Bamboo breathing

Lately I've been reading up on zazen, which is the zen Buddhists' way of meditating. That's how I came across the book Zen Training by Kastsuki Sekida. Order it. A very interesting book, especially if you're like me and dislike all the vagueness that surrounds meditation. And it is especially interesting because it describes a way of breathing I'd never come across before: the bamboo method.

Not so long ago I would have said:'No forcing the breath in any way.' But since Mr. Sekida vividly described a relationship between mental focus and keeping tension in the diaphragm I decided to give it a go. With amazing results. To fully explain it in detail would take too much space and time (go on: just order the book), but I will say a couple of things about it so you can try it out:

1) The graph below (click to enlarge) represents two bamboo breathing cycles; the volume of air in the lungs and the time.



Normally our breathing goes up (in) and down (out) roughly between the red and the green line. But as you can see our line starts of by sinking below the red line. We exhale deeply, pulling the abdomen in against the spine, stopping a little now and then (like the thicker parts on a piece of bamboo). And then we breathe in slowly (with stopping). After that we have a series of normal breaths, followed again by that deep exhalation.

The stopping (which occurs more or less naturally in normal breathing as you can see) and the deep exhalation is what keeps the tension in your abdomen and heightens your concentration and therefore the depth of your meditation.

2) There is only abdominal breathing.

That means you do not breathe with your chest (gasping), which would make you go over the green line. Your belly should rise and fall. Everything else should remain as still as possible.

3) Use light force only.

This graph is NOT designed to be followed to the second and millilitre. When you stop and put tension on your diaphragm exactly and how deep you exhale in relation to your inhalation depends on many things, in fact: on you. No stress. You will find that this pattern of breathing will come quite naturally after a while.