An Acronym for Breathe

25. October 2022
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

In his Ted Talk Being Brilliant Every Single Day, Dr. Alan Watkins explains and demonstrates why we do what we do and are more or less brilliant at it. He takes apart the theories about what makes us perform well or not well, that it is, for example, neither about sympathetic or parasympathetic activation but about the biological, emotional and mental context in which a performance occurs. „Thinking is an emergent property of your physiology… You can’t change your thinking by thinking about it.“ 

This is where the breath comes in, specifically coherent breathing. With a willing participant from the audience he demonstrates via biofeedback what happens to our breathing and our heart rate under pressure and how coherent breathing influences our physiology. But it is not only about the breath itself. The breath works in unison with the heart and „the heart has more electrical power than any other system, it produces 50 times more electro magnetic waves than the brain“…., the heart is „our primary source of power“. Dr. Alan Watkins thus suggests to breathe in a heart centred way and has termed a protocol for this with an acronym for breathe:

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Holographic Breathing

21. October 2022
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

At the 2022 breathwork summit, one of the most interesting presenters to me was Martin Jones with Holographic Breathing. 

Martin Jones, a craniosacral therapist and Tai Chi teacher, discovered and developed his own spiritual cranio-facial breathing practice when he suffered from lyme disease. I’d been aware of the connection of the jaw and mouth from various body and breath healing methods but not in the fine detail that Martin Jones presented. After the summit, I went to his website and found his excellent article on Holographic Breathing in Positive Health Online which I’m sharing with you here. You can also find many videos with guided practices on the site.

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Breath Token October 2022

5. October 2022
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

Transition as invitation

In 2022 the breath tokens are about transitions. Transition literally means to “cross over, go over, pass over, hasten over, pass away,” from transire – trans “across, beyond” + ire “to go“.

In breathing, transition naturally occurs after the inhale and the exhale and vice versa. I’ve noticed that I tend to go over transitions, in breathing as well as in the every day, going from one thing to the next without paying attention to the space in between. Despite being aware that these transitions are happening, in breathing or in other behaviours, I find it really challenging to be present in them.

Together with you I’d like to explore the subject of transitions. I’ll post quotes, collect ideas or questions from people I know and from you.
If you’d like to share something about transitions, contact me at hallo@nicolacaroli.com. 

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My breath is called now

28. September 2022
Breath in Literature & Art
by Nicola Caroli

I’d like to share the poem „My breath“ by Rose Ausländer with you. Rose Ausländer was a Jewish poet from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1901-1988) who often wrote about the bare essentials of life, which, of course, include breathing. She dedicated a whole volume of poetry to the breath, called “Atemhaus” (The House of Breath).

I’ve translated the poem “My breath” for you here, with the original below:

My breath

In my deep dreams
the earth cries
blood

stars smile
into my eyes

when people come
with multi-coloured questions
go to Sokrates
I answer them

The past
has written me as a poem
I have inherited the future

My breath is called
now

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You would be taking a breath in vain 3 million years ago

22. September 2022
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

Ever since he was a child, science advisor Tom Chi has been determined to understand how the universe works. Throughout his career as an astrophysicist, technologist, inventor and entrepreneur he became interested in the universal concept that „everything is connected“. Even though this concept exists in all aspects of life, he noticed that it didn’t sink in in people’s minds, that it was something people wish were true but is really believed to be a kind of esoteric story.

In his truly amazing Ted Talk he shows us, by way of three stories, „a story of the heart, a story of the breath and a story of the mind“ that the concept of „everything is connected“ is not only real, but that it can be scientifically explained.

Now I breathe with no one

5. September 2022
Breath Diary
by Nicola Caroli

When my long time friend and cat partner Mr T got a diagnosis of colon cancer in January this year, he embarked on a long journey towards the end of his life. I accompanied him with the help from a naturopath and animal communicator. Mr T died naturally at age 16.

I had watched his breathing closely, especially during the last months to assess whether he was in pain and needed medication or how he was doing in general. In his last days, while his body was getting colder and stiffer, his breathing remained calm and regular. While he looked as if he were already dead, his breathing seemed like a miracle, a secret of life.

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Breath Token September 2022

2. September 2022
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

Transition into death

In 2022 the breath tokens are about transitions. Transition literally means to “cross over, go over, pass over, hasten over, pass away,” from transire – trans “across, beyond” + ire “to go“.

In breathing, transition naturally occurs after the inhale and the exhale and vice versa. I’ve noticed that I tend to go over transitions, in breathing as well as in the every day, going from one thing to the next without paying attention to the space in between. Despite being aware that these transitions are happening, in breathing or in other behaviours, I find it really challenging to be present in them.

Together with you I’d like to explore the subject of transitions. I’ll post quotes, collect ideas or questions from people I know and from you.
If you’d like to share something about transitions, contact me at hallo@nicolacaroli.com. 

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I’m still trying to make room for myself

30. August 2022
Breath in Literature & Art
by Nicola Caroli

Revisiting the poems by Marie Howe, one of my favourite contemporary poets, I found these beautiful lines, “I’m having trouble with my breathing,//I’m still trying to make room for myself.”

Breath is fundamentally about space, space being made and unmade and having more or less access to space. A struggle to breathe, as well as the felt or perceived struggle to breathe, are an issue of space. Space for air, for movement and for transformation.
But what is space to us without safety? Or, at least, the illusion of safety that placates our nervous system, diffuses our worries and fears, lets us find rest.

For Marie Howe, poetry can provide a safe space. “Maybe the first poem was a lullaby. A woman saying to her child, the incantatory, ‘Everything is okay, everything is okay, go to sleep, go to sleep’”.

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There is no optimal way to breathe

19. August 2022
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

I’ve found no more eloquent response to the question on how to breathe “correctly” than from Carola Speads in her book “Ways to Better Breathing. (Read also my previous post about Carola Speads)

„There is no such thing as one right and best way to breathe at all times. We breathe differently and many ways of breathing can be appropriate. Walking demands a different type of breathing than sleeping, the attention in an important dialogue has a different breath quality than a casual conversation. Anger makes us breathe differently than peaceful silence. A certain type of breathing may be appropriate to one situation but not to another. There is no optimal way to breathe. Breathing is an involuntary self-regulating function. One cannot practice something that regulates itself. Only voluntary actions can be practiced repeatedly. We can‘t „do“ the breath the way we do a movement. The breath can only be enlivened and encouraged to change itself on its own accord by itself.“