Breathing habits

I listened to an interview with Jessica Wolf today (available from Direction Journal). She mentions the breathing aspect of the Technique. One interesting point is made, paraphrasing in my words: what is happening to our breathing is more tangible and easier to notice than what is happening to our neck. We either hold our breath or not, we directly see whether it's shallow, deep, regular, or irregular, whereas with the neck, we might easily deceive ourselves - unreliable sensory appreciation.

In my case, the breathing mechanism is probably the most misused part of the whole system. I suppose there is a deeply ingrained bad habit, or set/chain of habits from early childhood at work here. I remember always having problems with efficient and effortless breathing.

Tonight for example, I went for a short run in the evening. My body wasn't tired yet, but my breathing system was saying: 'no, stop it'. I don't understand the interference at work here, and know that I'll need the help of teacher to be able to untangle all the knots made over the years.

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I find keeping this online notes useful and supportive in my daily practice. This is an exciting time for me, as I can again feel the need, drive and connection with working on myself.

My first lesson after over 2 months break will be on Tuesday evening. No idea what's going to happen there! There's an interesting post about End-Gaining - see Frank Sheldon's website (AT links to the right)