2. SpaChina • 2016 | 47SpaChina • 2016 | 47
孙开艳 编译
呼吸对于理疗师的重要性则更无需多
言，主要原因在于呼吸是理疗师与自身、与
客人的最为核心的联系。理疗师必须牢记自
己是理疗过程中的传递者和给予者，必须起
到引导的作用。如果理疗师的呼吸不能顺
畅，那么客人的呼吸也会随之影响。请牢记
这一点，因为这能够帮助理疗师避免大量不
必要的压力和劳累。理疗师呼吸的重要性和
力量主要体现在以下两点：首先，通过实践
和学习，理疗师能够进一步体会和感知自身
的呼吸，从而体会和感知身心的实际存在；
其次，通过培训，理疗师也能够更好地理解
如何指导客人的呼吸。
当理疗师和客人通过密切接触的按摩疗
法相沟通时，呼吸的节奏和力量相互融合，
二者的呼吸方式相互影响，最终更强的那一
方将占据主导位置。倘若理疗师忽略了深度
呼吸，那么便会将自己置身于负能量和压抑
的状态之下。理疗师的呼吸无论如何都会对
客人造成影响，而按摩疗法是一个双向沟通
的过程。
而这一双向沟通的过程一旦涉及到呼
吸，倘若理疗师能够得心应手地注意到呼吸
的把控，客人的疗程体验必然也会得到明显
的提升。所以说，自发而顺畅地呼吸，不仅
对理疗师有益，对客人同样有益。
当谈论“呼吸”这一话题，我选用了较
为宽泛和中立的观点，来解释呼吸的生理、
情绪、心理和精神关联，以便读者理解和运
用。目的是尽可能多地解释呼吸和思想的关
联，通过所建议的主张，来支持和扩大呼吸
的转化能力。
下期待续…
体需要力量和疗愈的部位。如果你不小心踢
到了脚趾或弄伤了自己，你的第一反应可能
是屏住呼吸，感受疼痛的部位，之后才会有
力地呼气并小心翼翼地吸气。这是我们普遍
用于缓解和释放疼痛的方式之一，这一方式
同样适用于其他诸多方面，甚至包括情绪和
心理层面的痛苦。呼吸是唯一一个我们所能
自主控制的人体非自主功能。举例来说，
如果我们不想直面自己悲伤或尴尬窘迫的情
绪，我们通常会采取较浅层次的呼吸，以避
免直视自己的感受。“坚强起来！”这句用
于鼓励自己的话不言而喻就是指通过建立紧
张的情绪以过滤和阻挡内心的敏感情绪。
对于自己的呼吸而产生意识，能够打开
一扇全新维度的大门，通往更深层次的敏感
体验，过去所形成的重要模式很可能会对现
在产生影响。通过协调当下的呼吸，我们为
今后潜力的激发和更好的未来埋下了根基。
通过呼吸的力量，我们将那些陈旧、隐藏的
物质排出体外，将遗忘的感受和思想重新置
于眼前。呼吸就仿佛是身体的燃料，帮助我
们专注、改变、成长和疗愈。
Jacqualine Tara
Herron
Tara现于中国水疗市
场担任水疗发展专家
一 职 。 她 是 诸 多 水
疗 书 籍 和 刊 物 的 撰
稿人，曾创作如The
Definitive Spa & Body
Therapists Handbook，Five Keys to Energy
Balance and Bliss等著作。其作品可在Yogic
Solutions网站阅读。
Tara is presently the Spa Development
Specialist on a major spa development
in China. She is author of The Definitive
Spa & Body Therapists Handbook, Five
Keys to Energy Balance and Bliss, and Spa
Knowledge, plus The Inner Rhythm series
of guided meditations all available from
Yogic Solutions (www.yogicsolutions.com).
3. 48 | SpaChina • 2016
H
ave you ever noticed how your
thinking is reflected in your breath-
ing patterns, which act just like a
barometer? Your thoughts play a powerful
role in the chemical relationship between your
body and mind. This potent relationship and
connection can be readily observed in how
you actually breathe. Notice how erratic or
anxious thoughts will speed up your breath-
ing, whereas relaxed thoughts will slow your
breathing down.
The reverse is also true. When you deepen
and slow your breathing down, your thoughts
and feelings will begin to calm and relax. You
know that without the ability to breathe in the
oxygen freely available (at least for now!) you
would not be able to function.
Breathing not only generates the power of
your lungs to function, breathing constantly
recharges the electrical currents in and around
your body, fuelling the interactive flow of life
energy. This process enables your brain to
think, the power of your heart to beat, circulat-
Breathing
ing blood and giving life to all your organs. The
breath and life itself can be seen as one undi-
vided experience. It is your link to the envi-
ronment and to your consciousness, a trusty
friend who is always there for you. It is the
most transformative tool you have, completely
free and available at all times. In this article
you will learn how to befriend your breath and
make it an invaluable therapeutic partner.
Alchemy of the Breath
The magic of breathing deeply is all embrac-
ing and creating a chemistry that balances the
acid and alkaline levels within your blood, so
vital to a healthy body and mind. Massage
therapies also improve the circulation of the
breath through the blood inducing calming
and detoxifying benefits. All forms of tension,
whether caused by stress, injury, poor posture,
anger, jealousy, anxiety or frustration can pro-
mote high levels of acidity that form ‘crystals’
or congestion in the muscles, connective tissue
and joints. Breathing deeply can help to pre-
vent this cycle from happening and de-congest
these crystals or toxic areas by manufacturing
more alkalinity thereby restoring better health.
By paying attention to the physical aspects
of the breath you will naturally become aware
of the more subtle sensations. This dynamic
can open up hidden or buried parts of your
self-nature that may have become trapped or
submerged in the tension that poor breathing
habits create. Your breath is a catalyst that can
transform the way you feel. It acts as a bridge
between your body and mind over which ener-
gy and insights can pass.
Each breath is totally new and independent,
it lives only the moment. Every breath you take
is a positive decision affirming your inten-
tion to live whether this desire is conscious
or unconscious you chose it every time you
breathe.
Your Life draws insight from deep within
the passage of the breath, from that original
desire to draw the breath in and re-create new
life. From that primal impulse deep within us
SPA AND WELLNESS KNOWLEDGE | 专家论坛
Breathing is the bridge between your body and your
mind, and it is the only function you can voluntarily
control. By Tara Herron
4. SpaChina • 2016 | 49SpaChina • 2016 | 49
all to choose life as we inhale our first breath,
as we inhale every breath and our natural intel-
ligence to let go of what we do not need as
we exhale. Life can be experienced as a series
of breaths. Each breath is new, original and
independent yet is intrinsically linked to each
breath that has gone before. Your past, your
present, your future lies within the passage of
your breath.
Each breath can be a journey, absorbing the
experience of the moment and imprinting it in
our cellular structure, in our body and mind.
The quality of breathing creates a chemical
and alchemical process that can influences the
way we feel and think. Inhaling, we invite
life in to fuel our relationship with all that we
experience enabling us to get in touch with the
moment.
Exhaling we express a response, an out-
going relationship to what has been taken in
or received through the inhalation. Exhaling
fully we allow ourselves to let go of surplus or
unhealthy residue, creating space for new life
and new breath.
And so our lives unfold in the wake of our
inner story, chronicled in the breathing pat-
terns and associations that define us.
To be conscious or aware of the passage of
the breath as it flows through you is to initi-
ate an open relationship with what you really
feel and sense. We can purposefully propel
the breath into parts of ourselves that need
energy or healing bringing more life there.
If you knock your toe or hurt yourself, your
immediate response will be to suck in air and
hold your breath whilst focusing on the place
of pain. You then blow that breath out force-
fully only to suck it carefully back in. This
is how we channel energy to that injury to
both placate it and release the pain. This same
principle can be applied in various ways and
on many levels including emotionally and psy-
chologically. The breath is the only involuntary
function that you can voluntarily control! If we
don`t want to get in touch with a feeling of sad-
ness or embarrassment for example, we tend to
breathe with shallow reluctant breaths so that
we can skirt the issue of feeling. We toughen
up! This speaks for itself, `toughening up`
clearly implies building up tension to block out
too much sensitivity.
Being aware of your breathing can open
the doorway into a whole new dimension of
sensitivity that links us to important patterns
formed in the past that may well be influencing
the present. By tuning into the breath in the
present we are tilling the ground for the growth
of new potential and a better future. The old
and the hidden is brought out into the open
by the sheer force of the breath pushing waste
to the surface and presenting your mind with
forgotten feelings or thoughts that need to be
re-cycled and released. The breath serves as
the fuel enabling the body to be conscious, to
change, to grow and to heal.
The reason that the breath is so vital to you
as a body work therapist is because it is at the
very centre of your relationship with yourself,
and hence with your client. Remember that
you are the giver in the dynamic of the therapy
room so you must lead. If you`re not breathing,
your client is not breathing. Remembering this
truth can save you from the build up of huge
amounts of unnecessary stress and protect you
from being drained by the unconscious situa-
tions and blind spots. The purpose of discuss-
ing the power of your breath is twofold. On the
one hand you will benefit from learning prac-
tices and techniques that keep you in touch
with your own breath on a daily basis, as the
anchor for your mental and physical presence.
And on the other hand to know how to guide
your clients to breathe effectively whilst you
work.
The rhythms and energy that intermingle
between you and your client during the inti-
macy of a massage, plug you both into each
others breath patterns and the strongest pat-
tern can dominate a session, whether for good
or not! If you are forgetting to breathe deeply
or practice some of the grounding and centring
breaths given here you are opening yourself up
to perhaps stifling or negative energy. The way
you breathe will influence your client one way
or another and as we have said massage is a two
way street.
When it comes to the breath, this point
becomes even more obvious as you will cer-
tainly experience an upgraded quality to your
sessions when breathing is present. Supporting
yourself with breath automatically supports
your client.
In discussing breathing here, I have taken
a broad and eclectic view of its physical, emo-
tional, psychological and spiritual associations
so that you can use it one whatever level you
`intend` to. Intention is as much a part of
breathing as with thoughts in the chapter `Your
Mind`, and is further empowered by using the
suggested affirmations and dialogue to bolster
its transforming ability.
