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Introduction
Breathing is the only organ in the internal organs that can be consciously changed, and various phrases such as ‘breath matching’, ‘A-Un breathing’, ‘drinking breath’, ‘holding breath’, ‘holding breath’, ‘draining breath’, ‘long breath’ and ‘hiding breath’ indicate that breathing is closely connected to the mind and body. In this article, I would like to discuss the relationship between Zen and sports, focusing on this breathing.
Buddhism, breathing and Zen
In the primitive religions before the Buddha, there was a practice called anapana, or breathless Zen, in which ‘the in-breath and out-breath through the mouth and nose are prevented’, but as it only caused pain and nothing was gained, the Buddha first rejected the practice of cessation of breathing.
The next step was to concentrate the mind on ‘inhaling and exhaling’ (anapana, in-breath and out-breath). While breathing in long, know ‘I breathe in long’; while breathing out long, know ‘I breathe out long’. And while breathing in short, know ‘I take a short breath in’, and while breathing out short, know ‘I take a short breath out’.
In addition to this, “practice ‘I shall breathe in with the perception of joy’ and ‘I shall breathe out with the perception of joy’, and in turn, practice the perception of mind practice, calming of mind practice, perception of mind, joy of mind, unification of mind, liberation of mind, observation of impermanence, observation of renunciation, observation of extinction, observation of renunciation, and observation of renunciation, and then perform the in-breathing and out-breathing. This is the practice of connecting the mind and the breath.
This is a practice that aims to connect to the attainment of truth through the familiar phenomenon of monotonous but effortless breathing from the outside world to the inside of the body and then back to the outside world again.
In the Shingon sect, as described in “Kukai, Shingon, Seals, Mandalas and Buddhist Statues“, along with making seals and chanting mantras, the body is prepared through a meditation called ajikan, in which bad qi is expelled from the body through breathing and the body and mind are purified through purification exercises.
Eisai as described in “Zen, temples and the history of Kamakura (Rinzai Zen and the Five Mountains of Kamakura)“, and Dogen, as described in “Zen Master Dogen“, teach the key techniques of zazen, namely “shin-shin, shi-breath and shin-shin”. Breathing, which connects the mind and body, is an important element of these.
The state of the body and mind are not always the same, and no matter how hard one tries, the body ages and becomes ill, as in the case of life, sickness and death, and the mind changes frequently. However, breathing is something that can be regulated to any degree by regulating it. In particular, the character for ‘breath’ in the Japanese word ‘sho-su’ means ‘breath’, which originates from the mind and comes out through the nose, so toning the breath means toning the mind.
In Buddhism, it is said that exhalation exercises and inhalation nourishes, and that we “breathe back (life)” and “draw breath (death)” with each exhaled and inhaled breath, repeating life, death and rebirth with each breath. This is connected to time and time without disconnection.
For efficient breathing, it is particularly important to exhale slowly and smoothly, and this exhalation is the complete combustion of the inhaled breath, and a good exhalation is said to lead to stress relief without choking.
Respiration and cognitive activity
Breathing is also a major factor in human cognitive activity.
Different parts of the human brain perform different cognitive functions, such as memory, judgement, learning, thinking and execution. Using the head, for example, involves activating a network of neurotransmitters in the brain, which requires energy and oxygen, but brain activity does not require large amounts of energy like muscle contractions, so oxygen intake is hardly increased. However, breathing rate, ventilation and heart rate have been shown to increase during cognitive tasks. This is thought to be because cognitive tasks themselves are stressful and act on emotions to increase ventilation.
In fact, experiments have confirmed that when various thinking tasks (memory, exploration tasks, etc.) are tested, the ventilation rate of the investigator increases during the process, and from this it has been inferred that deliberately breathing and increasing the ventilation rate will facilitate the thinking task.
Such a hypothesis is confirmed by the results of experiments in which, after learning a new movement skill, deep nasal breathing for 30 minutes was remembered better than when resting normally, and this continued 24 hours later, and by experiments in which learning or recall during the inhalation phase of nasal breathing performed better than during the mouth or exhalation phases.
Measuring breathing directly is a large scale process, as shown in the picture below.
Therefore, alternative characteristics are measured instead of these, such as pulse rate and brain waves as described in “Using the brain-machine interface and OpenBCI“.
Breathing and sport
There are two breathing perspectives in sport: aerobic (aerobic exercise with light load) and anaerobic (anaerobic exercise with high load intensity).
When exercising, at the beginning of the exercise, you feel breathless, your breathing gradually increases and at a certain point it calms down. This point of breathlessness is known as the ventilatory threshold, and aerobic and anaerobic exercise are bordered by this ventilatory threshold.
Aerobic exercise is exercise at a value lower than the threshold calculated as maximum heart rate (generally 220 – age) – resting heart rate)x(0.5-0.6) + resting heart rate, which is lower than the threshold where lactic acid, an indicator of fatigue, begins to build up. For example, if a person is 40 years old and has a resting heart rate of 70, this would be ((220-40)-70)x0.5+70 = 125 (beats/min). When exercising at a lower heart rate than this, the body’s aerobic energy supply mechanism can provide for the body’s needs and lactic acid does not build up, allowing the body to continue moving for a longer period of time.
This heart rate can be measured using a smartwatch with a heart rate measurement function, such as Gramin or Apple Watch. Furthermore, when used in conjunction with the GPS function, the distance travelled during a run and the heart rate at each location can be taken at the same time.
The ventilatory threshold, in terms of the functioning of the respiratory system, is the point at which carbon dioxide excretion increases rapidly or the respiratory exchange ratio (carbon dioxide emissions/oxygen uptake) increases due to changes in the quality of exercise, and is said to be at 60% of the maximum oxygen intake a person can have.
During exercise, oxygen must be supplied to meet the energy (metabolic) or load requirements and carbon dioxide produced by metabolism must be expelled. Maximal oxygen uptake is an indicator of these functions.
It is known that, whereas passive and other-dynamic respiration takes place during normal conditions, certain special energy metabolic states need to be created during exercise, and that these involve the cognitive functions of the brain. In other words, together with the perception of being exercised and motor control, conscious voluntary breathing takes place and ventilation is activated. This function is also known to be activated by simply imagining exercise or hypnotically suggesting exercise, and is reported to be significantly related to the cognitive function of the brain.
For such increased ventilation during exercise, it is important to synchronise breathing to the specific rhythm of each exercise, for example, in the case of running, it is said that breathing in four beats (one breath every four steps) or three beats (one breath every three steps) and the ideal rhythm is “two inhales and two exhales”.
In addition, for bicycle road racing, unlike in running, it is important in sports training to learn breathing techniques adapted to the respective sport, such as concentrating on exhaling and breathing as deeply as possible, rather than breathing in time with the body’s movement cycle (pedalling).
Conclusion
Breathing is a fundamental activity of life and an essential element for survival, which directly affects physical, emotional and mental health. Breathing training can be one of the easiest and most effective ways to maintain and improve physical and mental health in everyday life.
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