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Our first act when born is to expand our lungs and fill them fully with the essence and oxygen of our new “home.” Our last act, coinciding with the cessation of the heart beat, is to exhale —to relinquish our breath, to acknowledge that we no longer require nurturance of the physical form.
From our first to our last breath, our breathing provides us with sustenance for the physical body, for the mind that houses thought, and for the spirit that enlivens us.
Consider even more deeply the intimate relationship between the heart and the lungs. Protected by the ribs and supported by the diaphragm, the heart rests nestled between the lungs. The heart receives back the blood that has been in circulation — at this time oxygen-poor and with gases needing to be released — and sends it into the lungs for cleansing and revitalization. There the blood is filled with new life, with new energy, with qi and travels back to the heart to provide nourishment throughout the body.
Just as not all food carries the same life force not all air carries the same quality of qi. Air breathed deeply while being out of doors or in nature sustains us differently than say air breathed in a closed space filled with lights and electronics. Intuitively we know this.
The significance of breathing, the power of the breath to sustain and imbue life touches on mystery that extends well beyond the biochemical processes of our physical body as wondrous and marvelous as they are.
Oriental Medicine recognizes the lungs as being the upper most organ, that which is closest to and that which opens directly to the “heavens.” Inspiration is the act of drinking deeply the very essence of life. The lungs act in service to the heart; bowing before the organ whose job it is to house our “shen” or our consciousness — our place of insight, awareness, compassion, inspiration and sense of connectedness.
This marriage of the lungs and the heart, the breath and the heart mind is easily recognizable in our day-to-day life. One need not practice acupuncture to recognize the presence of vibrant shen in another. A light in the eyes, a strong sense of vitality, and inner luminescence radiate when present. The state of our mind, our emotions, our overall well-being and our spirit are easily visible in breathing patterns ranging from superficial breathing, sighing, shallow and rapid breathing, frequent yawning to the deep full breaths that work the diaphragm filling the lungs fully, expanding the ribs front and back releasing tension and toxins with each breath. Our breath calls us into the present moment. It stills the mind, quiets the emotions, and brings us into inner harmony.
Around us we are witnessing the first signs of fall. There is a familiar dryness present and the nights are becoming increasingly longer and cooler. Autumn is known for its beauty and its delicate poignancy, a signature that only nature could create as it deepens its journey of surrender to that deep stillness of winter. Like an out breath nature is letting go.
Oriental Medicine correlates this in the body to the lungs and colon. It is not uncommon for latent issues of grief, the emotion that has affinity with the lungs, to surface during this time of year. Symptoms of breathlessness, asthma, allergies, bowel disturbances, obsessions, depression, anxiety, insomnia, extreme sensitivity and just vague feelings that “something isn't right” can show themselves during this time of year.
The beauty of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is that it is a holistic medicine. It acknowledges the dynamic and undeniable interplay and balance of the mind, the body, the emotions and the spirit. Holism in medicine also encompasses that we are one with our environment, that we are whole yet inseparable from nature and the world around us. Consciousness of this interconnectedness is empowering.
We can look at symptoms present and ask: What are the underlying causes? When did the symptoms start? What was going on at that time? What makes them worse and what makes them better? What does it mean that the symptom is as it is, where it is, and in the context of the overall whole? Healing being not just the absence of symptoms but rather a return to well-being, to wholeness, to our original nature and that which we are meant to be.
Audrey Barrett graduated from Bastyr University in Seattle, Wash. with a Master's of Science degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and has two years postgraduate study of Five Element Theory for Herbs and Acupuncture with Thea Elijah. Her office is located at the Integrative Medicine Center of Western Colorado and she can be reached at 712-1886.
From our first to our last breath, our breathing provides us with sustenance for the physical body, for the mind that houses thought, and for the spirit that enlivens us.
Consider even more deeply the intimate relationship between the heart and the lungs. Protected by the ribs and supported by the diaphragm, the heart rests nestled between the lungs. The heart receives back the blood that has been in circulation — at this time oxygen-poor and with gases needing to be released — and sends it into the lungs for cleansing and revitalization. There the blood is filled with new life, with new energy, with qi and travels back to the heart to provide nourishment throughout the body.
Just as not all food carries the same life force not all air carries the same quality of qi. Air breathed deeply while being out of doors or in nature sustains us differently than say air breathed in a closed space filled with lights and electronics. Intuitively we know this.
The significance of breathing, the power of the breath to sustain and imbue life touches on mystery that extends well beyond the biochemical processes of our physical body as wondrous and marvelous as they are.
Oriental Medicine recognizes the lungs as being the upper most organ, that which is closest to and that which opens directly to the “heavens.” Inspiration is the act of drinking deeply the very essence of life. The lungs act in service to the heart; bowing before the organ whose job it is to house our “shen” or our consciousness — our place of insight, awareness, compassion, inspiration and sense of connectedness.
This marriage of the lungs and the heart, the breath and the heart mind is easily recognizable in our day-to-day life. One need not practice acupuncture to recognize the presence of vibrant shen in another. A light in the eyes, a strong sense of vitality, and inner luminescence radiate when present. The state of our mind, our emotions, our overall well-being and our spirit are easily visible in breathing patterns ranging from superficial breathing, sighing, shallow and rapid breathing, frequent yawning to the deep full breaths that work the diaphragm filling the lungs fully, expanding the ribs front and back releasing tension and toxins with each breath. Our breath calls us into the present moment. It stills the mind, quiets the emotions, and brings us into inner harmony.
Around us we are witnessing the first signs of fall. There is a familiar dryness present and the nights are becoming increasingly longer and cooler. Autumn is known for its beauty and its delicate poignancy, a signature that only nature could create as it deepens its journey of surrender to that deep stillness of winter. Like an out breath nature is letting go.
Oriental Medicine correlates this in the body to the lungs and colon. It is not uncommon for latent issues of grief, the emotion that has affinity with the lungs, to surface during this time of year. Symptoms of breathlessness, asthma, allergies, bowel disturbances, obsessions, depression, anxiety, insomnia, extreme sensitivity and just vague feelings that “something isn't right” can show themselves during this time of year.
The beauty of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is that it is a holistic medicine. It acknowledges the dynamic and undeniable interplay and balance of the mind, the body, the emotions and the spirit. Holism in medicine also encompasses that we are one with our environment, that we are whole yet inseparable from nature and the world around us. Consciousness of this interconnectedness is empowering.
We can look at symptoms present and ask: What are the underlying causes? When did the symptoms start? What was going on at that time? What makes them worse and what makes them better? What does it mean that the symptom is as it is, where it is, and in the context of the overall whole? Healing being not just the absence of symptoms but rather a return to well-being, to wholeness, to our original nature and that which we are meant to be.
Audrey Barrett graduated from Bastyr University in Seattle, Wash. with a Master's of Science degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and has two years postgraduate study of Five Element Theory for Herbs and Acupuncture with Thea Elijah. Her office is located at the Integrative Medicine Center of Western Colorado and she can be reached at 712-1886.
