HILTRUD LODES Recovering your natural energy, health and bal ance through RIGHT BREATHING An extensive training guide with many ex er cises, instructions and explanations
2017 Hiltrud Lodes 2017 Buch&media GmbH, München Satz: Buch&media GmbH, München Herstellung: BoD Books on Demand Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-95780-102-9
Con tents Medical forward...7 Introduction...9 Breath ing is life non-breath ing is death...10 Breath ing cul tures and breath ing train ing in an tiq uity and to day...12 Breath ing cor rectly but how?...13 The jour ney to wards cor rect breath ing mov ing to gether and in har mony...14 Prac tice but how?...16 Where and how does breath ing hap pen?...18 The breath ing or gans...18 The breath ing pro cess...20 Breath ing and re lax ing...31 Perceiving, observing and allowing to happen...31 Perceiving, observing and allowing the breath ing (prac tice)...32 Be com ing peace ful and re lax ing one self...36 Becoming peaceful and relaxing oneself (practice)...39 Why re lax ing the head area is so im por tant...41 Re lax ing the head and neck (prac tice)...44 Re lax ing the face, cheeks and lips (prac tice)...47 Re lax ing the tongue (prac tice)...50 Re lax ing the eyes (prac tice)...56 Re lax ing the ears (prac tice)...59 Stimulating nasal breathing and natural breathing impulses...61 Why breath ing through the nose is so im por tant...61 Stim u lat ing na sal breath ing (prac tice)...64 Clean ing the nose with wa ter or snuff...69 Clean ing the nose ac cord ing to the method»without using tissue paper«...69»na sal Re flex Ther apy«, fra grance and aroma sub stances and essential oils...70 Natural breathing impulses...71 Yawning...72 Yawning (exercise)...73 Sigh ing and groan ing...77 Sigh ing and groan ing (prac tice)...78 Laugh ing and cry ing...79 Sneez ing and cough ing...80 Sing ing, speak ing, shout ing, blow ing and whis tling...80 Mov ing and straight en ing up...82
Breath ing and mov ing...82 Be com ing breath less due to stren u ous move ment (prac tice)...83 Stimulating breathing through stretching and extending (practice)...85 Move ment of the joints...87 Free ing joints - re leas ing of cramps and blocks....88 Move ment of joints (prac tice)...88 Clipp-clapp move ments of the feet and hands in different body positions...89 Variations in cycling movements...90 Play ful ex er cises with the joints of the ex trem i ties...90 Fol low ing with hands and feet...92 Breath ing up into the fin ger tips...93 Breath ing up into the tips of the toes Mak ing the hip joint and groin area per me able (ex er cise)...97 Breathing and straightening up...100 The game with grav ity: Find ing one s own cen tre...102 Bal anc ing, fall ing and swing ing (prac tice)...103 Be com ing aware of the»field of force«(prac tice)...108 Becoming upright (practice)...110 One s own breath ing rhythm...113 The nat u ral breath ing rhythm: Ex hale Pause In hale...113 Breath ing rhythm (prac tice)...115 Opening and inhaling, closing and exhaling (exercise sequence)...118 Exhale thoroughly...119 Exhaling (practice)...121 Vowel and con so nant breath ing...123 Vowel breath ing:...123 Con so nant breath ing...124 Visu ali sa tions that you can com bine with the ex ha la tion (prac tice)...127 Treat your self to a breath ing pause...127 The natural breathing pause after the exhalation: Breath ing pause (prac tice)...128 The intentional retention of breath...128 The unintentional retention of breath...129 Only in hal ing»a thim ble full«...130 The fin ger tip work (prac tice)...131 Pres sure point breath ing of the feet (prac tice)...134 Visualisations that you can associate with inhaling and exhaling (practice):...136 Breathing and communication...137 Breathing connects physical and emotional/mental activity...137 Contact breathing...139 Comments regarding maintenance of healthy breathing patterns...144 Bibliography:...146
»Dur ing breath ing one should pro ceed as fol lows: One re tains the breath and it col lects it - self. When it has col lected it self it ex pands. When it ex pands, it moves down wards. When it moves down wards, it be comes quiet. When it has be come quiet, it be comes firm. When it has be come firm, it be gins to sprout. When it has sprouted, it grows. When it has grown, one needs to push it back again. When it has been pushed back, it reaches the crest of the head. Above it then presses against the crest of the head, be low it pushes down wards. He that fol lows this lives; he that does the op po site dies.«(from an in scrip tion on 12 jade stones dated from the 6th. cen tury BC cited ac cord ing to Wil helm Helmut: Eine Chou-Inschrift über Atemtechnik (A Chou incription about breath ing tech nique). Cited by Needyham, op. cit. Vol. II, p. 143).
Medical forward We live in hec tic times, in a state of breath less ten sion arrhythmic and with out pause. The res pi ra tion of the hu man in di vid ual is a mir ror of the qual ity of the sit u - a tion at this point in time. Even only as far back as the first world war it would prob a bly have been point less to write such a book and to have it pub lished. At that time hu man ity lived in a rel a - tive state of in ter nal and ex ter nal se cu rity, sta bil ity and con sis tency more or less car ried by a rhythm of life, which was not yet alien ated from the rhythms of na ture. There was no requirement for breathing education or therapeutic breathing exercises for human beings. Breath ing ed u ca tion and breath ing ther apy have their roots in an cient Far East ern cul tures with the In dian, the Chi nese and the Japanese. In 1957 the first in ter na tional con gress on res pi ra tion was held in Freudenstadt (Black For est, Ger many). One can re gard it as hav ing been the re nais sance of an an cient in her i tance, which now due to a changed time qual ity has in turn be come mod ern again. Since that time the im pulse of breath ing has em braced wide cir - cles, and the in ter est for breath ing prac tices with their ed u ca tional and ther a peu - tic possibilities has grown continuously. A flood of publications during the follow - ing years has been the con se quence of this grow ing»pub lic ity«. One could there fore be of the opin ion that it is su per flu ous to add a new manuscript to the already existing literature. This book by Mrs Hiltrud Lodes should be yond doubt how ever be re garded as an en rich ment to the lit er a ture that is al ready avail able. The au thor pro vides a brief anatomical/physiological overview of the human respiratory function. Following this there is a good and well ar ranged sec tion con tain ing nu mer ous ex ten sively tested and well-proven breath ing ex er cises. Styl ised draw ings help in pro vid ing better un der stand ing. It is no doubt an ad van tage of the au thor that she re stricts her self com pletely to what is most im por tant and does not waste any su per flu ous words. So like wise the ex er cises de scribed by her are plas tic, short and con cise, but yet still written so simply that they are inviting to engage in. One can sense in the au thor that she does not just have the o ret i cal un der stand ing of the topic of res pi ra tion, but that she as a sports ed u ca tor is fa mil iar with move - ment func tions, and that she writes on the topic of breath ing from an in ner ne ces - sity and ex pe ri ence. So this pub li ca tion surely is an en rich ment not only for the 7
Medical forward interested non-person, but also for sports educators, physiotherapists, physicians and ed u ca tors in gen eral. This book has the ad van tage that many in di vid u als each for their own re quire ments will find ex er cises that they will ap pre ci ate as be ing per son ally ben e fi cial and which can pro vide men tal and phys i cal gains. Es - pe cially pos i tively note wor thy is also the fact that in con trast to many prac tices sim ply taken over from Yoga in an un di gested way the au thor only of fers sug - ges tions that can be tried out with out any risk of in jury. With so many pos i tive qual i ties one can only wish this book a good start and a wide distribution and readership. Bad Wörishofen, July 4th. 1977 Dr. med. K. 0. Kuppe Ex pla na tion of the sym bols used in the text: = Individual exercise = Partner exercise ā = Group exercise 8
Introduction I wrote this book for ev ery one in ter ested in the sub ject mat ter, es pe cially how ever for my stu dents and par tic i pants in my work shops and sem i nars. Its aim is to pro vide in for ma tion about the basic fundamentals for sensible breathing prac - tices, and to pro vide in struc tions for cor rect breath ing. It also warns against hasty and ex ces sive breath ing train ing with out adequate foundations and qualified personal instruction and supervision. When used cor rectly and at the right dos age, breath ing train - ing provides physical and psychological balance, and is at the same time a ther apy for many dis or ders, for states of phys i cal and emo tional ten sion and dis har mony, for acute and chronic dis or ders of the re spi ra tory or gans, the car dio - vascular system, the gastrointestinal tract, as well as for speech disorders. I be came fa mil iar with the ex er cise ex am ples in this book dur - ing nu mer ous work shops and ad vanced train ing courses for res pi ra tion, re lax ation and move ment ther apy that I had par - tic i pated in, and some of them I de vel oped my self. In work shops and courses at adult ed u ca tion cen tres in and around Mu nich, in pri vate work shops and sem i nars, as well as in elec tive phys i cal ed u ca tion at gram mar schools I was able to test many ex er cises and have se lected those that proved to be es pe cially ap peal ing and ef fec tive. I would like to thank all those peo ple that shared their knowl - edge, ex per tise and abil i ties with me dur ing my train ing and ad vanced ed u ca tion, and not lastly my stu dents, work shop and course par tic i pants who all pro vided me with many valu - able suggestions.»the air weaves the uni verse, the breath weaves the hu man in di vid ual«upanishad, Atharva-Veda Hiltrud Lodes 9
Breathing is life non-breathing is death»the affinity between all forms of life is found in the breath«chi nese proverb Did you know that breath ing is our most im por tant form of nu tri tion and also com mu ni ca tion? We in hale what is around us, and ex hale what is in us. The breath ing thereby cre ates the con nec tion be tween us and our environment. Breath ing is giv ing and tak ing and is the ex change be tween the in side and out side that is in dis pens able to life. When this interdependence is disturbed, then the human individual also falls out of balance. Our life on earth be gins with the first breath of the new born child and ends with the last breath of the dy ing. Dur ing the pe riod in-be tween the breath ing is a mir ror of all phys i cal as well as psy cho log i cal im pres sions with re gard to depth, reg u - lar ity and peace ful ness or ag i ta tion, out side just as inside. For our body it is there fore all about the ox y gen. Our life is absolutely dependent on the exchange of oxygen: without ox y gen there are no met a bolic pro cesses, there is no life: we would al ready die af ter 5-15 min utes. Thereby our brain cells re act even more sen si tively than the rest of the body: they die al ready af ter roughly three minutes. By con trast one can sur vive with out wa ter and liq uids for at least five days, with out food for four teen days and lon ger, and 65 days and lon ger with out sleep, as e.g. proven with the help of autogenic train ing of Dr. H. Lindemann dur ing his ocean cross ing in 1956 in a dug out ca noe. We re peat edly hear about the as ton ish ing feats of the hun ger art ists, and this not only in the novel of the same name by Franz Kafka. In the area of breath ing we hear much less of such feats of en dur ance: a Yogi was bur ied alive for 40 days and sur vived. A re cord diver swam a stretch of 90 metres with out hav ing to take a breath of air. In con trast to the fishes that ex tract their ox y gen from the wa ter through their gills, we are sub ject to 10
Breathing is life non-breathing is death death through as phyx i a tion when we are not able to take a breath of air un der wa ter at the right time. We re spond sen si tively to lack of ox y gen: we be come tired, dis in clined and ill. Glid ers, moun tain climb ers and di vers that want to reach higher or lower re gions de pend on the sup ply of ox y gen through ox y gen bot tles or sim i lar de vices. Those liv ing in a poi soned at mo sphere will suf fer from short ness of breath and are un der threat of as phyx i a tion. Dur ing the sec - ond world war gas masks were used to de fend against harm - ful toxic sub stances in the air, to day in the large cit ies there are»smog-alarms«to warn the pop u la tion in good time against poi son ing. In con trast to this there is a»refreshing at - mosphere«in the for est or mountains and we can breathe freely there. Plants, which in con trast to hu mans ab sorb car bon di ox ide and re lease ox y gen, thereby sup ple ment us in an ideal way. For this rea son it is so im por tant to live in a kind of sym bi o sis with plants and to cul ti vate or main tain green belts or parks in large cit ies to im prove the air qual ity through»green lungs«. Not only the ox y gen im pov er ished air, but also»the at mo - sphere«in the fig u ra tive sense can have the ef fect that»we gasp for breath«and we»run out of air«, as the phys i cal pro - cess of breath ing is con nected with our emo tional and sub - jec tive spir i tual-men tal life. Those who breathe qui etly and»persevere«, or can»let off steam«at the right mo ment are un doubt edly in a better po si - tion and con di tion than those who hast ily and ir reg u larly»strug gle«for»breath«and com po sure and thereby ex pe ri - ence block ing of the breath. Al ready 80 years ago the Ger - man psy chol o gist Ernst Kretschmer (1888-1964) wrote that»res pi ra tion is more than just an ex change of gases«. Cor rect breath ing also helps cre ate and de velop emo tional bal ance, im proves the blood cir cu la tion to our brain cells and helps to ex pand our con scious ness, is the wis dom of an cient breath - ing cul tures. 11
Breathing is life non-breathing is death Breathing cultures and breathing training in antiquity and today In an cient times breath ing ex er cises and breath ing ther apy were al ready known in Egypt, China, Ti bet, Ja pan, In dia and other coun tries. The doc trine of breath ing was re garded as a se cret doc trine and could only be im parted per son ally by the initiated. The breathing exercises of ascetics, magicians and heal ers were not only passed on for re li gious prac tices like for the deepening of contemplation and meditation, but also for philo soph i cal reflection and for healing purposes. Different methods of breathing gymnastics, breathing ther - apy, con scious and un con scious breath ing train ing, mostly in con junc tion with med i ta tion prac tices such as Tai Chi Chuan in China, Yoga in In dia and Zen Med i ta tion in Ja pan were wide spread through out these cultures. Cur rently in China (e.g. in Tangshan and Shang hai), Rus sia (the Crimea), Switzerland, Germany and numerous other countries there are breathing sanatoriums, where individuals with dis turbed breath ing, lung, heart and stom ach dis or ders, pa tients with veg e ta tive dystonia and neur as the nia, as well as dam age to the spine can par take in in ten sive ther a peu tic breath ing treat ments, and are able to be dis charged on com - ple tion with correspondingly good results. As a deeply act ing and sup port ive mea sure, breath ing ther - apy can pro vide help for sickly or dis eased peo ple. How ever as a pre ven tive ther apy, breath ing train ing can help many to main tain their health and balance. This alone al ready jus ti fies their ne ces sity, even though we need to take into ac count that not ev ery one re sponds to the same method. Here we only want to be come in volved in breathing training. Breath ing and voice train ing are, like el o cu tion train ing, closely con nected. Those who train their breath ing also im - prove their vo cal qual i ties, and those who train their voice regulate and regenerate their breathing. In occupations 12
Breathing cultures and breathing training in antiquity and today in volv ing a lot of speak ing, too lit tle work is done with the power of healthy respiration. Especially for educators, specifically music and physical educa tors who are con tin u ously en gaged with us ing their voice and breath ing and an ex cep tional load is placed on them, breath ing and voice train ing are es sen tial for vo ca tional training and classroom tuition. Misguided uneconomical respi ra tion and speak ing not only strain the ed u ca tors them - selves in the form of vo cal overexertion a sense of not be ing able to get through or not be ing able to as sert one self but also the stu dents, who de velop is sues with»absorbing the ma te rial«. Con versely stu dents as well as teach ers are of ten un able to com mu ni cate their knowl edge due to mum bling, and subdued and unclear articulation. Breathing and voice train ing should therefore be the foundation of all educator and therapeutic training. Breathing correctly but how? There are nu mer ous and also op pos ing opin ions in spe cial ist cir cles about the spe cific way of con duct ing breath ing training. Some are of the opin ion that it is ap pro pri ate to deal di rectly with the breath ing and to train it, but how ever not to name it spe cif i cally or bring it too much into aware ness, be cause thereby it would then im me di ately be in flu enced and changed. Oth ers in turn hold a cer tain de gree of aware ness dur ing the work on the breath ing as being indispensable. I sub scribe to the breath ing ed u ca tors, who dur ing the reg u - lation and re-establishment of the natural breathing pattern ini tially try to work as nat u rally as pos si ble, i.e. who work through re lax ation and re lease, through breath ing stim u lat - ing and loos en ing move ments, through na sal breath ing and nat u ral breath ing im pulses, and through con tact with the partner, group and therapist.»the breath is man s best friend«lud wig Schmitt 13
Breathing correctly but how? To awaken aware ness for the ne ces sity of cor rect breath ing I subsequently however consider it quite expedient to create the nec es sary re quire ments for this through ob jec tive information. An expert can quickly differentiate between nor mal or de fec - tive breath ing. De fec tive breath ing can most of ten be cor - rected through phys i cal and emo tional re lax ation and clar i fi - ca tion. Con scious breath ing train ing, like for ex am ple with Yoga-Pranayama (= breath reg u la tion, mas ter ing of the breath), is only ap pro pri ate when the nat u ral full breath ing flows automatically, and always balances itself easily after it has been changed through physical and emotional exertion. Those who do not wish to cause in jury to them selves should place them selves un der the guid ance of breath ing ther a pists or other ex perts, be fore al ready tense ar eas be come even more tense through mis guided con scious breath ing ex er cises that promote the development of defective breathing patterns or even in crease any de fec tive breath ing pat tern that may already exist. Breath ing train ing and psy cho ther apy of ten go hand in hand or supplement each other. Individuals with breathing prob - lems also of ten have psy cho log i cal prob lems. It would there - fore be grat i fy ing, if more phy si cians and ther a pists would address the specific opportunities contained in breathing train ing and ther apy and would use these extensive methods more frequently. The journey towards correct breathing moving together and in harmony»the first and foremost is the breath«bud dha»it may well be easy, but what is easy is dif fi cult«, re marked Goe the, the fa mous Ger man poet and phi los o pher. Many peo ple are not eas ily able to com pre hend that we first need to re learn how to breathe nat u rally again. The re cov ery of our nat u ral breath ing, where we fully in flate all re spi ra tory cav i ties in the chest, sides and stom ach area should be 14
The journey towards correct breathing moving together and in harmony per formed slowly, with pa tience and step by step. That which has been ne glected or even spoiled dur ing the pre vi ous years of life can not be re stored in a few hours or days of ex ag ger - ated training and excessive therapy. Our pro gram would there fore be as fol lows: first we want to feel and ex pe ri ence how breath ing takes place in our body, so as to then be better able to sur ren der our selves to au to - matic breathing. Then through be com ing qui eter and re lax ing we want to cre - ate the re quire ments for re leas ing the breath ing mus cles, joints, lig a ments and ten dons, and for the per cep tion of the breathing cavities. Thereby nasal breathing is the indispensable requirement for train ing our di a phragm as the main breath ing mus cle for deeper breathing. By supporting and reactivating the natural breathing im - pulses our nat u ral breath ing pat terns can be re stored. Ac tive and pas sive forms of move ment are de signed for us to ini - tially be come aware of our breath ing once again, and fur - ther more to loosen our body through move ment and to make it per me able for the breath ing. Through the rhythm in our move ments, in the long run the whole rhythm in our body is to re gain har mony so that we can en gage in a more bal - anced breath ing rhythm. By means of con tact with part ners, through the group, yes even through the room it self, the ob jects and the floor we can sub stan tially ex tend our breath ing ca pac ity and the abil ity to communicate, simply by clearly experiencing the principle of giving and taking. The treat ment of breath ing ab nor mal i ties is then the mu tual task of the breath ing trainer and ther a pist, to gether with the psychotherapist and medical practitioner. Dur ing the breath ing pro cess phys i cal, men tal and emo tional pro cesses are in con stant in ter ac tion with each other: this is 15
Breathing is life non-breathing is death also em pha sized by Prof. Ilse Middendorff, for mer head of the In sti tute for Breath ing Ther apy and Breath ing Train - ing/berlin, a lead ing fig ure in the area of breath ing care and therapy.»the care of the breath ing em braces the whole of the in di vid ual, and is there fore prac tised within breath ing ther apy and breath ing ed u ca tion. The branches of breath ing care are equally as heal ing as de vel op ment pro mot ing, equally as per son al ity forming as consciousness expanding. They rep re sent an ex tensive psychosomatic practice, which aims at bring ing the in di vid ual to wards a good state of health and to wards self-de vel opment.«(11) Practicing but how? The whole individual should be involved in the practice, with body, mind and soul. Before you start practising, carefully read through the text for the exercise and then perform the exercises as carefully as possible. Make a note of the exercises that you found to be especially beneficial and then incorporate them into your own individual exercise programme. Your exercise programme should not contain too many exercises. Preferably practice 10 exercises regularly every day than 30 occasionally. Never practise on a full stomach; in the morning on an empty stomach or a few hours after the last meal is best. Practice as often as possible outside in the fresh air or at least in well ventilated rooms. 16
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