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why can we conciously breathe ?

ninjadanslarbretabar

ninjadanslarbretabar

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you cant control your heart beat or your boner
but you can simply breath in and breath out or hold your breath as you please
and you really dont need to be conscious about it if you dont care too
why is it that we can consciously do it tho?
what purpose does it hold ?

personally i associate breathing with consciousness so then i need to put it the other way around too : why is it that breathing can make you conscious ? its what meditation technique are usually about; focusing on your breathing to attain better quality of consciousness (states of consciousness)

and in past culture they use to talk about the breath of life

wiki :

"In Stoic philosophy, pneuma (πνεῦμα) is the concept of the "breath of life," a mixture of the elements air (in motion) and fire (as warmth).[1] Originating among Greek medical writers who locate human vitality in the breath, pneuma for the Stoics is the active, generative principle that organizes both the individual and the cosmos.[2] In its highest form, the pneuma constitutes the human soul (psychê), which is a fragment of the pneuma that is the soul of God (Zeus). As a force that structures matter, it exists even in inanimate objects."

"In traditional Chinese culture, qì (also chi or ch'i) is an active principle forming part of any living thing.[1][2] Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Notions in the west of energeia, élan vital, or vitalism are purported to be similar[3]. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. The literal translation of "qi" is breath, air, or gas."

"Prana (प्राण, prāṇa) is the Sanskrit word for "vital life" (from the root prā "to fill", cognate to Latin plenus "full"). It is one of the five organs of vitality or sensation, viz. prana "breath", vac "speech", chakshus "sight", shrotra "hearing", and manas "thought" (nose, mouth, eyes, ears and mind; ChUp. 2.7.1)."

"One of the best-known verses in the Bible is Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.” This verse sets a pattern for the rest of the Bible, where breath is often equated with life itself. In fact, references to breath or breathing are frequent in the Bible, with many allusions to God as the giver of breath (and life) to man and animals. " (well this one isnt from wiki)

" “A transcendental synthesis of human religious experience is inherent in the word te, Sacred Tree, which emerged from the words teol and teotl the names of God the Creator in Mayan and Nahuatl. These most revered and sacred words of the ancient people, symbolized by the Sacred Tree, were represented in the Mayan hieroglyphs as the symbol ‘T.’ Additionally, this symbol represented the air, the wind, the divine breath of God.” (1)

In other words, the T-shaped doorway or window symbolizes the Sacred Tree at the Center of the World (axis mundi) upon which the shaman’s spirit may climb. In addition, it functions as the portal leading to the Great Spirit, through which the breath of life may pass. " (again not from wiki)

well i could have done a better job at finding better quotes, but my point is that breath has being associated with god, which i see as consciousness
and qi and prana are energy related to breathing but it aint air
it aint about breathing its about whats behind it, the connection to something bigger which makes it possible for us human to be somehow divine (conscious)

we usually associate consciousness with the head but what about breathing and conscious breathing
whats the deal here ??
why can we consciously breath ? and what does it mean to consciously breath ? what purpose does it have ?
 
ninjadanslarbretabar said:
you cant control your heart beat or your boner
Click to expand...

Not to trample on the rest of what you posted, but you can control your heart beat and boner in the same way you can interfere with your breathing although it is not as easy. I don't recommend messing with the heart though.. having it stop/miss a beat made me think for just half a second I was about to die! Boner control is quite handy though ;)
 
yeah indeed, i can influence my heart when i meditate but not to the point of controlling it
same thing with boner, i can think about sexy or boner killer stuff, but thats influencing not controlling
but then thats just a difference of words

we do have a very very direct control on breath
and thats kinda weird imo
 
Do you think that the fact we can consciously blink or cough is equally profound?
 
nah because no matter how i do it i dont reach any interesting result that alters my state of consciousness

do you practice any breathing exercise ?
 
I think we don't have control yet. I think its like a automatic car. Once we understand enough about our selfs we will gain the ability to control everything but not yet because were to busy with other things.

I think we could do a lot more if we were not kept so busy with pointless drible.
 
It was more this logic that I was questioning:
personally i associate breathing with consciousness so then i need to put it the other way around too
Click to expand...
I think this might just be coincidence. As you say, blinking is conscious, but you don't need to "put it the other way around"; sweating, for instance, is used to alter consciousness, but is not itself a conscious activity.
 
I can control my erections, and you can train your body to control your heart beat as well.
Consciously breathing isn't a phenomena. It's a carried trait going all the way back to when we were fisihies. In fact most of our mammalian brothers of the only consciously breathe.
 
ninjadanslarbretabar said:
nah because no matter how i do it i dont reach any interesting result that alters my state of consciousness

do you practice any breathing exercise ?
Click to expand...

you can "control" the heart-beat-rate, Pranayama is the extension(Yama) of the Prana(life fore / personal EMF), this isnt such a daunting exorcise...and if you cant eat food with the proper Ojas(reserved energy) you can make up for it with an hour or so of Pranayama in the morning, with no food in your stomach, or 3-5 hours after eating, just before sunRise is the best time, as oxygen is more thick and abundant in the air.

(this) is a link to a video of BKS Iyengar inhaling for 50 or so seconds, and exhaling for the same. seeing this, and listening understanding it really did help bring further awareness to help change my life, for the "better", just a little.

"did you observe the beauty of that sound??"
lolN


<3
;)
 
Perhaps because breathing is the most important of all bodily processes, and the precursor to all processes, it would be foolish to keep it restricted to subconscious behaviour. Having it at a subconscious level 99% of the time is fine, but when it comes to that 1% when our breathing pattern needs to be very specific indeed (underwater for instance), we can ensure that everything runs smoothly by taking conscious control.

Also, other bodily processes are more constant and automated. The heart always beats. The stomach always digests. The liver always does its thing. We wouldn't benefit from any of these stopping in the same way breathing stops, no matter what external stimuli, so we don't ever need direct control over these functions.

That's my theory anyway.
 
Yeah, basically what JSpete said. Being able to control breathing for short periods would be an adaptive trait. I.e. holding your breath when underwater/hunting/hiding from someone/thing that is going to hurt you. Loading your self with oxygen by hyperventilating before fighting/running/etc so you have a bit more endurance.
But it is obviously not fully voluntary, as once blood CO2 reaches a certain level. (barring nerve injury or substance intoxication) you WILL breath by reflex that is beyond conscious control, I think it is nothing more then a primal adaptive trait probably going back to the first air breathing animals.
 
JSPete said:
A breath based exorcism?
Click to expand...

haha - more of exErcise Polarizing your Electro-Magnetic Field.
these concepts are thousands of years old, and my spelling is as rusty and practice-perfected. this stuff, is only as Mystical as we give it credit to be, and science only supports it as fact. this is a great way to control pain, and fear, any sensory distortion.

lemaze for example, is one breathing technique that has its origin, and need i remind - is the most recommended thing to do - while experiencing psychical and mental trauma of a child birth...that is Pranayama. the point is to slowly gradually begin dragging out the timing in a 1:4:2 ratio, of inhale1-hold4-exhale2, until you are floating along...haha

i have experienced "Merkabah", doing so using the "Merkaba" technique, as a child twice at random, meditating in general, and before and after flopping around on the floor off cocaine. the feeling is unforgettable, after my cocaine experience it was disturbing to people actually, how i would describe the sensation of being crystallized, inside a diamond, and being shot from a gun.

i havent read many NDE's, but would imagine this description is rather common.
 
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Have a look at the aquatic ape hypothesis for why humans control breathing both by our autonomic nervous system (default automatic control), and somatic nervous system (conscious, willful control).

In short: it is because we were once apes that lived in a partially aquatic environment, and voluntary breath control allows for diving and swimming, in order to catch fish and other sea creatures for food.

Interestingly, dolphins have both their breathing and erections controlled solely by their somatic nervous system (see here): they can thus create erections at will. The downside for dolphins of having their breathing controlled solely by their somatic nervous system is that they can never go to sleep (otherwise they would forget to breathe).
 
The the original posters question is interesting, though. I have done enough Zen / Buddhist meditation to understand what he is getting at.

From the purely anatomical point of view, I cannot think of any other function in the body other than breathing that has BOTH autonomic AND somatic nerves controlling it. So this makes breathing special just to start with.

As stated, the somatic nerves run to all the muscles and organs we can control by a direct act of will. The autonomic nerves (which are a completely different set of wiring in the body) run to all the muscles and organs that are controlled automatically by the inaccessible (to our will) part of the brain/mind. The autonomic nerves control heart function, kidney function, liver function, digestion, and many others. Although of course some yogis do manage to control this inaccessible part of their brain, but this is not usually by direct will, I am assuming, but through relaxation techniques.


When you become conscious of your breath, as an exercise in meditation, your breathing at that time is, I think, as per usual under the normal control the autonomic nervous system. So you are focusing your conscious attention on an autonomic process. Of course, you could willfully control your breath, but I don't think that's what people do in Zen meditation. They let their breathing happen naturally.

So it is interesting that in Zen meditation, you are paying close attention to the autonomic process of breathing.

One other important point mention is that the autonomic nervous system itself comes in two halves: the sympathetic nervous system (used for "fight or flight" responses) and the parasympathetic nervous system (used for "rest and digest" responses).

Now, the parasympathetic nervous system is the most fascinating, as this is associated with higher spiritual development and paranormal phenomena. In fact, I believe I read some Spanish research years ago that found that by boosting the parasympathetic nervous system (using a drug called tacrine) they could increase paranormal abilities. Also, activities such as chi gong and yoga activate the parasympathetic nervous system, and calm the sympathetic "fight or flight" nervous system. The activation of the parasympathetic is often central to spiritual states.

So I wonder whether this conscious focus on breathing during meditation also helps to activate the parasympathetic, and calm the sympathetic?
 
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