The Tao of Natural Breathing: For Health, Well-Being, and Inner Growth

217 Pages·2006·1.83 MB·English

by  Dennis Lewis

Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
Introduction

Chapter 1 - THE MECHANICS OF BREATHING
SOME PERSONAL HISTORY
THE NEED FOR CLARITY AND MINDFULNESS
THE ANATOMY OF BREATHING
THE PHASES OF BREATHING
THE INNER BREATH
THE RESPIRATORY CENTER
THE RESPIRATORY MUSCLES
THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF BAD BREATHING HABITS

Chapter 2 - BREATH, EMOTIONS, AND THE ART OF SELF-
SENSING
THE WORK OF SENSORY AWARENESS
THE WORLD IN THE BODY
PERCEPTUAL REEDUCATION AND WHOLENESS
THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING THE BREATH
LISTENING TO THE BODY
SELF-SENSING—THE BEGINNING OF SELF-
KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-TRANSFORMATION
THE THREE KINDS OF BREATH
THE QUALITY OF OUR BREATHING
“EVERY STATE OF MIND IS A STATE OF OUR IMMUNE
SYSTEM”
EMOTIONS AND THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
THE IMPORTANCE OF “EFFORTLESS EFFORT”
THE POWER OF PERCEPTUAL FREEDOM
AWAKENING ORGANIC SELF-AWARENESS

Chapter 3 - THE TAOIST VISION OF ENERGY AND BREATH
THE REMARKABLE ENERGY OF CHI
THE “THREE TREASURES”
“ORIGINAL CHI”
“ACQUIRED CHI”
SHEN

Chapter 4 - THE WHOLE-BODY BREATH
A SIMPLE DEFINITION OF NATURAL BREATHING
DISTINGUISHING THE OUTER AND INNER MOVEMENTS
OF BREATH
THE POLARITY OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
THE BENEFITS OF WHOLE-BODY BREATHING

Chapter 5 - THE SPACIOUS BREATH
LEVELS OF SENSATION
THE THREE BREATHING SPACES
PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSTACLES TO AUTHENTIC
BREATHING

Chapter 6 - THE SMILING BREATH
THE CHEMISTRY OF A SMILE
COMBINING THE INNER SMILE WITH SPACIOUS
BREATHING

Chapter 7 - CIRCULATING THE VITAL BREATH
THE NEED FOR NEW IMPRESSIONS
MOVING OUR VITAL BREATH THROUGH THE
MICROCOSMIC ORBIT
HEALING AND BALANCE

APPENDIX 1 - Specialized Breathing Practices
APPENDIX 2 - The Psychological Dimensions of the
Microcosmic Orbit
NOTES
PERMISSIONS
INDEX
Copyright Page
Also by Dennis Lewis
Free Your Breath, Free Your Life (book)
Natural Breathing (audio)
Dedicated to my son, Benoit, who, from the moment of his
birth, has inspired me to always attempt to keep learning and
growing.

And with my most profound gratitude to Lord John Pentland,
my primary teacher, who was an outstanding leader of the
Gurdjieff Work in America until his death in 1984, and who
taught me how to think from the perspective and sensation of
wholeness; Jean Klein, the Advaita Vedanta master who helped
me understand that love and consciousness are at the very
heart of being; and Mantak Chia, the Taoist master who
brought the Healing Tao to America, and who, along with Chi
Nei Tsang practitioner Gilles Marin, showed me that healing is
a power we all have—the creative power of life itself.