The Root is Breath

Eastern medical and meditational practices can seem esoteric and mysterious to those who are newly learning about them. Many feel awkward and daunted by their novice status, and find it challenging to make the link between these practices and their modern lives. People seek solutions that they can see and touch. They want something new, something extra, something additional that they can claim is making them better. In this striving, they fail to recognize the essence of what passes through them every moment of their lives. Through inhalation and exhalation, the breath sustains us. The breath manifests itself in a myriad of forms, it transforms with our emotions, and transforms us when we harnass its patterns into mindful practice.

In Chinese medicine, the "Qi" is the active and transformative aspect of the body. Frequently translated as "energy", this characterization does more to simplify this concept for lay people use and to describe something intangible but does little to elucidate this complex and multi-faceted phenomenon. The Chinese character for Qi represents the steam the rises from a bowl of rice. Close your eyes and imagine you are inhaling the warm, moist steam as it rises quickly from a bowl of fresh hot rice. You inhale deeply to capture it before it dissipates, and hold the breath within you not wanting to release its too quickly back into the air. You can sense the nourishment within the rice through your breath. This nourishment is Qi, and the Qi is in your breath itself. They are connected and inseperable. Scholars of Chinese medicine will actually translate the character for Qi as "breath" rather than "energy". Through this meaning, it maintains the connection between the inside and the outside, and reminds us that we exist in relation to what is around us as well as what is within us.

Even the most inexperienced beginner to any of the Eastern disciplines has a wealth of foundational experience in one of the most important practices which is the cultivation of the breath. You don't need any certification or special training to begin to bring awareness to the pattern of your own breath. By recognizing this innate ability within you, you are already on the path to enhancing the wellness of your mind, body and spirit.

Thanks to Prananda Yoga for this beautiful and inspirational graphic. Prananda is currently located in the Kenton district in Portland, and will be moving to a new location at 7035 N. Concord Ave in July.