After a decade of experimenting with various forms of meditation, I am aware of the direct relationship between the *intensity* of thought and quality of breathing. I am inclined to believe, through observation, that the content of said thought- positive, negative or otherwise- is immaterial in terms of its effects upon breathing. (Consider the cardio-respiratory similarity between the airplane panic attack and arriving at your surprise birthday party.) Intense thinking appears to lead to a protracted shortening of breath, and the oscillation of this shortened breath around the point of maximum exhalation. In my case, the ‘release’ of intense thought into a breathing-mindful condition yields, with no intervention of consciousness, an immediate powerful inhalation with tangible stretching of the diaphragm, followed by (sometimes) complete cessation of breathing for several seconds at the point of maximum exhalation. Again, without conscious intervention, this somewhat harrowing cycle may be repeated several times before the breath becomes pleasantly soft and mild. The result is a sense of great well-being, sometimes accompanied by euphoric tingling throughout the body. (c.f. the first tetrad of Theravada Buddhism’s anapanasati meditation.) This same effect, however, does not occur if I enter into a state of breathing-mindfulness from a state of low-intensity thinking.

My reason for elaborating all of this, is to suggest that the ‘subconscious breathing pattern’ may be intimately linked to the intensity of one’s thinking, and so may, for some people, prove advantageous not to set about practicing breathing exercises but to practice moving and consciously between states of intense thinking and states of breathing-mindfulness, and allowing one’s body to perform its own breathing ‘exercises’ which it intuitively ‘practices’ in order to achieve equillibrium.

Remember, this is just my personal experience and may not apply to everybody!

Skiing and mountain biking aggressively seem to help me in similar ways to guided meditation. I guess careening over moguls and through trees at high speeds is pretty effective at cranking up the TPN out of necessity to preserve life and limb.