Spiritual people always bang on about "the breath". Breathing 'properly' (deep not shallow), yoga breathing, meditation breathing, alternate nostril breathing... the list goes on. I've also heard Network Chiropractors and acting teachers talk about breathing into body parts -- i.e. "breath into your shoulder, where it hurts". Whatever that means.

So although I'm 110% spiritual, the whole breath thing has kind of been lost on me, I have to admit -- until last night. A friend (recently returned from, where else, an ashram in India) told me in no uncertain terms, "You need to learn about pranayama." This was after she'd conducted a healing on me in an area of my life I've been really, really stuck. I kept saying, "I just have no idea what to do." Her wise yogic answer? "All you need to do to process this is just to concentrate on breathing." Wonderful! Simple, right?! Anyone can breathe!! How spectacularly easy!

Or is it?

"We [are] used to breathing from our chest, using only a fraction of the lungs, not knowing that this unhealthy and unnatural way of inhaling may lead to several complications," says this website. "With yoga breathing, we increase the capacity of our lungs, bringing more oxygen supply to the body to function well. We learn how to breathe slowly and deeply -- the right way. Proper breathing is to bring more oxygen to the blood and to the brain, and to control Prana or the vital life energy."

How are you breathing RIGHT NOW? Are you sitting up straight? Are you hunched over a computer? Are your legs crossed? Is your breath caught in your throat, or are you expanding all the way down to your belly-button?

"When the Breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the Breath is still, so is the mind still." - Hatha Yoga Pradipika