We are breathed by the world around us

Dr Sutherland discovered over a hundred years ago that our physiology expresses a subtle rhythmic motion: inhalation (a rising and widening) and exhalation (a settling and narrowing).  Not only does this happen inside the body, it happens outside us too. The world around us is also breathing - we are all within the ocean of primary respiration.

But what does this mean?  If we can access a place of stillness, we can feel the long tide and really understand the interchange that we have with the world around us....

Rollin Becker had a radical definition of health: 'health is related to an interchange between body physiology and stillness.'  When we are in health, we have a relationship to stillness, but with our busy busy lives, we lose this interchange in daily life.  As a result we lose some of our emotional and physical wellbeing.

Dr Sutherland recognised the importance of stillness : 'it is the stillness of the Tide, not the stormy waves that bounce upon the shore, that has the potency, the power.'  Stillness is dynamic and lives at the heart of all life; it is the source of our power.  

It has been suggested that the reason we are so out of touch with our bodies is because of our lack of connection to space.  As most things are space and not form (even the extremely small radius of an atom still contains 99.999% space), this is a fundamental issue for our health and wellbeing.

As a practioner, its important to know that stillness is at the centre of everything; listening and following a strain pattern until you find the stillness where health can be restored is key to wellbeing!

Also, love what Dr Sutherland had written on his gravestone : Be still and Know.