reading

Medical forward

Introduction

Breathing is life – non-breathing is death

Breathing cultures and breathing training – in antiquity and today

Breathing correctly – but how?

The journey towards correct breathing – moving together and in harmony

Practice – but how?

Where and how does breathing happen?

The breathing organs

The breathing process

Breathing and relaxing

Perceiving, observing and allowing to happen

Perceiving, observing and allowing the breathing (practice)

Becoming peaceful and relaxing oneself

Becoming peaceful and relaxing oneself (practice)

Why relaxing the head area is so important

Relaxing the head and neck (practice)

Relaxing the face, cheeks and lips (practice)

Relaxing the tongue (practice)

Relaxing the eyes (practice)

Relaxing the ears (practice)

Stimulating nasal breathing and natural breathing impulses

Why breathing through the nose is so important

Stimulating nasal breathing (practice)

Cleaning the nose with water or snuff

Cleaning the nose according to the method »without using tissue paper«

»Nasal Reflex Therapy«, fragrance and aroma substances and essential oils

Natural breathing impulses

Yawning

Yawning (exercise)

Sighing and groaning

Sighing and groaning (practice)

Laughing and crying

Sneezing and coughing

Singing, speaking, shouting, blowing and whistling

Moving and straightening up

Breathing and moving

Becoming breathless due to strenuous movement (practice)

Stimulating breathing through stretching and extending (practice)

Movement of the joints

Freeing joints- releasing of cramps and blocks

Movement of joints (practice)

Clipp-clapp movements of the feet and hands in different body positions

Variations in cycling movements

Playful exercises with the joints of the extremities

Following with hands and feet

Breathing up into the fingertips

Breathing up into the tips of the toes – Making the hip joint and groin area permeable (exercise)

Breathing and straightening up

The game with gravity: Finding one’s own centre

Balancing, falling and swinging (practice)

Becoming aware of the »field of force« (practice)

Becoming upright (practice)

One’s own breathing rhythm

The natural breathing rhythm: Exhale – Pause – Inhale

Breathing rhythm (practice)

Opening and inhaling, closing and exhaling (exercise sequence)

Exhale thoroughly

Exhaling (practice)

Vowel and consonant breathing

Vowel breathing:

Consonant breathing

Visualisations that you can combine with the exhalation (practice)

Treat yourself to a breathing pause

The natural breathing pause after the exhalation: Breathing pause (practice)

The intentional retention of breath

The unintentional retention of breath

Only inhaling »a thimble full«

The fingertip work (practice)

Pressure point breathing of the feet (practice)

Visualisations that you can associate with inhaling and exhaling (practice):

Breathing and communication

Breathing connects physical and emotional/mental activity

Contact breathing

Comments regarding maintenance of healthy breathing patterns

Bibliography:

Medical forward

We live in hectic times, in a state of breathless tension – arrhythmic and without pause. The respiration of the human individual is a mirror of the quality of the situation at this point in time.

Even only as far back as the first world war it would probably have been pointless to write such a book and to have it published. At that time humanity lived in a relative state of internal and external security, stability and consistency – more or less carried by a rhythm of life, which was not yet alienated from the rhythms of nature. There was no requirement for breathing education or therapeutic breathing exercises for human beings.

Breathing education and breathing therapy have their roots in ancient Far Eastern cultures – with the Indian, the Chinese and the Japanese.

In 1957 the first international congress on respiration was held in Freudenstadt (Black Forest, Germany). One can regard it as having been the renaissance of an ancient inheritance, which now due to a changed time quality has in turn become modern again. Since that time the impulse of breathing has embraced wide circles, and the interest for breathing practices with their educational and therapeutic possibilities has grown continuously. A flood of publications during the following years has been the consequence of this growing »publicity«. One could therefore be of the opinion that it is superfluous to add a new manuscript to the already existing literature.

This book by Mrs Hiltrud Lodes should beyond doubt however be regarded as an enrichment to the literature that is already available. The author provides a brief anatomical/physiological overview of the human respiratory function. Following this there is a good and well arranged section containing numerous extensively tested and well-proven breathing exercises. Stylised drawings help in providing better understanding. It is no doubt an advantage of the author that she restricts herself completely to what is most important and does not waste any superfluous words. So likewise the exercises described by her are plastic, short and concise, but yet still written so simply that they are inviting to engage in.

One can sense in the author that she does not just have theoretical understanding of the topic of respiration, but that she as a sports educator is familiar with movement functions, and that she writes on the topic of breathing from an inner necessity and experience. So this publication surely is an enrichment not only for the interested non-person, but also for sports educators, physiotherapists, physicians and educators in general. This book has the advantage that many individuals – each for their own requirements – will find exercises that they will appreciate as being personally beneficial and which can provide mental and physical gains. Especially positively noteworthy is also the fact that – in contrast to many practices simply taken over from Yoga in an undigested way – the author only offers suggestions that can be tried out without any risk of injury.

With so many positive qualities one can only wish this book a good start and a wide distribution and readership.

Bad Wörishofen, July 4th. 1977

Dr. med. K. O. Kuppe

Explanation of the symbols used in the text:

images = Individual exercise

images = Partner exercise

⊙ = Group exercise

Introduction

»The air weaves the universe, the breath weaves the human individual«

Upanishad, Atharva-Veda

I wrote this book for everyone interested in the subject matter, especially however for my students and participants in my workshops and seminars. Its aim is to provide information about the basic fundamentals for sensible breathing practices, and to provide instructions for correct breathing. It also warns against hasty and excessive breathing training without adequate foundations and qualified personal instruction and supervision.

When used correctly and at the right dosage, breathing training provides physical and psychological balance, and is at the same time a therapy for many disorders, for states of physical and emotional tension and disharmony, for acute and chronic disorders of the respiratory organs, the cardiovascular system, the gastrointestinal tract, as well as for speech disorders.

I became familiar with the exercise examples in this book during numerous workshops and advanced training courses for respiration, relaxation and movement therapy that I had participated in, and some of them I developed myself.

In workshops and courses at adult education centres in and around Munich, in private workshops and seminars, as well as in elective physical education at grammar schools I was able to test many exercises and have selected those that proved to be especially appealing and effective.

I would like to thank all those people that shared their knowledge, expertise and abilities with me during my training and advanced education, and not lastly my students, workshop and course participants who all provided me with many valuable suggestions.

Hiltrud Lodes

Contents

Medical forward

Introduction