'Breathe...breathe in the air' sang Roger Waters breathily in the 1970s hit song from the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon. Breathing in the fresh air, or just breathing any way we want it, is a bigger symbol of freedom than perhaps anything we do. Breath, after all, signifies living itself in a way few other things we do can. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all breathing and sharing the earth's atmosphere.
And yet, many experts remind us that we may be breathing all wrong. Yoga practitioners have long held that most of us engage in shallow breathing that does not ensure an adequate supply of life-giving oxygen to all the cells in our body. The true importance of breathing in yoga is linked to our overall energy levels. We may therefore be functioning at only a percentage of our actual capacity. Health professionals have documented the changed breathing patterns in panic attacks, or at other crisis points. By learning to breathe correctly at such times, we can actually reduce the overall impact of such emergencies on our health, they have demonstrated. Diaphragmatic breathing is taught as a remedy in such situations.
In fact, breathing correctly is sure to increase our well-being and promote health and longevity. But how many of us do find the time or inclination to consider our breathing in any serious fashion? Its a wonder we still continue to breathe unabated, in the context of some of the things we have to face everyday. And yet, breath is one of the first responses the human body shows to any powerful stimulus. Its not for nothing that, like the song by Berlin, the sight of a gorgeous woman is supposed to 'Take my breath away...' 
If breath is such a delicately balanced function, why not take the time to pay some attention to it every day? Or, if not, at least find the time and space to look deep at a beautiful landscape, and practise breathing deeply every so often.
Even so much attention to the very way we breathe air, (as distinct from the very air we breathe) could bring some important dividends in the way we think, feel and work.
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