Breathing with Missoku
by Akikazu Nakamura
(www.o-books.com)
The Undiscovered Zen Secret of Japanese Culture
When one thinks about Japan, a myriad of words may pop up: Zen, samurai, and ikigai to name a few. But what about Missoku? Missoku is the traditional Japanese breathing method that all Japanese people were using unconsciously prior to significant Western influence in the Meiji Period (starting 1868). It is the connecting thread between all Japanese cultural practices, encompassing both traditions of the past such as tea ceremony and modern Japanese worldwide sensations such as manga. So how can Missoku help us in modern society?
The basic principle of Missoku stems from one’s posture. Western people tend to have their pelvises raised, whereas, traditionally in Japanese culture, Japanese people lived with their pelvises tucked in. The latter posture allows for more air to enter the body, enabling one to breathe deeply. The following guide, extracted from my new book, Breathing With Missoku, details how you can begin to practice Missoku:
Finding One’s Own Breathing Method
Try exhaling quite naturally with a breathy sound. Does your abdomen expand or contract as you do so? The answer will depend from the outset on how you breathe normally.
For those whose abdomens expand when breathing in
1. Stop your breath with your abdomen protruding.
2. Inhale with your abdomen protruding and without changing position.
This is what Missoku is all about. You simply need to make sure that you don’t change the position of your abdomen. People whose abdomen expands naturally when they exhale are already breathing in a way that gives easy access to Missoku.
For those whose abdomens contract when breathing in
1. Take a deep breath and expand your abdomen to its limit. This should feel as if your abdomen from the navel downward if set to burst. Touch your abdomen with your hands to experience the sensation better.
2. Breathe out and then in again whilst keeping your abdomen protruded. Don’t actually move anything but maintain the feel of your distended abdomen.
For both breathing types
3. Continue exhaling and inhaling with your abdomen protruding. Keep your abdomen extended when you both inhale and exhale, maintaining the same posture without any movement. It’s quite difficult to maintain this posture. When you inhale and exhale there should be absolutely no visible movement of the muscles, with the only movement being that of the diaphragm. In other words, you’re making use of the inner muscles that you generally don’t use at all.
4. Release your energy. Did you find your body tensing up inside? Release all the tension in your body from your stomach upwards. How about your shoulders, neck, nose and inside the nose? Make sure your legs aren’t too tense.
5. Check that the only tension you feel is in the area beneath the navel and in the lower abdomen. It’s more difficult to release energy than to insert it. Try focusing on a single point and then releasing energy from everywhere else. Take in a constant succession of very short breaths and you should notice that you’re managing to inhale a sufficient quantity of breath in an instant.
6. Pay attention to what’s going on around you as you breathe. Your body isn’t moving. How do things look around you? For example, the world may seem to have come to a stop. Your senses may be more alert. If you’re inside a building, it may appear solid and heavy. Looking outside, the movement of leaves on the trees and the smallest differences between each individual movement may become more perceptible. The sound of the wind and the voices of birds can be heard. All kinds of things can be sensed subtly moving and emitting sounds, creating clearly differentiated, highly complex worlds.
You can read further instructions for advanced practice and view photo demonstrations in Breathing With Missoku.
So now that you can practice Missoku breathing, how can it improve your current daily life?
Life in the 21st century is incredibly fast paced. With the rise of technology, the world expects us to be alert and available at all times. With this lifestyle, it’s easy for us to feel that our lives are whizzing past us, giving us no time to reflect and process each day. However, Missoku gives us the opportunity to sit still, and actively remember and appreciate our lives, even if it’s just for 5 minutes per day.
The difference between practising Missoku rather than simply practicing breathing for mindfulness and meditation is that, when practising Missoku, our whole body does not move at all, unlike normal chest breathing and abdominal breathing where our torso is continually moving up and down. This lack of movement stabilizes our vision, allowing us to see our surroundings as they are, invoking a sense of calm. The tilted position of the pelvis also allows us to inhale more air in a shorter time, allowing us to breathe deeply. We are then taken to a new world, now fully aware of our bodies and the environment surrounding us. The thoughts whirling around in our heads subside, and our mental states relax – something that everybody needs.
Although Missoku has great benefits for modern people in modern times, we must acknowledge where it has come from. As Missoku is the genesis of all things Japan, mastering Missoku will open the doors to understanding Japanese culture in such a way that cannot be learned with any other methods. For example, in Japanese tea ceremony, practising Missoku allows us to utilize all 5 senses when entering the tea room. As quoted in Breathing With Missoku:
“Once the ceremony gets under way we can no longer engage in small talk and thus become conscious of our breathing and the rustling of our clothing in the tranquil atmosphere, forcing us to retreat into ourselves. We then enter a state of quiet ecstasy as we experience a variety of sensual stimuli: the crackling of the charcoal on the brazier, the bubbling of the boiling water, the scent of incense, and the calligraphy on the scroll hanging in the darkly lit tokonoma alcove. As we sip the slowly prepared tea, a mere two or three sips of the bitter liquid seem to pervade our whole being.”
I personally discovered Missoku through my practice as a shakuhachi player. The shakuhachi is a traditional Japanese bamboo flute, historically played by Komus? monks of the Fuke Zen Sect during the Edo Period (1600 – 1868). The Komus? monks did not treat the shakuhachi as a musical instrument; instead it was considered a tool that could be used to practice Zen Buddhism.
Whilst collecting the repertoire of the Komus? monks, I studied with an old monk in a temple in Hakata. After a tense performance for him, he taught me something I would never forget:
“‘Your problem is that you’re suppressing your sound in an effort to produce a good quality tone. That’s not the way to do it. You should blow as if in a state of emptiness.’ My instructor addressed me in a gentle manner as the sun began to set. He then opened the sliding doors facing out onto the garden and said, ‘This is emptiness!’”
I have carried this advice with me since, and have performed with Missoku and the shakuhachi in over 150 cities across 40 countries. I hope that my book Breathing With Missoku, will enlighten you as it did me, years ago.
***********
Breathing With Missoku will be released on the 26th of November, 2024 and is now available for pre-order at Collective Ink, Amazon and at other online book providers.