Rhythmic breathing is nothing more than synchronizing your breathing with your body’s processes. The body is a harmonious device and when all its systems are in harmony with each other Maximum Power Transfer occurs. Maximum Power Transfer is when peak energy transfers from one state to another. In terms of the body that means the body processes enable you to direct as much energy as possible externally without compromising the body’s own internal energy systems. Now, most of your body systems carry on in harmony with each other. However, very often, due to your own will, your breathing is no longer in harmony with the rest of your body. This disharmony of such a vital body system robs you of vital energy and that Maximum Power Transfer.

Seven out of ten people have breathing processes that are out of sync with their internal body processes. It did not start out that way. Physical Reality and its culture have taught many of you to allow your breathing to do as it pleases. It started most likely in your childhood, when people would say, “Stand up straight!” “Raise your head!” “Pull that stomach in!”. Now there’s one of the culprits. It’s the “Pull your stomach in” phrase. You see! When you pull in your stomach, you inhibit the body’s own natural breathing rhythm. The act of rigidly holding the stomach firm interferes with the natural rhythm of your breathing. Your breathing is no longer in sync with your body’s other organs. That disharmony translates to a loss of power transfer from the body’s internal world to the body’s external world. You are literally wasting 30% of your power from improper breathing.

Now to take back that power requires that you to listen to your body and synchronize your breathing with your body. The best way to reestablish this rhythm is to use your heart beat. The heart is a good organ to use, as it gives you audible and tactile feedback. The idea is to gently coerce your breathing back to its original rhythm – not bully it. Putting it back will take time, and you should NEVER force this technique. You should do it only when you feel comfortable and only when time permits you to do so. This is not an exercise to do when you are engaged in other more physically active things. This is a technique to do a bit at a time and let your body do its own unconscious switching from your old disharmonious breathing rhythm to the new harmonious breathing rhythm.

To begin, sit quietly for a couple of minutes and listen to your heart beat. Try to feel it within you as it methodically goes along doing its thing. Now, take notice to your breathing. Does your breathing feel out of sync with your heart. Does your breathing seem labored on its start and stop times? Does it seem like you have to rise above some blip to get your breathing to go into its next cycle? That blip is you forcing your breathing to go against the body’s own natural rhythm. Of course, at this point, that rhythm is so ingrained into your pattern that it seems natural, even to have the blip. However, it is not natural, and you need to put that rhythm back to where it was and reclaim 30% of your power.

The technique involves synchronizing the length of time between your in-breaths and out-breaths, using a certain number of heart beats. This number can be anything that feels comfortable and does not have to be the same for the in-breath and the out-breath. For example, breathe in and hold that breath for three heart beats. Then exhale and hold that breath for three more heart beats. Pick a number of beats to hold your breath in and out for that is comfortable for you. You can hold the in-breath for four beats and the out-breath for two, if you like, or any combination that feels right. At first this new breathing will seem very odd. This odd feeling stems from the fact that you are unfamiliar with the new breathing pattern. Give it time and soon you will like the new breathing pattern over your old, especially when you begin to feel the increased power and peace that this kind of breathing gives you.

Examples	Air In	Air Out
1 -->	hold for 3 beats	hold for 3 beats
2 -->	hold for 4 beats	hold for 2 beats
3 -->	hold for 2 beats	hold for 4 beats
4 -->	you decide	you decide

What you are doing is consciously aligning your breathing with the rhythm of your body’s internal processes. The number of the breaths is not as important as the rhythm that you are relearning. Practice this technique when you are in a quiet space and when you have the time. You can practice it while meditating, or before you go to sleep, or while waiting. In time, your breathing will shift – automatically – from its disharmonious breathing rhythm to a harmonious breathing rhythm. You do not (nor should you) consciously direct your breathing every moment of the day. By practicing this technique once a day, or even three times a week, will begin to shift your breathing pattern automatically in just several weeks.