I once met a recovering alcoholic who claimed that singing is a
spiritual practice. She used to say, "everyone should take a singing
class because it is a spiritual practice." I've always enjoyed singing,
and found great solace in music, but never really understood why it was *necessarily* spiritual.
At the silent meditation retreat, we were asked to
meditate for 1 to 2 hours at a time, paying attention to our natural
breath. We were *not* to count while inhaling, trying to double that count while
exhaling, as I had been taught by my yoga teacher.
*Not* trying to start
the breath deep in the belly, moving up into the chest, and then feeling
it go out through the throat, either. Just sitting quietly, observing
the natural breath as it *actually is*, not as we want it to be.
It took me
about two days of sitting for eight hours a day until I finally let go
of trying to control my breath and make it longer. When I finally
decided to sit and see what happened naturally, I was utterly shocked.
This is what my natural breath is:
Hold breath for several seconds. No breath going in, no breath going out for about 15 seconds. (I'm timing it now.)
Quick, panicked three second inhale. The breath goes into my throat and maybe around the collar bones, no deeper. Like I'm drowning, taking in a big gulp of air.
Hold breath in. For about 10 seconds.
Sudden sighing exhale, like a sigh of exasperation, about two seconds.
Hold breath again for about 15 seconds. Repeat.
Huh. No
wonder my body is full of tension, and my mind can't relax. I don't
think I've been getting enough oxygen all these years.
I started
panicking, wondering whether I could continue to allow my breath to
continue like this. Then I realized this is the pattern that I've
developed over the years, and I made it to age 42 breathing like this,
so I can probably let it continue for a while. :)
As
a child, my nose was always congested. I consumed Kleenex boxes ferociously
and was always embarrassed by having to blow my nose in front of people. I couldn't breathe through my
nose 95% of the time, so
I breathed through my mouth exclusively during the night. I wasn't aware of this because I always slept alone.
I've started using Neti pot
mornings and evenings, which has helped enormously. But when I'm
not aware of my breath, I still revert to mouth breathing. Day and night.
Perhaps
this is why I felt so much better during the 10 days that I was
consciously breathing in through the nose and out through the nose. By
observing the breath, naturally I started to breathe a little deeper.
Anyway,
long story short, I believe that taking singing classes, and any kind
of singing in general, is beneficial because it regulates your intake of
breath by necessity. That's why singing (or playing a wind instrument) is more healing than playing an
instrument that doesn't involve the breath.
