Christian — Breathing Elsewhere
Back in the garden, on the synthetic grass. Christian settles onto his right side, eyes open, gaze fixed on a stone. No intellectual searching, no particular intention. Just settling, as he has been doing for several days now — a system of integration that has taken hold.
The edges and the breath
Then he moves to his left side — where the edges have always been more sensitive. And something interesting appears. With each inhalation, the ribcage and the belly inflate. The zones in contact with the floor push downward — and the body lifts slightly. As if the breathing were fighting gravity, raising the edges instead of letting them settle.
So Christian asks himself: why not keep the part in contact with the floor completely flat, and send the air elsewhere? Inflate the stomach and the ribs upward rather than against the floor?
The choice
And it works. He manages to breathe everywhere else in the body — upward, toward the flanks — while keeping the contact surface with the floor perfectly settled. The air rises instead of pushing down. No suppression of gravity, no fight against the floor. The body stays in contact, well settled, while the breathing circulates freely wherever there is space.
It is a discovery: the choice of being able to breathe wherever you want in the body. This choice only exists because settling onto the floor has become second nature. When you are well settled on the contact surface, you can direct the breathing elsewhere — without disturbing the release.
What we retain
Breathing pushes against the floor — and settling changes everything. On the left side, the more sensitive edges reveal a conflict: with each inhalation, the ribcage and belly inflate and lift the body off the floor. Breathing fights gravity without us realising it.
You can choose where to breathe. By keeping the contact surface flat and settled, Christian manages to send the air upward — stomach, ribs, flanks — without pushing against the floor. The breathing circulates freely wherever there is space, without disturbing the release.
This choice only exists because of the settling. Eighteen days of exploration have made settling onto the floor automatic. It is this foundation that now allows the breathing to be directed — a freedom the baby does not yet have, but that the adult can rediscover when the body is safe on its surface.
← Back to journal