Meditation focuses on breathing; "spirit" means breath. How does air moved by diaphragm effect spirituality?

Answer 1

Focusing on the breath is a basic and simple meditation technique, but it is not about moving air around. The idea is to focus so one-pointedly on your breath that you stop your mind from chasing after the bazillion-and-one distractions that normally bounce around in your brain-pan. The object of this type of meditation is to bring your mind home to a still, quiet state of calm abiding. You cannot be in calm abiding when you are thinking about work, office, politics, sex, family troubles, money or whatever else pops in and out at random. So we focus single pointedly on our in-breath and our out-breath, feeling our bodies as we breathe, feeling the air flowing in and out, focusing and concentrating on just that until we are settled calmly in a state of natural quiet -- emptied of the distractions of the jumping monkey brain.

Answer 2

Breathing exercise, and breathing during singing,,,, instead of flexing your diaphragm out to inhale, and then relaxing on the exhale, do the opposite. Push your diaphragm into your body to exhale, and then relax to make the inhale. This helps strengthen your diaphragm, and develops the technique you need to keep breath pressure up while you sing. Keeping the pressure up helps keep your notes from becoming flat when you are tailing off your breath. Excellent exercise and warm up is the old standard, ME, MAY, MA, MO, and MU,,, on any note progression you like. Then take it up a step or down a step, depending. The real trick is to imagine a string pulling your mouth open, from top to bottom. Imagine an oval, like the number zero. If you let your mouth go wide, or flat, you get that EEEEEE sound that so many starting singers have. Remember, loud and high is not the goal of singing,,,, it's on pitch, with good annunciation. Once you have the proper annunciation, and you build some strength in your voice, then you can think about "STYLING".... for now, while learning, keep it basic. Practice 3 to 4 times a day, 10 minutes to start. Then work up to longer and longer sessions, and cut the sessions down to 2 per day. Have fun, and relax.

Answer 3

By focussing on breathing, and its repetitive nature, we manage to quiet the "chattering monkey" of the ego, which is constantly demanding our attention.

Another aspect of meditation, as described by Andrew Newberg, is that in its deeper phases, meditation causes a change in the perception of one's physical space. The notion of where we end and the world begins becomes a bit fuzzy, and ultimately disappears entirely. In this state, we are no longer caught in the shell of our selves, but are part of what has been called "One Mind." There is a sense of being at one with all there is.

Very often this leads to a mystical experience which can seem to be very real.

Answer 4

Other than a rhythmic like trance...I don't think it's the breathing itself that does it. I think that breathing is just used to quiet the mind...by concentrating on a single action-that of breathing -it is easy to focus on your own energy. I don't think the fact that your diaphragm is moving is the central point:) Of course, I may have no idea of what I am talking about.

Answer 5

I think you're reading a little too far into it. Meditation/ the inner peace people subsequently receive is probably what effects spirituality, not the physical action of it. Although breathing is considered a form of healing...

Answer 6

Our Body holds the suppressed energy of stress, pain and physical discomfort. Hectic lifestyles, illnesses and other circumstances in our lives unfortunate lead to the lost of the ability to breathe free and naturally. Rediscovering and reconnecting with the natural skills of breathing help clear suppressed energy and the correct breath work will help you to release this energy.

Releasing this energy makes us a clearer path to experience our spirituality more freely and to a higher degree. The more our bodies, minds, and emotions are clear and balanced the more we can experience our true spiritual selves.

Therefore our breath truly is our spirit.

Answer 7

Only one thing affects you spiritually and that is thought or thinking.

Align with thought and the breath becomes calm. Align spirit with thought and the breath becomes harmonious.

Align breath with intention and spirit is enlivened as in quickened.

Final point. Nothing is accomplished without intention unified with feeling as thought and love become intertwined the result is materialization. Breath is merely a function of awareness and in that sense once you become aware of breathing you become aware of conscious thinking

Answer 8

It has to do with rhythm and intenful control of the body.

That's how those Buddhists Monks get their heart rate down to one or two beats per minute.

Answer 9

air moved by diaphragms sounds like the medical explanation for farting

Answer 10

i think that it has more to do with focus than the actual breath.

i'm not sure about that, but it would make sense.