Two Forms of the Art of Breathing - like most works of art, breathing has two forms, and they're easy to remember: the correct way and the incorrect way, or what Zi calls effective breathing and shallow breathing.
Effective breathing is deep abdominal breathing. When our lower abdomen expands when we inhale and the air flows deeply into our stomach, then we are breathing correctly. Experts in the art of breathing say that breathing deeply relieves our bodies of tension and stress, and enables us to control our emotions intelligently. That's why you hear people often say, "before you scream at him, count to 10 and breathe slowly." It is said that the mere act of controlled breathing calms our nerves and diminishes our anger.
The second form of the art of breathing is shallow breathing. If we have to hunch our shoulders and gasp for air when we speak, then we need to fix this little shortcoming. We should assess our physical posture and emotional make-up. Once we completely regain proper composure, then the art of breathing can be as easy as 1-2-3-!
It makes sense: good posture equals better reception of air, and when air flows freely, then that makes the art of breathing truly a remarkable art.
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