The rhythmic motion of expansion and contraction is a vital principle that governs the vital manifestation in Cosmos and consists of an oscillation between a state and its opposite.

It is expressed at every level of life organization: of the expansion and contraction of the universe, in the transformation of matter into energy and energy into matter, in the alternation of day and night, of heat and cold, of wet and dry, of systole and diastole,movement and stillness, wakefulness and rest, growth and decline, ebb and flow of the tide, contraction and distension, inhalation and exhalation. In that microcosm which is the human organism, the most easily observable rhythmic motion is represented by Pulmonary Respiration.

We breathe without thinking about it and, even in a state of sleep or impairment of consciousness, the diaphragm lowers, the thoracic cavity rises, allowing the lungs to absorb air.
This means that there is a nerve center that automatically controls breathing.
It is located in the oldest part of the brain, in that area called the Medulla oblongata, which is the continuation of the spinal cord into the brain.
Here are placed groups of neurons that give input to the motor neurons, contained in the spine, that activate the diaphragm and the intercostal and abdominal muscles, whose combined action causes breathing.

So the Brain controls the breath, but, in turn, the breath affects the state of the brain, in the sense that the balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen is the basis of the brain balance between excitatory neurotransmitters (glutamate) and inhibitors, relaxants (GABA).

Finally, breathing is able to influence, through the Neurovegetative System, both the heart rhythm and blood pressure.
Breathing is the only vegetative function that can be altered by consciousness.
We can decide to change the rhythm of breathing, we can not do the same with the heart rhythm.

> We cannot control the Heart by acting directly upon it, however, through breathing, we can change its frequency. 
The control of breathing is the basis of all the millennial practices of meditation and the most recent Body-Mind techniques, which provides one of the reasons for their effectiveness on health.

>> In the '90s in America, neuroscience began to deepen and demonstrate the effects of controlled breathing, at the level of the Heart and Brain in what was defined as Cardiac Coherence, 
a technique for the management of emotions, stress and pathologies related to it.
It was developed by a team of researchers at the HeartMath Institute based on the neurological and psychological studies of Antonio Damasio, Joseph Ledoux and Daniel Goleman.
The technique is based on the adaptation of millenary practices of meditative origin, such as Buddhist Meditation, Prāṇāyāma exercises of Yoga or Mindfulness, centered on the Conscious Breath, the Full Attention of the present moment where Body, Mind and Emotion, Heart and Brain, are synchronized.

We can all see how the respiratory act varies with the succession of daily emotional conditions: fear makes us retain it with a contraction perceptible at the diaphragm level; a state of inner calm makes it calm and relaxed, in a moment of passion becomes intense and vibrant, Joy and Excitement make it deeper and faster, while terror and panic generate apnea and paralyzing respiratory blocks.

Organic contractions of emotional origin can keep the diaphragm chronically in tension, the chest, the throat.

Breathing is therefore one of the most valid parameters for measuring a person’s energy level.

>> In the therapies I used such as Bioenergetics and Mindfulness, much importance is given to Breath.

However, I would like to specify that in holistic disciplines such as Naturopathy, the concrete help does not come from the practice of some specific introspective technique or some particular respiratory practice, but the therapist’s ability to help jointly develop Breath Awareness and Emotion Awareness, understanding their correlations.

This corresponds, moreover, to the general principle according to which Awareness is the means to arrive at a true transformation.

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If we want to root these techniques in our lives, it will be essential that the observation of the breath accompanies our even simplest daily gestures and their emotional impact.

In this way we will not only understand %cerebralmente', but also fully verify a fundamental law that we can so formulate: the way, the rhythm, the duration of breath depend essentially on our emotional and mental condition, be this occasional obstructive, whether conscious or unconscious.

In this way it will be possible to develop a harmonious psychosomatic integration that will induce a clear feeling of Global Well-being

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