Chopra, 2000; Dziemidko, 1999; Graham, 1990).

Ancient forms of energy healing have their origins in observations of the perennial rhythms, balances, harmony, blockages and fl ow of forces that occur in nature. These forces include the polarity of earth and sky, day and night, man and woman; the regularity of the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter as well as the eternal creative and destructive cycles in the





relationships between the elements such as air, earth, water and fi re, which include the resilience of the earth to fl ooding rivers, ravaging tidal waves and volcanoes; and the power of wind to spread fi re and of water to put out fi re and generate life. Throughout the ages, energy healers have experienced and observed such forces in the human microcosm as in masculine and feminine dimensions, the fi ery emotions of the psyche, rivers of blood in the body and seasons of life from birth to death. Indigenous healers in Africa, India, China and other areas of planet earth have practised various forms of breath-based energy healing. Healing traditions variously extol a form of healing energy called N/um (San), Ka (Ancient Egypt), Umoya (Zulu), Elima (Congolese), Ruach Ha Kodesh (Hebrew), Prana (Hindi), Nafas Ruh (Moslem), Baraka (Sufi ), Spiritus Sanctus (Latin for Holy Spirit), Pneuma (Greek), Chi (Chinese), Mana (Figian), Ni (Sioux), Manitu (Alonquin) and Chindi (Navajo) (Elinwood, 2004; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984). This healing energy is typically experienced through the life-breath as a form of bridge between nature, God, ancestors, body, mind and world. Such practices emphasise the holistic, contextual and essential nature of psychological, breath-energy healing.

As mentioned earlier, traditional African healing is based on the energy of the ancestors. Indigenous Zulu diviners (izangoma) and doctors (izinyanga) refer to this process as selapha ngamandla amadlozi. Indian traditions include Ayurveda and yoga. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) speaks of energy healing occurring through such cultural therapeutic practices as Chi-gung and Tai Chi. Great importance is attached to energy fl ow, energy balance, generating positive energy, sublimating sexual into spiritual energies and harmony with nature as in taking environmental and weather forces of wind and water (feng shui) into account when building a home (Chopra & Simon, 2004; Reid, 1998). In all aspects of energy healing, involving conscious breath-based practices or everyday activities such as singing and dancing, breath-energy is viewed as the most fundamental life essence, to which we have direct, phenomenological access through intra and interpersonal experiences, behaviour and environmental relationships as evident in the following African and Asian forms.

African Forms

Ancient Egyptian views on healing were based on the vision of a harmoniously interrelated universe suffused with the energies of heaven and earth. The sun





god, Ra, radiated cosmic forces of light on microcosmic humanity, whose ultimate purpose in life was to become enlightened, through opening to the light and channelling, distributing and merging this light with earth energy, which was symbolised in the form of a rearing serpent. Successful energy channelling was depicted in Egyptian paintings and sculpture as a snake rising from the forehead of enlightened persons such as healers. The vital energies of heaven and earth were believed to merge in a vital human breath-energy body called ka. The aim of the Egyptian Mystery System, practised some 5,000 years ago, was to educate and to enlighten humanity with regard to such energy beliefs and practices. Energy healers recognised cycles of the sun, seasons, especially those related to the fl ooding of Nile, and other rhythms of life, music and movement (Graham, 1990; Gumede, 1990; Myers, 1993).

In contemporary indigenous Zulu healing this energy takes the form of the religious, spirit-power and supernatural force of the ancestors breath-ing through (ukububula/ nokubhonga kwedlozi) the Zulu divine healer (isangoma). The energy is strengthened by healing and good deeds, and is weakened by evil spirits and abuse. During a typical divinatory session (vumissa), after contacting the spirit of the ancestors, the isangoma may breathe this spirit into the divinatory bones, before throwing them. Likewise, clients may be required to inhale this ancestral spiritual breath-energy from the bones and use it in various healing rituals. Depending upon the depth of the past evolutionary ancestral call, diviners may breath like roaring lions (ukubhodla kwengonyama) or even pythons in their silent communication (inhlwathi igingile). However, typically the isangoma is breathed by recently departed ancestors who had previously appeared to her in dreams, called her to become a diviner and accompanied her through a creative illness in the form of a religious conversion experience until she completed her apprenticeship under a qualifi ed diviner in a spiritual rebirth macro-process called ukuthwasa. This is a perennial way of society caring for and being cared by persons, fi rst spiritually affl icted and then purifi ed (Edwards et al., 2006; Mfusi & Edwards, 1985; Ngubane, 1977). Only those chosen through the calling become divine healers. The healing and divine services of such African traditional healers constitute the main form of healing throughout Africa, a functionally strong and effective system that has maintained community homeostasis since time immemorial. Recent psychokinetic research using sophisticated experimental methodology and randomised controlled trials with indigenous Zulu healing has provided some parapsychological evidence that diviners (izangoma) are





able to signifi cantly alter patterns of computer-generated random numbers, when holding and beaming intentional healing consciousness into a random events generator attached to the computer (Lumsden-Cook et al., 2005; Lumsden-Cook et al., 2006).

African healing typically involves a focussing of life energy through breath-coordinated movement as in rhythmic, musical, hands clapping, singing and dancing, in some form of ceremonial spiritual–communal context. Zulu speaking people are famous for their rich singing voices and sense of rhythm. In the Zulu language (isiZulu) there is the saying, umsebenzi uyaphilisa (work heals). The word for work (umsebenzi) has many connotations, including physical exercise, health, therapy, sustenance, healing, sacrifi ce, love and traditional ceremony or other functions for the ancestors. In earlier days, African women’s functions were primarily perceived to be preparation of food, bearing children and tilting the soil to get food. Women sang to lull their children to sleep (shushuzela izingane) and sang while working through a fi eld (bacula behlakula). In intense and emotionally charged groups, men danced and sang praises to stimulate breath-energy for work, to inculcate awareness, amass strength, motivate one another and promote endurance under diffi cult conditions. A popular song of endurance, Shosholoza, is nowadays sung to motivate players, in sports, to do well in a game.

Communal spirituality is amplifi ed in the work of faith healers, typically belonging to an African Indigenous Church (AIC), whose Christian faith embraces ancestral spiritual energy (umoya), which has gained additional meaning through reverence of the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Umoya Ongcwele). There are no petty, doctrinaire theological confl icts. Christ is perceived as the ancestral, divine, Son of God. The peace, truth, power, love and wisdom in inspirational African indigenous healing is experienced at one and the same time and place in the body and breath of any particular individual in communal ancestral spirituality as graced and mediated by God, Christ and Holy Spirit.

African Indigenous Churches meetings can be found at any time through-out Africa. In their brightly coloured attire, such spiritual communities gather wherever convenient, at the river or the mountain, near the sea, at a vacant plot in town or at the bus stop, where inspirational breath-energy is invoked through bible reading, praying, singing and dancing in a healing circle and invoking the Holy Spirit through chanting woza umoya. The abathandazi or faith healers have become increasingly popular in modern times. These healers are usually members of the AICs, who are able to provide their local





community with a communal–spiritual circle that addresses many needs: traditional ancestral reverence, old testament and modern Christianity, a substitute extended family, assistance with employment contacts and the caring psychological experience of family and sense of community accom-panied by healing rituals, which include music, drama and dance. This is a marvellous form of community psychology where community development, healing and education are harmoniously integrated (Nyembe, 1994; Oosthuizen et al., 1989). Gumede (1990) estimated that traditional healers cater for 80% of the health needs of the African population and are usually consulted before modern doctors, particularly in the less developed and rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. These AICs constitute the largest organised religious group in KwaZulu-Natal and in southern Africa and as such are responsible for most of the everyday public health in this part of the world (Edwards et al., 2006; Nyembe, 1994).

Asian Forms

Chopra (2000) has shown how a quantum mechanical understanding of the human body, mind and spirit has underscored the validity of the Ayurveda health system, practised in India for over fi ve millennia. He interprets Ayurveda as defi ning illness as something that results from distortions in the pattern of energetic vibrations that holds the body intact, that any disorder can be prevented, as long as balance is maintained in body, mind, soul, spirit and environment and that health and ecology can be promoted if human breath-energy can be kept in harmony and balance with the energies of the cosmos (Chopra, 2000: 25).

In his classic work on yoga sutras, Patanjali, he elaborated eight branches of yoga in terms of: proper social conduct (yama); personal behaviour (niyama); postures (asanas); breath-energy control (pranayama); sensation and perception (pratyahara); attention and intention (dharana); witnessing consciousness (dhyana); and cosmic consciousness (samadhi). All branches are concerned with some form of energy healing, especially those involving meditation techniques. In its recognition of the subtle energy system involved in various breathing methods, pranayama is the closest equivalent to modern biofeedback techniques. In particular, the three pranayama bandhas (locks) at the perineum root (moola bandha), lower abdomen (uddiyana) and the throat (jalandara) assist in consciously acquiring, accumulating, storing and releasing breath-energy (Chopra & Simon, 2004; Hewitt, 1977; Iyengar, 2005).





Yoga postulates that life energy fl ows up and down the spine in terms of three main energetic pathways: Ida, Pingala and Sushmna. Ida carries prana in form of feminine lunar energy along the left side of the body, Pingala transmits masculine solar energy along the right side and Sushumna runs up the middle of the body connecting seven spinning energy wheels or chakras. The chakras are associated with particular anatomical locations of the spine and brain, plexuses of the nervous, endocrine and other human functional systems as well as colours, sounds, patterns and symbols (Mumford, 2005; Reid, 1998). For example, from perineum to crown, the chakras, namely, muladhara, svadisthana, manipura, anahata, vishudda, ajna and sahasrara are respectively associated with systemic functions of elimination, reproduction, digestion, circulation, respiration, enervation and ultimate realisation through relation with the cosmos. Breath-energy control through these chakras has been demonstrably linked to various psychosomatic phenomena such as cardiac cessation, peristalsis control, and starting and stopping of bleeding (Mumford, 2005; Rama et al., 1979). Such energetic systems are essentially based on introspective, indigenous phenomenological forms of knowledge passed on over generations.

The process of accumulating and releasing breath-energy discharges obstacles in functional pathways. When the channels and locks are open, vital energy is able to fl ow freely. Vital energy rising up the spine is known as Kundalini, which is visualised as the uncoiling of a snake from the base of the spine. Breathwork, that is, practising control over the three bandhas enables energy to be consciously moved up the spine. This process becomes increasingly refi ned through meditation, visualisation and the sublimation of physiological and sexual energies into spiritual energy for ultimate cosmic consciousness and ecological purifi cation (Chopra & Simon, 2004; Hewitt, 1977).

Meditation provides a direct link to the stillness, emptiness, spaciousness and interconnectedness of all virtual energy operating beyond quantum level through its potential to still the constant chatter of thoughts and other noise operating through the central nervous system and elsewhere. It provides an opportunity to connect with absolute stillness and recreate body, mind, soul and all other relationships in this world and beyond. Physiological changes induced through meditation become readily understandable when it is considered that the meditator is simply entering a place already characterised by constant change, where, for example, all the molecules in our bodies are replaced within seven years; where our skeletons become completely renewed





every three months; where the inner layer of stomach cells is exchanged in minutes; and where our lungs are exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide every second. The transcendence experience in heartbeat and/or breathing meditation may begin with an effortless entry into a space between thoughts, heartbeats and/or exhalation and inhalation (Chopra, 2000; Ellinwood, 2004; Loehr & Migdow, 1999). The initial experience of relaxed, airy lightness may herald a journey through heavenly waves to a place of primordial stillness and profound love and peace. The ability of yogis to change vital physiological functioning is readily understandable and acceptable if it is considered that such changes begin at and transcend quantum level.

Conscious breathing means focusing your attention on the perpetual exchange that is taking place between your personal body and the extended body of your environment. You exchange ten billion trillion atoms with your surroundings with every breath you take. The atoms you inhale every day have traversed the bodies of living beings across the universe and across time. Within you right now you have carbon atoms that once in-habited the body of a Cheetah in Africa, a dolphin in the South Pacifi c, a palm tree in Tahiti, or an Australian Aborigine. Ultimately every particle in your body was stardust, created at the dawn of the universe. Your breathing is a continuous testimony to the Law of Giving and Receiving. (Chopra & Simon, 2004, p. 103)

Chinese philosophy emphasises movement and change based on the notion of dynamic patterns, continually forming and dissolving in the cosmic way of the Tao as exemplifi ed in the I Ching (Book of Changes). Chi-gung is an ancient Chinese system of cultural therapeutics with medical, martial and meditative implications. Chi means breath and air, and by extension, energy and vitality. Gung means work, practice, exercise and/or skill. Hence, chi-gung refers to breathing exercises or energy work, based on the subtle skill of breath control. As is the case with umoya, prana and pneuma, the concept of chi has various connotations. It refers to the essential energy of the universe, which manifests in polarity (yin and yang), the fi ve elements—water, earth, fi re, metal and wood—and the vital life-force in human beings; Chi, therefore, refers to the most fundamental essence of life: nuclear, physical, chemical, electrical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual, to which we have direct, phenomenological access through intra and interpersonal experiences and environmental relationships. As is the case, respectively, with the African,





Asian and Greek concepts of umoya, prana and pneuma, the word chi was originally used thousands of years ago in ancient China, to denote the vital breath or energy animating the entire cosmos, predicting the discovery, in modern quantum physics, of the dynamic interrelatedness and continuous interactions between form and void, as particles condense, dissipate, collide and transform (Capra, 1983; Graham, 1990; Reid, 1998).

Human health and vitality depend upon how we absorb, transmit, balance and harmonise atmospheric energy through breathing, which in turn depends upon our breathing method, the quality of air and the strength of the atmospheric fi eld. The TCM distinguishes three basic dimensions to the human energy fi eld: the 12 organ energy meridian system, directly related to organic bodily functions used for acupuncture; the elixir fi eld system (chakras) which transform cosmic energy; and the guardian energy system which travels around the whole body just below and above the surface of the skin and which forms the inner core of the subtle energy system with its increasingly subtle shells surrounding the body (Reid, 2003). In terms of the 12 organ energy system, the internal circulation of nourishing energy extracted from food in the stomach and regulated by the governing and conception channels, is specifi cally driven by the breath in a set pattern through the lungs, large intestine, stomach, spleen/pancreas, heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium triple burner, gall bladder, liver and back to lungs (Reid, 1998).

The Chinese terms for major types of human energy include the fol-lowing. Yuan chi (primordial energy) is derived in prenatal form through the testes, ovaries and adrenal cortex. Jen-chi (true human energy) is derived in postnatal form from basic bodily functions such as respiration, digestion and metabolism. Ying-chi (nourishing energy) travels within the blood and meridians, which nourish the human system. Wei-chi (guardian energy) forms a resilient, protective shell around the skin. Dzang and fu chi (solid and hollow organ energy) are associated with the paired yin and yang organ systems as infl uenced by the respective elemental energies of water, earth, fi re, metal and wood. Jing-chi (essential energy) is derived from sexual fl uids, hormones and neurochemicals through the internal alchemy (nei-gung) of breath-energy skills. Ling-chi (spiritual energy) refers to the most subtle, refi ned and sublimated forms of energy (Reid, 1998).

Basic ways of moving breath-energy through chi-gung include the following. Shi-chi (assimilating energy) involves drawing in chi through various vital energy gates and/or chakras. Shing-chi (circulating energy) clears blockages, balances and harmonises energy in channels and meridians. Pai-chi





(expelling energy), as in bellows breathing, for example, cleanses the system of stagnant or toxic energy. Huan-chi (exchanging energy) refers to recharging one’s human batteries through breathing exercises, which intermingle one’s energy with pure forms found on high mountains or at the sea. Yang-chi (cultivating energy) is a practice that stores energy in the lower abdomen or other organ energy systems. Lien-chi (refi ning energy) typically involves meditation, as in kundalini yoga, where evolutional energy is slowly drawn up the spine. In an internal analogue of external alchemy, whereby solids are transformed into liquids then gases, essence into energy into spirit, Hua-chi (transforming energy) is the basic mode of changing bodily fl uids into mental energy through breathing exercises. Fa-chi (emitting energy) is used by energy healers, typically through the lao-gung points in the palms of the hands. Japanese Johrei healing is essentially similar, involving an interpersonal and ecological balancing of all relationships (Hiew & Yap, 2005; Reid, 1998).

Besides emitted healing by energy healing masters, chi-gung is a marvellous form of self-care energy medicine to prevent illness and promote health. It basically consists of still and moving forms. In contrast to standing and moving forms (macrocosmic orbit, which include Tai chi), microcosmic orbit meditation refers to a still sitting form of meditation, where energy is circulated through intentional imagery and focussed breathwork along governor and conception channels of the meridian system in a process similar to Kundalini yoga, where the three treasures of essence, energy and spirit and their external equivalents of body, breath and mind, located in the lower (hypogastric plexus), middle (solar plexus) and upper elixir fi elds (brain) are nurtured and transformed into that spiritual realm of pure radiant energy, whence we all came from and will return to. Although fundamentally the same—as originally based on the teachings of the tantric Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma—an essential difference between Indian and Chinese systems of breath control is the relatively greater emphasis on breath-coordinated movement in the Chinese system (Reid, 1998, 2003). Specifi c chi-gung breathing exercises include four-stage breath control, which will be de-scribed later.

Breath Psychology Applications for Health and Sport

The benefi ts of relaxed, deep breathing can readily be experienced through daily practice. The consciously slow, silent, smooth, in- and out-breath





stages produce sublime sensations. Brief breath retention has many particular benefi ts. It slows and deepens the pulse; balances blood pressure; produces a compression which extends throughout the circulatory system; enhances the exchange of gases; enriches the blood with more supplies of oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide; triggers the innate response of cellular respiration; breaks down blood sugar to release oxygen and produce body heat; and keeps the autonomous nervous system in parasympathetic healing mode. Breathing exercises are best done in the early morning when the atmosphere is relatively unpolluted and full of negative ionic energy (Reid, 1998).

Galante (1981) reviewed reports of some 500 successfully treated patients at Shanghai and Tangshan Sanatoriums, using respiration therapy (chi-gung) alone. Reid (1998) reports on Wahzhan Zhineng Chi-gung Clinic and Training Centre in Qinuadao, China, where De Pang Ming developed a chi-gung programme called chi lel, which consists of four parts: instruction in chi-gung dynamics, group healing sessions, individual treatment with emitted chi and individual practise in various chi-gung sets. Medical records for 10,000 cases reveal an overall success rate of 95%, with 15% experiencing total cure and return to normal functioning, 38% experiencing very effective results in terms of vital function tests and almost complete disappearance of symptoms, and 42% effective results in terms of noticeable improvement in vital functioning.

Reid (2003) has referred to breath as the only vital autonomous function that can be consciously controlled by the mind and to breathing as a sort of tuning device to balance and harmonise all functional systems of the body. In fact, given the degree of conscious breath control possible, and consequent channelling of the free energy of the universe through ever more sophisticated breathing skills, there seem infi nite benefi ts of such established practices as pranayama and chi-gung and various other modern cultural therapeutics inspired by such researchers as Pilates (Worth, 2003); Schultz and Luthe (1959); Jacobsen (1938); Benson et al. (1974); Cooper (1968); and Grof (1998), all of which use related relaxation and/or aerobic techniques (Edwards, 2005).

In addition to a variety of other functions, breathing exercises prevent illness and promote health. A phenomenology of breathing reveals that anger is associated with huffi ng and puffi ng mouth breathing; excessive joy may strain the heart with various forms of extreme inhalation and exhalation;





grief causes very short, shallow sighs; fear may cause a withholding or retention of breath; and worry brings very shallow breathing. In general, all forms of tension are associated with shallow or inhibited breathing. While this may have short-term benefi ts as in sprinting or controlling impulses, if such breathing patterns become habituated, they lead to various forms of psychosomatic illnesses, neuroses, character disorders and psychoses.

In TCM, because of the observable effects of emotional stress on general health, emotion or “energy in motion” is called the chief hooligan and the senses are known as the fi ve thieves. Specifi c psychosomatic effects of emotion are felt in related organ energy systems, for example, anger and the liver, joy and the heart, grief and lungs, fear and kidneys, worry and the stomach. Conversely, as modern, experimental research shows, deep breathing breaks the cycle of stress. Regulation of the motion of the lungs through con-scious observation and control of breathing leads to regulation of heart function via the vagus nerve, with its direct links to the autonomic nervous system. With practice, involuntary systems become progressively more open to voluntary conscious control. In an internal cybernetic biofeedback loop, such control in turn infl uences brainwave activity, from production of neurochemicals such as endorphins to transcendent levels of consciousness experienced in alpha conditioning and meditation (Loehr & Migdow, 1999; Reid, 1998; Taub-Bynum, 1984).

As balance is important in all aspects of life, so it is in the case of breathing exercises. While relaxed, deep diaphragmatic breathing is benefi cial in relaxing, oxygenating and alkalising the body, excessive deep breathing is harmful, leading to hyperventilation, hypoxia, disturbance of the acid–alkaline balance, asthma, insomnia, tension and panic attacks, with thoracic and clavicular respiration, which lower carbon dioxide levels in the lungs and thereby prevents oxygen uptake by haemoglobin in the bloodstream. This can be prevented by brief periods of breath retention, which build up lung carbon dioxide levels, encouraging haemoglobin to release oxygen from the bloodstream into the tissues of the cells. The so-called Buteyko method consists of cumulative breath retention periods of up to 60 seconds after normal or maximum exhalation. Blowing into a paper bag provides immediate practical help in cases of hyperventilation. In general, slow, relaxed, low respiratory rate breathing practised by yogis leads to less but more restful sleep. For insomnia, asthma and panic attacks related to hyperventilation





and low pulmonary carbon dioxide levels, relaxed, regular, normal, shallow, closed mouth, nostril breathing patterns with conscious focus on rhythmic regularity of belly breathing movements can be taught very effectively (Chopra & Simon, 2004; Meuret et al., 2004; Reid, 1998; Stalmatski, 2001).

Breath-based health promotion recognises that we are grounded in our experience of the lived body. This embodiment accounts for the primarily pathic mode with which phenomena of the lived world are initially revealed to us. In dialogue with the world, the lived body is a source of pre-refl ective intentionality, meaning and goal-directed behaviour (Merleau-Ponty, 1962). The essence of this embodiment is the comforting presence of our breathing. During times of clarity and equanimity we are comforted by the rhythmic regularity of our breathing and its harmony with the bodily phenomena that appear to our consciousness. Still sitting and moving forms of breath-coordinated behaviour form the essential foundation for both healing and transcendence as exemplifi ed in alpha conditioning, biofeed-back, transcendental meditation, traditional healing dances and Tai chi (Edwards, 2005; Hewitt, 1977; Reid, 1998). Healthy breathing experiences that have been bodily re-experienced as anchors, provide a phenomenological foundation for various forms of imagery, light, sound, colour, touch and movement used in breathwork, expressive therapy, progressive relaxation, systematic desensitisation, crisis intervention and other forms of caring, healing, counselling, psychotherapy, illness prevention, health promotion and ecological harmonisation in a typically active process (Edwards, 2005; Ivey et al., 2002; Lowen, 1989; Reich, 1942).

Such phenomenological breath-based research and interventions have great value for modern theory and practices in health and sport psychology, particularly in view of the dominance of North American and Australian cognitive behavioural literature and cultural values, which form the back-ground for most of the research in the fi eld. Phenomenological research has highlighted universal, essential, diverse and contextual aspects of the exercise experience and its community effects (Edwards, 2002). Universal and essential aspects include perennial breath-based movement experiences, facts and values reported in all forms of literature over millennia, which have improved health, regulated various forms of excess and promoted harmo-nious excellence (Edwards & Fox, 2005). The various ancient and modern systems of breathing skills can be complemented with specifi c techniques such as visualisation, centring and concentration as discussed next.





Breath-based Skills Training

Breath-based skills training programmes refer to composite package training techniques used to develop a variety of naturally occurring psychological skills. Breath psychology reveals that breath fl ow determines energy experiences. Our bodies naturally experience tension as in static electricity, irritation, libido, which we need or feel the urge to release. We may need to balance this inner tension with environmental energy, to optimise the experience of energy fl ow. We enjoy swimming as it gives this experience of merging with a natural element. Tai chi provides a form of release into a slow, meditational form of movement, governed by the skeletal structure into which we sink posturally, and rotate as governed by the joints of the body. The chakras are based on energy experiences or felt senses in different parts of the body ranging from more dense, thicker forms to lighter, airy forms. There is an associated physiological basis for particular experiences in the form of nerve plexuses and endocrine glands, for example, the kidney adrenals, solar plexus and power feelings (Judith, 2004). From a holistic perspective, it is vital that athletes harmonise their experience of energy fl ow in all parts of the whole—body, mind, soul, spirit, social and cosmic environment. This is done by consciously breathing into the various parts of the body and wider world. Using related psychological skills amplifi es the effect. Breath/energy fl ow is experienced and communicated both non-verbally and verbally. Non-verbal languages include use of conscious breathing, sensing, moving, gesturing, sounding and imaging (Sherwood, 2007). Verbal communications include counselling in relation to breathwork in resonating with a felt sense of the relevant movement in its particular sporting context (Stelter, 2000).

The prescriptive physiological approach to health of exercising a particu-lar number of times a week, at a pre-determined maximum heart rate, was derived from the early dominance of the medical model of exercise that grew out of physiology laboratories in economically developed countries such as the USA, the UK and Australia some 50 years ago. This may effect physiological changes in aerobic capacity and fi tness, and even prevent elements of disease where mechanisms are primarily biochemical. However, it offers a very limited perspective on the centred, harmonious feelings of breath-coordinated movement, or the effects of exercise on mental and public health, where it is the individual and/or social experience of the exercise that provides the key





(Berger, 2001; Edwards & Fox, 2005). For example, consider the holistic benefi ts of a sunday, AIC beach service summoning the Holy Spirit (woza umoya), while singing and dancing near the fresh sea air and breathing out all forms of negative energy that may have collected over the week.

Typically, the term sport refers to organised forms of physical activity that take place in various contexts for play, health, recreational, competitive, professional, and various other reasons. The term is conveniently defi ned in terms of personal reasons chosen for the activity and the context in which such an activity occurs. Sport is intrinsically meaningful. Players are living the experience, experiencing the energy, realising in motion their potential, or being the beautiful picture that brings such joy to spectators and also living the inevitable tragedies and pain. Movement initially allows the human being to become a bodily-centred moment in the world. This, here and now experience and presence is a precondition for meaning and transcendence. This latter phenomenon has been described as “fl ow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), “runners’ high” (Morgan, 1978) or being “in the zone” (Hanin, 1997). At such times there is the accompanying experience of great stillness and peace, becoming one with a changed, wider world, which is realised in and through movement. Such peak moments in sport are typically accom-panied by complete harmonious breathing patterns (Loehr & Migdow, 1999). There may be the experience of being effortlessly breathed by the infi nite energy of the universe as the human being become truly aware of the life-breath as the ongoing essential component of our embodiment. The exercise experience has been described as follows:

Exercise is a breathing experience; breathing in of new vitality and breath-ing out of stale devitalized energy. In the breathing in, there is a stretching of my body muscles, my limbs, my torso—gradually piece by piece, limb by limb, the body starts to expand, to accelerate and then to dance—my etheric life force celebrates joining the vitality of all fl ourishing forms until it becomes part of the cosmic experience of expansion, embracing and revitalizing all that is growing within me, my thinking, my feeling, to the core of my spirit. (Edwards, 2002)

The phenomenologies of Merleau-Ponty (1962) and Gendlin (1996) have much to offer in sport psychological settings. Their insights have lead to the development of a method whereby a helper assists the sports person





to resonate with his/her bodily experienced “felt sense” (Gendlin’s phrase) of a particular exercise situation (Stelter, 2001). This “felt sense” may be of a particularly traumatic bodily experience (e.g., Achilles tendonitis), image (e.g., physical self-concept of being overweight) or situation (choking at match point in a tennis game) requiring to be transformed and/or healed. Typically, such “felt senses” are unique phenomena, grounded in a particular breathing pattern and situation, which have to be bodily re-experienced in their original imaginary or actual context, in order for change to occur as in any other form of trauma counselling. The “felt sense” resonance need not necessarily involve a problematic or traumatic phenomenon. The method may also be used to optimise any particular positive experience as anchor, stepping stone or therapeutic moment to bring about desired change. A similar pro-cess occurs in any strengths-based intervention, such as developmental or solution-orientated counselling.

Breathing methods may facilitate psychological skills training for sport in essentially two ways. First, the vital capacity of the lungs can be increased. Breathing methods such as those described earlier can improve maximum oxygen consumption by up to 20%. This effect is particularly evident in genetically gifted elite athletes who adapt readily to conditioning. In terms of volume of oxygen per minute, aerobic training can triple breathing power as the heart works more effectively and pumps more blood. Whereas the average heart rate ranges between 66 and 84, trained athletes have typical resting pulse rates of 45–50 beats per minute. Second, breathing methods can be tailored to specifi c sports and/or introduced into specifi c sporting situations (Loehr & Migdow, 1999).

Although the main focus of this article is on health rather than perform-ance aspects of sport, the role of breath in peak performance is also in-structive. In an investigation into 200 peak athletic performances, athletes indicated that every single peak performance was characterised by smooth, deep full breathing and pleasant high energy experiences. Specifi c research descriptions of athletes’ experiences revealed this ideal state as follows: smooth, deep full breath, high energy, positive feelings, alert, energetic, lively, stimulated, vigorous, enthused, high team spirit, relaxed muscles, calm mental state, focussed and in control. Also, vitally important is that peak performance comes after an internal climate of fun and pleasure has been established (Loehr & Migdow, 1999). Typically, in actual sporting contexts, breathing is unconscious as athletes are in a “no-mind state” in their involve-ment in the ongoing fl ow of activity, and rely on breathing methods in times





and places when punctuations occur in the fl ow of activities, as in timeout periods, lapses in concentration or unnecessary physical “tightening up” periods. In the last instant, a smooth, deep full breath can work wonders.

Fine-tuning the breathing process to fi t the actual physical course of movement in a particular sporting context usually involves two stages (Loehr & Migdow, 1999). First, heightened awareness of the task-specifi c breath-ing pattern in relation to the ebb and fl ow of the sporting situation is needed. Breathing patterns also, often, change over the course of activity. For example, long distance running may require longer exhalations than inhalations for relaxation and some dissociated thinking during the early stages of the race. During middle stages, an athlete may notice a circular 3:3 rhythm beat of exhalation over three footsteps and inhalation over the next three footsteps. Then the tempo may increase to a 2:2 footstep, breathing pattern with highly concentrated associated thinking during the closing stages of the race. Second, breathing patterns must be adapted relative to critical moments in the activity. For example, in contact and ball sports, a smooth, yang style, exhalation at critical moments typically helps to reinforce the rhythm of play and produces a low muscle tension at contact point, which is associated with further fl uidity, power and heightened consciousness. In this regard, it has been interesting to note the increase in tennis players’ exhalation grunts over the years!

Some other examples of breathing patterns related to specifi c sports are as follows. Swimming and cycling have similar synchronised breathing patterns as running. In Tai Chi, exhalation occurs with forward, outward and upward movements, while inhalation happens with backward, inward and down-ward movements. Weight training requires similar breathing patterns of slow, even exhalation during lifting and inhalation during lowering of weights.

The psychological skills training (PST) views a person as an inseparable, indivisible, bio-psycho-socio-cultural, spiritual and environmental entity/oneness. Focus is on a single component such as bodiliness for research, didactic and practical purposes. Specifi c PST programmes do improve per-formance, but only up to a point. There has to be some base physical and psychological health to work from. Although it is convenient to teach these skills separately, in practise, they all work together as will be apparent in the following breath-based examples of the skills. In each case, the skills vary with specifi c sporting context. Examples are as follows.





A Self-confi dence Breath

A self-confi dence breath refers to relaxed abdominal breathing accompanied by imagery of successfully completing each sequential moment of a particu-lar activity. The experience is one of relaxed arousal with rewards as each phase is successfully achieved. Repeated rehearsal of this breathing pattern in the imaginary and actual situation, accompanied by any form of repetitive rewarding for each moment, guarantees self-effi cacy and top performance.

Motivational and Goal-orientated Breathing

This refers to relaxed abdominal breathing while listing in one’s mind or rehearsing an already established list of motivations and goals. Goals become clearer when relaxed breathing accompanies the macro-process involved in the setting of various processes and outcomes, short, medium and long-term goals as well as imagining the successful achievement of such goals. It is important that goals be obtainable in order to maintain motivation. Motivations and goals can be anchored in certain cues and power words for immediate review in an actual sport situation.

Imaginative Breathing

Imagery is to breathing what super-octane fuel is to ordinary petrol. When normal breathing is accompanied by imagery, in which all the senses are used and all the movements felt, signifi cant gains are made as the brain and neuromuscular system groove the same patterns in imagery and actuality. Imagery, itself, is more effective when preceded by relaxed breathing as this removes any resistances to the perceived clarity of image.

Many positivistic, quantitatively oriented sport psychological research interventions, using randomised control designs, have confi rmed signifi cant improvement in actual, specifi c sport activities after the successful perform-ance of the specifi c sporting activity has been repetitively visualised or imagined. Such sport psychological skills training programmes also typically use variations of such breathing techniques (Morris & Summers, 1995; Weinberg & Gould, 2007). In both actual and visualised tasks, breathing methods and techniques which combine a holistic approach with attention to detail, promote practice of becoming perfect.





A Focusing Breath

Following relaxed, deep, lower abdominal breathing with sunken relaxed shoulders, every inhalation is visualised as bringing more focused and con-centrated vital energy into the lower abdominal core of the body, while the sporting situation is imagined in great detail. During the actual sporting situation, consciously focussed centred breathing is used, with the inner self imagined as a clear, light, calm, stable and rooted place, which is illuminated with successive inhalations, as unnecessary tension, stress, anxiety and fear are breathed out. Where there is only time for a single breath, this is con-sciously experienced as centred in the core lower abdominal region as a gravitational, grounded pivot for immediate further movement. In situations requiring explosive power, such as in a rugby tackle, throwing a punch, hitting a ball or lifting a heavy weight, conscious focus on the out-breath at the moment of impact amplifi es the effect. Conversely, if on the receiving end of a rugby tackle, for example, a conscious out-breath at the moment of impact minimises the effect as does a going with the fl ow of the movement.

Energy Breathing

To begin with, athletes should regularly practise conscious breathing from their lower abdominal centre of gravity as mentioned earlier. In addition, relaxed, smooth, complete breathing creates conditions for optimum arousal and performance. Breathing methods regulate arousal and performance as well as emotional states associated with arousal, whether these are positive or negative. In order to heighten arousal, the in-breath should be longer than the out-breath. In order to lower arousal, the out-breath should be longer than the in-breath.

Athletes can measure the length of their in- and out-breath with a watch or better still, by heartbeat. If negative heightened arousal in the form of bodily anxiety is experienced, one may overcome this by breathing in to the count of three heartbeats and out to the count of six heartbeats. If low arousal in the form of apathy is experienced, athletes may overcome this by breathing in to the count of six heartbeats or seconds and out to the count of three heartbeats. Experiential practice may result in athletes lengthening their breathing phases to say, in for fi ve and out for ten or in for ten and out





for fi ve, dependant on energy needs, personal preference and performance. Practice makes perfect.

Classic four-stage yogic and chi-gung energy breathing is orchestrated by the pump-like action of the diaphragm, stringing together a smooth, con-tinuous sequence, like waves on the sea. When deconstructed, the stages are: fi rst, long, slow inhalation; second, retention of up to ten heart beats while pressing down the diaphragm and locking the perineum, lower abdomen and glottis; third, long, slow exhalation; and fourth, a pause in which the lower abdomen is pulled inwards and upwards, thereby expelling all stale air and providing an invigorating massage to the internal organs before allowing the diaphragm to fall back into place with the next cycle of slow inhalation. Breathing exercises should be done daily for 20–30 minutes.

A lung expanding breath may be used as a very brief energy technique. After full exhalation, with relaxation and sinking of the shoulders, fi nger-tips are placed on top of the relaxed shoulders and elbows brought up, out and back to expand the lungs during the ensuing long, slow, deep, inhalation.Fingertips are then placed on the top of the relaxed shoulders and elbows brought up, out and back to expand the lungs.

Breath-coordinated Movement

As a form of health promotion, sport, martial art and continuous, moving meditation, Tai Chi is the single most popular style of chi-gung found throughout the world today (Reid, 1998). Tai Chi constitutes a low impact, low to moderate intensity exercise, incorporating elements of relaxation, fl exibility, balance and strength, in a series of continuous breath-coordinated movements. Exercise features include continuous shifting of weight on left and right feet, with bending and fl exion of knees, straight back and neck, trunk rotation and asymmetrical diagonal arm and leg movements, mostly in a semi-squat position. The exercise intensity is variable and can be adjusted by the height of the postures, duration of the practise session and training style. It is suitable for all persons of all ages and fi tness levels, and can be performed individually or in groups in any setting (Taylor-Piliae & Froelicher, 2004). Recent comprehensive research reviews on chi-gung and Tai Chi have revealed substantial evidence for illness prevention and health promotion. Findings include signifi cant improvements in aerobic capacity, strength, balance,





fl exibility, relaxation, mood, cardio-respiratory functioning, longevity, blood pressure, osteoporosis, low back pain, arthritis, stress, anxiety, depression, quality of life, and psychosocial and immune functioning (Gallagher, 2003; Lan et al., 2002; Taylor-Piliae & Froelicher, 2004).

Conclusion

General breathing exercises constitute an immediate form of energy man-agement, for example, through varied patterns of inhalation, exhalation and breath-coordinated movements. It may be concluded that simple breathing exercises constitute the basis for immediate and cost-effective public health promotion in both economically developed and developing countries. Three simple messages could have profound public health implications if practised regularly. The fi rst public health message is that basic illness prevention and health promotion is related to the practice of relaxed, deep breathing, when needed. The second message concerns stress and energy management; for example, to make inhalation longer than exhalation if more energy is required and exhalation longer than inhalation if relaxation is needed. The third message relates to ensuring fl ourishing health through regular practice of breath-coordinated movements ranging from still sitting meditation—with or without energy circulation—through slow meditation in motion as inyoga or chi-gung, through aerobic activities such as walking, running or swimming.

For athletes in sporting contexts, this public health message can be ex-panded into six main points. First, athletes need to practise conscious diaphragmatic breathing regularly and as much as possible, in the actual sporting context. Second, athletes need to consciously practise longer out-breaths when relaxation is needed and longer in-breaths when needing to increase arousal levels. Third, conscious four-stage breathing needs to be practised for energy and concentration. Fourth, breathing methods may be complemented and their effect amplifi ed by various athlete and context appropriate forms of imagery. Fifth, actual breath-coordinated sporting movements combined with appropriate imagery and any other form of relevant psychological skill may be developed and practised to harmonise sporting performance. Finally, the special value of such breath-based psy-chological skills training programmes lies in their potential to promote





health, prevent illness and equip athletes with breathing skills for life after sport.

Finally, as the study and use of the breath, breath psychology emphasises that the more relaxed, deeply, regularly and completely we breathe, the better the quality and quantity of life for all to come. The science, art and psychology of breathing are infi nite topics of which this article is merely a brief sketch in relation to energy, consciousness, embodiment, ecology, spirituality and sport. The air around us is shared. When it enters individual lungs it creates consciousness, responsibilities and personal choices as to its use. Given such ecological threats as global warming, pollution and overpopulation, optimal use of the breath becomes an ethical, planetary and cosmic imperative.

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Steve Edwards is Emeritus Professor and Research Fellow in the Psychology Department of the University of Zululand, South Africa. Family, friends, mentors, colleagues, awards, professional psychology registrations and doctoral degrees in psychology and education have enabled him to guide many students, write many scientifi c publications and present papers at many international conferences.



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Edwards - Breath Psychology - Fundamentals and Applications