You have a natural breathing pattern when you are at complete rest, and it is called the Optimal Resting Breath Wave [ORBW]. There are 5 Characteristics of a Great Breath. It is a breath pattern that is to be felt, rather than quantified. It is low and slow. It is so silent you can hardly notice it, and it is best summed up by Lao Tzu, the famous ancient Chinese Philosopher when he said: 

 

“The Perfect Man Breathes as if he is not Breathing.” 

It sounds so stupid because it’s so simple, right? I mean, of course, I breathe right. I do it every day. It’s a subconscious act, like my heart beating; otherwise, I’d die... but could I tell if I wasn’t breathing correctly? And does better breathing improve my life? 

We are dying by 1,000 cuts, and we don’t know it. 

 

Lingchi is an ancient Chinese form of torture. When I say old, it was only banned in China in 1905. Lingchi roughly translates to ‘Death by 1,000 cuts’ whereby the perpetrator is bound and drugged in a public square and bled slowly to death, one cut at a time. 

 

A little nick here, a slight scratch there. 

 

Not much at first – incisions into the skin and muscles, followed by the joints. Hour after hour, the prisoner is sliced a little more until, eventually, he dies by 1,000 cuts. 

 

Not a pretty picture, is it?