Post 6: Breath — The Bridge Between Seen and Unseen
Breath is the most ordinary thing we do, and the most extraordinary. We take 20,000 breaths a day without thinking, yet every tradition of wisdom has pointed to the breath as the key to changing how we feel, think, and connect. Breath is not a ladder to climb, with fixed steps, but a foundation. It is the thread that runs through all paths. Some use it to calm the mind, others to expand consciousness, others to unlock energy. However you approach it, the breath is the bridge between the seen and the unseen.
Ancient wisdom: prāṇa, qi, and life force
In India, the Upanishads (c. 800–300 BCE) describe prāṇa as the vital breath, the current that sustains body and spirit. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th c.) details practices like nāḍī-śodhana (alternate-nostril breathing) and kumbhaka (breath retention) to still the mind and awaken latent energy. Daoist texts from the Han dynasty describe qi-breathing, where inhalation draws life force into the dantian and exhalation returns it to the cosmos. Tibetan Buddhist tummo practice uses vase breathing to stoke inner fire, dissolving subtle blockages. Among the Lakota, the breath is woven into the sacred pipe ceremony, where each inhalation carries prayer. Across cultures, the breath has always been understood as more than air. It is spirit itself — ruach, pneuma, prāṇa, qi — the movement of life through form.
Modern science: why breath changes everything
Western research has begun to catch up. James Nestor’s Breath (2020) gathered decades of findings: how nasal breathing filters air, regulates nitric oxide, and balances oxygen and CO₂; how mouth breathing stresses the body, leading to poor sleep, anxiety, and inflammation. Neuroscience shows that breath rate directly affects brain states. Slow breathing around 5–6 breaths per minute activates the parasympathetic nervous system, shifts brainwaves toward alpha and theta, and increases vagal tone, allowing the body to move from defense into safety. Heart rate variability (HRV) research confirms this — the heart, not just the brain, entrains with the breath, creating coherence across the nervous system.
The vagus nerve is the great mediator. It carries signals between lungs, heart, gut, and brain. When we slow the breath, the vagus nerve shifts our physiology: stress hormones drop, the heart rhythm smooths, digestion rebalances, and the mind quiets. We begin to run on a different frequency. Modern imaging shows this isn’t metaphor. A change in breath can change neural firing patterns, metabolic chemistry, even how we perceive time and space.
And yet, as the Tao reminds us: “Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know.” Science can explain effects, but the mystery remains. Breath is not only a mechanism, but a door into the unspoken.
Breathing practices: many ways to the same door
Traditions developed countless techniques, each with its own key:
Yogic pranayama: alternate nostril breathing (nāḍī-śodhana), skull-shining breath (kapālabhātī), breath retention (kumbhaka).
Daoist qigong: dantian breathing, circulating qi through the microcosmic orbit.
Tibetan tummo: vase breathing to awaken inner fire and melt subtle blockages.
Holotropic Breathwork (Stanislav Grof, 1970s): deep connected breathing with music, designed to access non-ordinary states of consciousness.
Rebirthing Breathwork (Leonard Orr, 1970s): continuous circular breathing to clear stored trauma and reimprint early experience.
Contemporary methods: Wim Hof breathing, resonance breathing, Buteyko, and many more.
Each path uses the same instrument — breath — to tune the body into new states of awareness.
My path with breath
For me, breath is foundational, but it is not the tool I use in Sacred Ceremony. Ceremony calls me into a different relationship: I connect directly with someone’s field and higher self. Yet I recommend breathwork as integration. Those who already practice breath-work or meditation are often primed for ceremony, because they know how to relax, surrender, and allow shifts in brain and body states. Breathwork builds that capacity. And is also great for integration. It teaches the body how to soften its grip and open to what is greater.
Resources if you want to explore
If breath is calling you, there are many places to begin. I encourage you to follow what resonates:
O P E N Breathwork Studio — modern, trauma-informed guided breath journeys.
Holotropic Breathwork — founded by Stanislav Grof, explore altered states safely with trained facilitators.
Rebirthing Breathwork — developed by Leonard Orr, focused on deep emotional release.
Wim Hof Method — combines breath, cold exposure, and focus to train resilience.
Buteyko Method — nasal breathing and CO₂ tolerance practices for anxiety and sleep.
Whether ancient or modern, gentle or intense, the principle is the same: breath is the bridge. It carries us from the surface to the depths, from contraction into openness, from the seen into the unseen.
TW
Further Reading: Key References
Title: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Author: James Nestor
What you’ll learn: A deep dive into the forgotten art and science of breathing, weaving modern research with ancient practices.
Why read it: One of the most accessible and engaging books on breath in recent years, showing how small shifts in breathing can transform health.
Amazon
Title: The Healing Power of the Breath
Author: Richard P. Brown & Patricia L. Gerbarg
What you’ll learn: Breath practices rooted in both ancient tradition and modern clinical work, including coherence and resonance breathing.
Why read it: Written by psychiatrists, this book bridges yoga, neuroscience, and therapy in a practical way.
Amazon
Title: Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery
Author: Gay Hendricks
What you’ll learn: Simple practices for using the breath to release stress, restore balance, and expand awareness.
Why read it: A clear and easy introduction to how breath can change everyday life.
Amazon
Title: Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy
Author: Stanislav Grof & Christina Grof
What you’ll learn: The origins and method of Holotropic Breathwork, drawing from transpersonal psychology and non-ordinary states of consciousness.
Why read it: The foundational text by the creators of Holotropic Breathwork, essential if you want to explore this path.
Amazon
Title: Rebirthing in the New Age
Author: Leonard Orr & Sondra Ray
What you’ll learn: The principles of Rebirthing Breathwork, with its focus on early life imprints and conscious connected breathing.
Why read it: A classic in the breathwork field, introducing one of the earliest modern systems for breath-based healing.
Amazon
Title: The Oxygen Advantage
Author: Patrick McKeown
What you’ll learn: A science-backed method to improve health, performance, and sleep by training nasal breathing and CO₂ tolerance.
Why read it: Practical and results-focused, widely used by athletes and people with anxiety or sleep apnea.
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Ancient Wisdom Sources
Title: Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Author: Svātmārāma (14th century), translated by Brian Dana Akers
What you’ll learn: One of the earliest yoga manuals, teaching pranayama (breath control), kumbhaka (breath retention), and their effects on body and mind.
Why read it: A foundational yogic text showing how breath practices were seen as essential for awakening energy and consciousness.
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Title: The Upanishads
Author: Various, translated by Eknath Easwaran
What you’ll learn: Philosophical dialogues that describe prāṇa (life-breath) as the vital force sustaining body and soul.
Why read it: Establishes the spiritual importance of breath as early as 800–500 BCE in Indian thought.
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Title: Tao Te Ching
Author: Laozi (c. 4th century BCE), translated by Stephen Mitchell or D.C. Lau
What you’ll learn: Taoist principles of balance and flow, including references to qi (life energy) cultivated through breath.
Why read it: The Taoist foundation for practices like qigong and Daoist breath meditation, emphasizing harmony with the unseen.
Amazon
Title: The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life
Author: Translated by Richard Wilhelm, commentary by C.G. Jung
What you’ll learn: Taoist inner alchemy text describing breath regulation, circulation of light, and spiritual awakening.
Why read it: A bridge between ancient Taoist breathwork and modern depth psychology.
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