Taking a Deep Breath
Alexander H. Ross
August 27, 2024 DOI: 10.4324/9781003382959-2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Breath meditation Breathwork |
| Key points | Argues that breath-focused meditation can influence common psychotherapeutic factors and serve as a foundational technique for therapeutic practice. |
Abstract
This chapter introduces the practical aspects of breath meditation and breathwork in the context of the framework bringing in physiological, neuroscientific and phenomenological explanations. This is extended to show how manipulation of the breath can cause changes in these factors to help engender different states of mind and bodily experiences. It is shown how a range of common factors for all psychotherapeutic approaches can all be influenced by meditation and that a foundational meditation technique using the breath as the object of attention can be used to bring about a general therapeutic stance. There is a guided meditation to describe this method, and readers are encouraged to become familiar with the breath as a foundation for all the other meditation techniques in the book and also to create a home in the breath that allows access to this mindset more readily.