Free Breathing

Characteristics:

Oscillation: The whole body oscillates and moves slightly during free breathing. This movement arises effortlessly and not from suppressing movement somewhere else. The oscillation has a way of traveling sequentially through the body from the center to the periphery.

Diaphragmatic: The breath arises predominantly through the action of the central diaphragm rather than through the action of the more external secondary respiratory muscles, which are higher up in the body.

Internal Origination: The breath arises from within rather than being pulled inside mechanically by using the outer muscles of the body. Intead of breathing we are breated.

Multidirectional: The breath expands in all directions, radiating out, just as a full dandelion flower radiates from its core.

Calm and Regular: The breath has a feeling of being and creating calm in the body and mind. Its rhythm is regular most of the time.

Two/Three/Pause Rhythm: During quiet respiration it’s normal for your inhalation to be about 2 seconds and your exhalation to be about 3 seconds followed by a pause. More simply, you breathe out a little longer than you breathe in.

Flexible: Just as waves arise in enless variation in the sea, the breath arises with endless variation and adaptability. The breath changes as our thoughts, feelings, and movement change.

Effortless: The act of breating is filled with a sense of ease and relaxation.

Reference: Donni Farhi, The Breathing Book