Workshop Well-being & Mindfulnessnow
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. 
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
Breathing
In this block you practice, within your own borders, breathing techniques:
Open with Bamboo
1. Conscious breathing
2. Full breathing
3. Connected breathing
4. Pranayama
5. Accordion Breathing
6. Tapping
7. AUM
8. Dolphin breathing 
Closing, and bow for the now
Breath is energy. Life. Inspiration. Charging. Relaxing. With breathing you can charge or discharge your energy level. Breathing deep is feeling deep.
Eckhart Tolle:
Buddha who is supposed to have said:
"Just be conscious of your breath for one hour and you'll be totally enlightened.
But if you miss just one breath you have to go back to the beginning ...“
Tips:
- Never try to force your breathing
- Don't do to many exercises in one time:
do more by doing less with more awareness ... - Always start with Conscious breathing (1st exercise)
- Breathing in charges; breathing out discharges
- Breathing through the mouth charges more then breathing through the nose
- Chest breathing charges more then abdominal/belly breathing
- Tendency to hyperventilate: sit down, take a break and focus on breathing out
Idioms:
Able to breathe (easily) again, breathe a sigh of relief, hardly have time to breathe, I don't have time to catch my breath, breathe (new) life into something.
The Breathing poster: download
With each breath, dolphins and whales
renew 80-90% of their lung capacity.
What is breathing
In exhalation we empty ourselves of excessive carbon dioxide, but also of old tensions, concepts, attitudes, expectations, and feelings. In inhalation, which arises by itself after a full exhalation, we renew ourselves—not just with fresh air (and oxygen), but also with fresh impressions of everything in and around us.
Natural breath
Feel the breath as it actually is. With your awareness it will naturally become slower and deeper.
Conscious breathing is the key to uniting body and mind and bringing the energy of mindfulness into each moment of your life.
Just breathing, natural breath and energy is Buddha's breath and energy, the energy body. Let your breath flow like tides, like the waves in the sea. Let the waves come and go, washing everything away.
The breath is life. Inspiration. Let it be. Just sitting. Just breathing, natural breathing.
Thich Nhat Hanh:
"Smile, breathe and go slowly."
One Conscious Breath
Take one conscious breath. Look away from the screen, or whatever you are doing, If you can, look at something natural, a plant or the sky, if you can't, look at a light, and breath in and follow the breath with your attention into your body and when it flows out. What does it do? It takes attention away from thought and puts attention into the body. In other words, it creates space in your consciousness, because while you are following the breath with your attention you're not thinking, and when you're not thinking (but you haven't gone to sleep), you've created a space in your consciousness and there ... that's it. So that's just one conscious breath occasionally, two is even better or three, but that's fine, that's enough. Conscious breathing is one the oldest forms of meditation, probably already recommended by the Buddha.
Breathing spaces
The three basic breathing spaces of your body: from the feet to the navel, from the navel to the top of the diaphragm, and from the top of the diaphragm to the top of the head.
The center of gravity of the lower breathing space is about an inch or two below the navel (Hara in Japanese and lower Dantian/Tan Tien in Chinese).
The center of gravity of the middle breathing space is at the level of the solar plexus (just beneath your breastbone).
The center of gravity of the upper breathing space is at the level of the heart.
How to breathe
- In your daily life, inhale and exhale as much as possible through your nose
- Sense the movement of your breath frequently in the midst of your everyday activities without holding your breath
- Be sure your belly stays relaxed. Let it ex-pand as you inhale and retract as you exhale
- Breath is life and movement. Let your breath fill your body, especially your belly, chest, back, and spine
- Smile into the breathing spaces of your body several times a day
- Remember, you are a breathing being, alive right now and here
- Every position you take shapes your breathing
- Truly learn to “exhale the old and inhale the new”
- Authentic breathing is not something that you do but rather something that you allow—the action of being breathed from the inside
Dolphin
Dolphin is the keeper of the sacred breath of life, and teaches us how to release emotions through Dolphin breath.
"Dolphin…
Breathe with me.
Breath of the Divine,
Manna of the Universe,
In Oneness we entwine."
Bamboo
Close your eyes (if comfortable for you), focus on abdominal (belly) breathing, stand or sit relaxed, feet grounded, be like bamboo, go to the silence within, crown of your head to the heavens, tailbone to the earth, straighten your spine, relax your face and jaws, soft, hands on Dantian.
3
min
2. Full breathing
Take your time to get used to full breathing, don't force your breathing, stay relaxed, and stop when feeling uncomfortable, or exhausted.
Nose-breathing:
Breath in and out through the nose: full, slower en deeper.
Balance between in and out, rest between each breath of air.
Now focus on breathing in, then focus on breathing out.
Mouth-straw-breathing:
Breath in full through the mouth like with a straw. After that breath out with sound.
Open-mouth-breathing:
Breath in full through the open mouth. After that breath out with sound (example: like a horse breathing out).
Again, now breath in through the nose, out through the mouth, then
in through the mouth, out through the nose.
3
min
3. Connected breathing
Take your time to get used to connected breathing, don't force your breathing, stay relaxed, and stop when feeling uncomfortable, or exhausted.
Nose-breathing:
Breath in and out through the nose: full, slower en 
deeper. Balance between in and out, no rest (connected breathing) between each breath of air. Breath faster. Then breath in and out four times short and one time long.
Mouth-straw-breathing:
Breath in and out full through the mouth like with a straw. Then faster and faster.
Open-mouth-breathing:
Breath in and out full through the open mouth. Faster and faster. Then like a dog.
Also try:
Staircase-like breathing (sitting)
or
Fright breathing (sitting)
3
min
4. Pranayama
Blow your nose if needed. Close your right nostril with your right 
thumb. Breath out full and slow through the left nostril. Breath in quietly through the same nostril. Just before the moment you start breathing out, you close the left nostril with your ring- and middelfinger of the right hand, while you open the right nostril to breath out. Breath out full and relaxed during 4 counts. And then in during 4 counts. Change nostril again. Do this during 3 to 4 minutes.
Breathing through the nose purifies, warms, and humidifies the air, and helps to smell better. That is why breathing through the nose is healthier than through the mouth.
3
min
8. Dolphin breathing
3
min
When a dolphin is on the surface it doesn’t continuously b
reathe in and out. The dolphin exhales very forcefully, blow its breath out in a manner resembling the popping of a cork. Then it takes in a deep, lung filling breath and holds it.
You can use this same technique to create total relaxation, before entering the silence.
Bring together Yin (your open left hand) en Yang (the fist of your right hand), and bow for the now.
Give yourself a big compliment!
And keep practicing. Small changes make the difference!
Regularly, during day-to-day life and business!
The eMindfulness Workshop is free.
Support further development (exercises and information) of the eWorkshop with for example 5 euro, more is welcome too! Payment is done be using a secure iDeal or PayPal connection.
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