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Video 1: Anatomy of Breathing
In this video we re-visit all the times we've experienced trouble with our breathing, giving them names as we tap (coughing, allergies, a blow to the gut.) When significant pecific memories, feelings or incidents come up, you can fully address them using The Most Worthwhile Hour.
In the ABC's of First Aid, Airway and Breathing
are the first things we address
Video 2: Problems Breathing
Breathing works by making the cage bigger: the pleural
layers slide over each other and the pressure in the lung is decreased, so air is sucked in. Breathing out does the reverse, the cage collapses and air is expelled. The main component acting here is the diaphragm. This is a layer of muscle which is convex above, domed, and squashed in the centre by the heart. When it contracts it flattens and increases the space above it. When it relaxes the abdominal contents push it up again. The process is helped by the ribs which move up and out also increasing the space available. The proportion of breathing which is diaphragmatic varies from person to person.
Video 3: Stages of Breathing
Intense emotions have a dramatic effect on our breathing. In this video, we talk and tap through the fact that it is the "intensity" of the emotion, rather than the type of emotion that has the greatest impact, and that when we have the "sensation" of troubled breathing, we can remember that it can be associated with any feeling, whether we label it good or bad.
We also carry with us the memory of relaxed and even breathing, which we can return to at any time, in any emotion. Tap while affirming that you can breathe, no matter how intense that feeling seems to be...
SECOND WIND: We may deliberately run for such a distance
that we get our "second wind," after which we breathe
more easily even though exercising strenuously.
Video 4: The Feeling of Breathing
Here we begin to address any subconscious associations to breathing that we may be carrying from the moment of our first breath at birth. It's a very significant moment, encompassing our entry into this world, the stresses experienced by both infant and mom, and the transition from water breathing to air breathing. Pay attention to any internal sensations, emotions, or insights that come up.
In infants, surfactant reduces the surface tension in the
fluid on the surface of the alveoli, allowing them to expand at
the first breath, and remain open thereafter.
Video 5: First Breath
Breathing, the process of oxygenation and removal of toxins, is an important metaphor for allowing in what nourishes us, and letting go of what is no longer beneficial, a clear indication of how we interact with the world around us on a larger scale.
The air inhaled normally consists of about 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 0.04% carbon dioxide, with traces of other gases
and water vapor. The breathing process is an exchange of
about 4% oxygen for about 4% carbon dioxide.
Not all of the air breathed can be used by the body because some must remain to fill the nose or mouth, sinuses, larynx, trachea, bronchi and their larger branches. This is the "dead air" in
contrast with "alveolar air" which participates in gas exchange.
The shallower the breathing, the larger becomes the percentage of dead air in each breath, and the more impurities are retained.
Video 6: Breathing and Metaphor
Video 7: My Lungs
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, each organ system is associated with certain emotions. Feelings such as grief and sadness affect the functioning of the lungs. The lungs are also commonly associated with childhood fears and uncertainties, as well as any suppressed or unresolved emotions.
It is not usually appreciated that the lung extends so high into the neck. A syringe inserted above a clavicle may pierce the lung.
Video 8: Breathing is Life
The statement "breathing is life" is very literal. When we feel like we are fighting for breath, we are really fighting for life. Similarly, not being afraid to live fully can be associated to not being afraid to breathe fully.
An average adult at rest inhales and exhales about sixteen
times per minute. Each time, half a liter of air is drawn in and expelled. At the end of a normal expiration, one may force
out an additional liter and a half of air, leaving about an additional liter in the lungs which cannot be forced out. Also, after normal inspiration, one may inspire an additional one and a half liters.
So it is possible to increase the amount of air inspired and expired during each breath from half a liter to three and a half liters.
Video 9: Breathing is Autonomic
Respiration is primarily regulated by the Autonomic Nervous System, according to stress arousal or relaxation throughout the body. However, breathing also happens to be the only life-critical body function that we have conscious control over, and this is significant in terms of our ability to affect our own body responses.
A group of nerve cells in the medulla, the respiratory center
of the brain, controls the contractions of muscles used in breathing. We do not use muscular energy/effort/force to expel air, we merely stop inhaling and then exhaling takes place automatically, through muscular relaxation.
Video 10: Just Breathe
We've addressed many of the feelings and tensions that we may hold within the Respiratory System, but it is also possible to use our breathing to release tensions in ANY PART of the body...
Copyright © 2009 Cora Rennie, Cold Lake, AB
DISCLAIMER: Information on this site is not intended to and does not constitute medical advice, recommendation or counselling under any circumstance.
Disclaimer: Please take responsibility for your own health and well-being. EFT is not a replacement for counselling or psychological care. While EFT is effective in addressing all manner of emotional issues, please never attempt to deal with trauma on your own - seek appropriate help.
In this video, we tap as we talk about the tensions we may be holding in the various tissues that make up the "Anatomy of Breathing," from our nostrils down to our diaphragm.
Everyday we breathe in and out about 21,000 times and approximately 2,400 gallons of air go in and out of lour lungs daily.
BEFORE YOU START:
Take a few deep practice breaths, get good and stretched out, and then take a final breath, using a scale of 1-10 to assess the even-ness, ease and fullness of that breath. Once you have tapped through all the videos, take another full breath and note any changes on your scale of 1-10
Breathing is important in so many ways - obviously we need to breathe to live, but also breathing is an integral part of our body's stress response system. Breathing happens to be the only part of the Autonomic Nervous System that we can consciously control. Paying attention to breath and controlling our breathing is a powerful way to affect how we feel.
I've developed the following 10 EFT videos to help address many of the issues that can be associated with breath and breathing.
As with my other EFT videos, these are meant to be used together as a complete series. Some of the concepts might bring up specific feelings, incidents, thoughts or memories for you, and if that is the case, I highly recommend addressing each of those specifics with The Most Worthwhile Hour.
I often speak too quickly to allow viewers time to repeat what I've said while tapping - you can access and print the pdf scripts to say the words with me.
Just Breathe
Breathing is a cycle, and we can learn a lot by noticing changes in the quality and symmetry of the different stages within that cycle.
