The shakuhachi and breathing

[Ryumon]

I've been learning to play the shakuhachi for about a year and a half. What drew me to this instrument is its sound, but it's also an instrument that Zen monks used back in the day as a tool for meditation.

My practice over the past week or so has been, for the most part, playing long, single notes. I'm trying to focus on the quality of the sound of the notes I play, and trying to get them to be more stable. Doing this has reminded me of something, and makes me wonder about how the shakuhachi got used as a tool for meditation.

If you're my age, you'll probably remember the way people were told to stop hyperventilation (that's when you're breathing too fast and there's too much oxygen in the blood). You would take a brown paper bag, scrunch it up, hold the opening over your mouth, and exhale into the bag, then inhale the air you exhaled. By re-breathing the air with more CO2, this rebalances the level of oxygen that reaches your blood.

Today, to stop hyperventilation, you are told to purse your lips and blow slowly, with as small an opening between your lips as possible. This is exactly what you do to blow air over the angled edge of the shakuhachi (the utagutchi) to make sounds. And shakuhachi scores are notated in breaths. What I mean is that phrases are notated with marks indicating when you breathe, and these phrases are written to each fill an entire breath.

Most people think that oxygen is the key to health, but actually CO2 is just as important, if not more so. Having more CO2 in your blood relaxes you; this is why, when meditating, and when the breath slows, one becomes relaxed. (It is also well known that low CO2 through poor breathing can be a risk factor for asthma attacks.)

By playing long notes, I realized that I was getting the same effect. The extra CO2 contributes to relaxation, as you notice when you sit zazen and your breathing slows down. So playing the shakuhachi is quite healthy, and the earliest Zen monks who played the shakuhachi were perhaps discovering this without understanding this.

Gassho,

Kirk

[Geika]

You're on to something, Kirk. Playing flute has had the same effect on me.

Gassho

Sat today, lah

[Cooperix]

In the past I suffered from chronic hyperventilation. It almost killed me. I had to learn to breathe correctly using the Buteyko breathing exercises (which I have done daily for many years now). We need CO2 in our blood to facilitate the transfer of O to our cells. Over-breathing dramatically reduces CO2. Many negative effects of chronic hyperventilation.
And a side benefit is relaxation of muscles.
Wonderful that playing an instrument can have such good benefits besides music!

Gassho
Anne
~lahst~