# MORE BODY BREATHING EXERCISES

This page is nothing special. All these ideas are generally available. They have no relationship with panoramic sensing or empathy with animals.

Parent Page :Meditation Methods

I have already described my basic exercise of being aware of all the fingers and toes.

I often combine fingers and toes together, and then often start feeling (imagining) all the channels and nerves – inter-related and connected with each finger and toe – running through the legs, arms and body.

Then, it's a whole new dimension to go through the spaces in between the fingers where all the soft parts are, and it's actually easier to feel these soft parts because they are more sensitive and where all the nerves are.

When you've more time and motivation – going through the vertebrae in the spinal column is invigorating, and going through the spaces between the vertebrae is the next step.

## Imagination Healing (continued)

Healing can involve imagining colours or sounds inside and around your body. Or imagining someone you love and trust laying their hands on your body or even feeling inside your body; imagine being massaged by someone you love, or someone who loves you.

Imagine inserting acupuncture needles, or anything you have found to be helpful in practice.

You can also focus humming to vibrate and to relax any stiff parts of the body.

Then there's the childhood fantasy of hundreds of little people working in your body, get them working again.

## Bio-Magnetic Energy

It is outside the scope of this site but i find this worth noting. Most people agree that there must be some sort of electrical bio-magnetic lines swirling around such a complex chemically active neurological system as the human body. I find most ways of proving this are suspect, so, maybe its only for people who believe in the power of imagination.

Falun Dafa exercise 4 is wonderful. Experiment with it. Internalise it. Imagine it.

The stomach-belly area seems to have a predominant direction. Mainly i find it appropriate and healing to imagine energy going round both ways at the same time, swirling around my body, sometimes like double helixes.

## The Whole Breath Body

The idea of the 'whole breath body' comes from the beginning of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna, in Section 1. "Breathing In and Out"

The first German translation from the 1890s was translated in English (1962 – page 130) as follows. " 'Conscious of the whole (breath-) body. I shall breathe in', thus he trains himself. 'Conscious of the whole (breath-) body. I shall breathe out', thus he trains himself."

A modern translation by U Jotika & U Dhamminda (1986)
"Aware of the whole breath body, I shall breathe in", thus he trains himself; "Aware of the whole breath body, I shall breathe out", thus he trains himself.

This "whole breath body" idea is lost in all other modern translations which give just "whole body' or 'entire body". (More info. on translations and Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna References).

## The Five Legged Starfish

General body awareness: In the womb, our body shape develops like a 5 legged starfish.

Every one of the 5 ends – hands, feet, and skull – is hard (bony) and sensitive. Both the sensitivity and the hardness make good sense, because that's where our ancestors kept bumping into things. All these ends have two sides: the sensitive side, face, palms and soles – and the back bony side. So, the palm is actually the face of the hand.

As we evolved, we started moving in one direction and collected all the main sensors at one of the ends (the end which got the most bumps), with the other four ends doing what the main-sensor end told them.

It is interesting to realise that every one of the 5 ends can feel, hold and do things. The hands and feet can feel, hold, and do things with objects; and the mind feels (recognises, realises), holds (remembers), and does things with thoughts.

## The Elements

I find the traditional idea of earth, water, and fire, a useful idea to explore the inside shape and feel of the skin we are in. Wind expands and contracts this shape with breathing.

To summarise this picture in elemental terms: the hands, feet and head are bony and sensitive, earth-fire; the limbs are flexible, water; the frame (the hips, pelvis, and rib cage) is earth; and the most sensitive areas inside are water-fire.

There are various degrees of fire – where does it feel warmest? And how does your spine feel – does it feel hard? or soft? or warm?

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