In my last blog, I explored re-engaging our sense of smell as a way to begin to open the pathways to an easy, natural way of breathing through our nose.
In today’s blog we are going to return to the subjects of previous blogs – opening the peripheral vision (blog 2) and becoming more present in the coronal plane (blog 3 and blog 4) as additional ways of stimulating breathing through the nose.
The way that we move and the way that we breathe come from the way that we are engaging with multiple factors in our perception, internal and external. Our relationship with our environment is one of these factors. If we perceive ourselves in a space that is narrow and tight, our breathing, as well as many other coordinative functions in our body will alter. Registering the space around us as cramped, we will unconsciously feel that there is less air and may find ourselves breathing through our mouths instead of our noses. (breathing through the mouth is one of the body’s automatic reactions when we perceive that there might not be enough air). Breathing through the mouth brings in the air more quickly, without it having to pass through the spiral pathways of the nasal cavities where it is filtered, cleaned and warmed. Breathing through the mouth also brings the air first into the upper lobes of the lungs. This can lead to a sense of being over full, without the lower lobes of the lungs having had the time to respond to the breath, and so our breath becomes shorter and begins to demonstrate a certain frenetic quality.
Perception however, is a very fluid aspect of our consciousness. One that we can often change, especially once we have become conscious of it. Where we habitually place our attention, our awareness follows and our perception alters.
Thus it is that attending to the Coronal Plane of space–the space that extends laterally from the sides of our body–will quickly change our relationship with the environment. in which we are moving and breathing. I have described the Coronal Plane as the “Eternal Now”
The Sagittal Plane–the space that extends in front of and behind me–is a space that when I occupy it with my movement and my awareness, I will feel that there is movement forward in time. When I walk or run, I do so in the forward direction–the way that my body’s sense organs and joints are organized to perceive and to move. And in this movement forward, I have a goal and there is a sense of how long it will take me to go from here to there. In the Sagittal Plane I place myself in a continuum of time.
Not so with the Coronal Plane. It brings me into the present moment, and into the awareness of that which surrounds me on either side–surroundings that may not have much to do with my future plans or goals. The Coronal Plane is the space of my peripheral awareness, and when I connect to it, the world seems to widen.
When I place my awareness in the Coronal Plane my vision becomes more peripheral as well. Peripheral vision is linked to our awareness of the context in which we are moving, and to our balance and sense of movement. When our peripheral vision is online we feel more secure and stable, our balance is better and we are more aware of our environment. Coronal Plane presence moves our vision and our other senses more into peripheral awareness, while Sagittal Plane presence takes us into a more focused mode.
Thus,, when I open to the Eternal Now of the Coronal Plane, my experience of the space that I am moving in widens, and as it does it becomes easier and easier to breathe in through my nose. When my senses tell me that there is ample space around me, I no longer feel the same urgency to breathe that I do when I am caught in the narrow continuum of the Sagittal Plane. So much so, that one of the interventions that I have found to be very effective with clients who are experiencing a lack of air, is to invite them to just look around and notice how much air there is around them. Once they have taken the time to do this and seen that indeed the space in which they find themselves is abundant with air, they often relax, and their breath comes more easily. through the nose
Ease in nose breathing comes when the pre-conditions of spaciousness and peripheral awareness are met, and when we place ourselves in the present moment and the Coronal Plane, allowing ourselves to perceive what is to our sides and all around us, instead of only focusing on where we are going.
One of the ways to check whether we are connected into the Coronal Plane and peripheral awareness is to take a quick look in the mirror. If our brow is furrowed and we see those two vertical wrinkles between our eyes, we can be sure that we have allowed ourselves to become overwhelmed by Sagittal Plane awareness, goal orientation and over focus.
Coming back into the coronal plane can be as simple as opening your peripheral vision, using the explorations suggested in Blog number 2 (Peripheral and Focal Vision). It can come from opening your nose to receive the smells around you, as suggested in Blog Number 5, and from just playing the simple game of, as you look at something that interests you, without moving your central vision from this object, just ask yourself “what else do I see?” and “What else do I see?” As you begin to notice (without detail) what surrounds the object that you are looking at, you will have widened your peripheral field of vision.
Ultimately, our vision, our hearing, and our sense of smell are all interconnected and can function together to bring us into a state of greater ease and presence, of which natural nose breathing is only one of the benefits.
For a PDF containing some more simple explorations to help develop Coronal Plane and peripheral awareness go to laelkeen.com and sign up for the mailing list where you will receive a login to my bonus page, which will slowly fill up with the bonuses from these blogs.