In our classes, we often work with the breath, because breathing always reflects our inner reserves. If in everyday life we breathe shallowly, unevenly, and frequently hold our breath while exercising, hearing difficult information, or encountering stressful situations, this tells us that the nervous system is overloaded.
Stress can be useful up to a point; it trains us and develops our capacity to adapt. But if we experience it too often, if we constantly stop breathing during asana, squats, or even ordinary daily activities, we gradually exhaust ourselves.
I often try to convey the thought that we are already an integrated and deeply interconnected system. There is no need to force wholeness into being. For example, in one of our sessions we worked with the feet and the temporomandibular joints – the entry points into the body from the periphery. Once tension there began to ease, breathing deepened and smoothed out on its own. No one was trying to breathe deeply by force. The body simply breathed more freely once the restrictions were soothed.
You can support this process yourself through the simplest actions: touch and gentle stroking. The essential element is tender, attentive contact with your own body.