Finding Strength in Your Breathing
Outer chaos, inner calmness, and healing
Master Glenn Tobey
Addressing your emotional response to the pandemic.
April 1, 2020
The topic today is about breathing. It is amazing breathing is such an automatic thing we seem actually take for granted when actually a skill to develop help to improve the breath, help to use the breath more purposely, and also help the strength in our body as well. It is very interesting that this virus attacks very mechanism about breathing. We take breathing so much for granted until something happens.
Just some techniques about breathing if you need some reminder or introduce you to really focus on your breaths a little bit more.
These days with the virus, whenever I hear something is happening, I have to hold my breath. Or “Oh my gosh!” It takes my breath away. That’s how powerful the breath is. Maybe that’s how much we take for granted.
Your anxiety, anger make you take a breath faster. How come? Why does the anxiety, why does the anger need fuel of breathing? If you breathe slower, the anxiety anger doesn’t have that fuel. Breathe 30 times or 60 times at a panic attack.
Learning the power of breath is really important. It comes to me in 3 categories today.
01The strength in your breath. Two levels here. One is learning the times inhale, breathing in through your nose. Then exhale through your mouth. You can have just a little parting of your mouth as you let that breath come out. It will be difficult to breathe like that all day long. Talking about strengthening your breath. Here is a strengthening exercise. Inhale, and then exhale. Inhale, and then exhale.
02The depth of breath is also important. The lungs are huge organs. Inhaling shallow, and exhaling shallow. You need to breathe deeper. Slow your breath down and deepen it. Inhale, as if you are filling in. Then exhale as if you are letting go the stuff remain at the bottom of the lungs. The lungs are this big. Inhale to fill them up. Exhale to bring them down. You will be surprised if you want to empty the lungs, how much more you have to go than your traditional breath.
So, strengthening the breath and deepening the breath. Then focus on where the breath can aid your life.
One thing you can do is to hold up your palms. Cupping from your shoulders down to the wrists. Palms down. Cupping from your shoulders down to your wrists. Repeat the movements. Then repeat on the right side. This is also a vibrational thing. Doing it maybe 10 times each side. Maybe doing it a couple of times a day in the beginning so that your system gets used to it. But really it is about the vibration. Making the vibration in your lungs even stronger. More directly moving the energy in your body to assist you more and more.
Then finding the pace. The recommendation is finding a pace of 10 times a minute. You can time yourself in your normal breath how many times a minute. Find a way to slow it down to 10 times a minute, 6 times a minute. I know my meditation is a lot slower than that.
Finding a way to slow down that breath. Strengthen the breath. Find the depth of the breath. And then slow it down. These 3 categories. Now you have something to come back to. When the outer chaos gets too strong, I know I can go back to this breath. Finding a way so that you have slow breath throughout your day. Your breath and your body will have more power.
Qigong Master Glenn Tobey
Master Glenn Tobey, M. Div., M. A. in Management, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Duluth, Minnesota.
He has almost forty years of experience in the Human Service field and has worked in both urban and rural settings, and values the collaborative community-based model.
He has also taught at the college level, and conducted numerous SFQ workshops and trainings in various community settings. Glenn continues to teach and to share his knowledge and wisdom of Spring Forest Qigong which is at the center of both his professional focus and his personal passion.
Glenn is a member of the SFQ teaching team. He teaches Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Instructor Certification, and other workshops.