Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Scene
  4. Volume 12, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 12, Issue 1-2
  • ISSN: 2044-3714
  • E-ISSN: 2044-3722

Abstract

In 2020, when the novel coronavirus, a respiratory disease, is ravaging the world, considering the breath for its health and well-being properties has never been more important. In addition, our breath has qualities that enhance presence and resilience, which are elusive to harness. Thus, breath becomes a powerful tool for the performer, potentially helping her devise works as well as enhancing a connection to her whole self, physical, mental and spiritual. To breathe is to be alive. Respiration is a key system in the human body’s function, a particularly privileged one, for it is both automatic and can be influenced consciously, enabling access to other systems, notably the nervous system. In this writing, I explore, very briefly and from a practitioner’s point of view, how the breath works, outlining the benefits of deep breathing and drawing on experience and available literature. I outline how the breath has been considered theoretically and practically in eastern and western cultures and examine works of art that place breath at their centre. Art helps us to see the potential of breath. This is a broad study, aimed at showing the importance held by the breath across time, geographical locations and art forms. I consider the specific practice of pranayama breathing as a way of harnessing life force, enhancing the physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being of performers exposed to precarious work (made even more precarious by the current health crisis). I present the three requirements of a pranayama practice and make recommendations for those who want to use the techniques by themselves. I conclude by expanding this therapeutic application of pranayama into a fundamental tool to cultivate presence and resilience in the live art performer, offering personal reflections from my own experience of creating one-to-one durational work.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Creative Scotland’s Open Project Funding Programme (Award CS-1910-29042/LH10535)
© 2024 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00065_1
2025-01-23
2026-02-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bachelard, Gaston (1988), Air and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Movement (trans. E. R. Farrell and C. F. Farrell), Dallas, TX: The Dallas Institute Publications.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Beckett, Samuel (1984), Collected Shorter Plays, New York: Grove Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bos, Abraham Paulus and Ferwerda, Rein (2007), ‘Aristotle’s De spiritu as a critique of the doctrine of pneuma in Plato and his predecessors’, Mnemosyne, 60:4, pp. 565–88, https://doi.org/10.1163/156852507X169573.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bostock, Richie (2020), Exhale: How to Use Breathwork to Find Calm, Supercharge Your Health and Perform at Your Best, London: Penguin.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Brulé, Dan (2017), Just Breathe: Mastering Breathwork for Success in Life, Love, Business, and Beyond, New York: Atria Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Buchloh, Benjamin (2012), ‘Interview with Giuseppe Penone’, in L. Busine (ed.), Giuseppe Penone: Forty Years of Creation, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, pp. 11–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Carel, Havi, Macnaughton, Jane, Malpass, Alice, Binnie, Kate, McGuire, Coreen, Feder, Gene, Dodd, James W., Collver, Jordan and Penny, Elspeth (2018), More Than a Medical Symptom: The Need For Holistic Care of Breathlessness, Policy Report 43, Bristol: Policy Bristol, http://www.bristol.ac.uk/policybristol/policy-briefings/life-of-breath/. Accessed 9 May 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. FACT (n.d.), ‘Faint with Light, 2016’, https://www.fact.co.uk/artwork/faint-with-light. Accessed 18 August 2020.
  9. Field, Andy (2017), ‘Breath and health’, Pushpam, 3, spring/summer, pp. 50–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Genesis 2: 7 (1989), The Complete Parallel Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, new revised standard version, New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hymes, Alan (1998), ‘Respiration and the chest: The mechanics of breathing’, in Swami Rama, R. Ballentine and A. Hymes (eds), Science of Breath, Allahabad: Himalayan Institute, pp. 18–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Irigaray, Luce (2002), Between East and West: From Singularity to Community (trans. S. Pluháček), New York: Columbia University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Iyengar, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (B. K. S.) (2001), Astadala Yogamala Volume 2: Collected Works, New Delhi: Allied Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Iyengar, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja (B. K. S.) (2005), Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace and Ultimate Freedom, Vancouver: Raincoast Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Karambelkar, P. V. (2011), Patanjala Yoga Sutra, Lonavla: Kaivalyadhama.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Keown, Daniel (2014), The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine, London and Philadelphia, PA: Singing Dragon.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Kleinberg-Levin, David Michael (2018), ‘Logos and Psyche: A hermeneutics of breathing’, in L. Škof and P. Berndtson (eds), Atmospheres of Breathing, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, pp. 3–24.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Lad, Vasant (2004), Ayurveda, the Science of Self-Healing, Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Lloyd-Smith, Harriet (2019), ‘The South Korean artist painting a Yorkshire chapel with prismatic light’, Wallpaper, 15 April, https://www.wallpaper.com/art/kimsooja-yorkshire-sculpture-park. Accessed 9 May 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Lysebeth, André van (1979), Pranayama: The Yoga of Breathing, Edinburgh: Harmony Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Maehle, Gregor (2006), Ashtanga Yoga Practice and Philosophy, Innaloo City, WA: Kaivalya Publications.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. McKeown, Patrick (2015), The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Technique that Will Revolutionise Your Health and Fitness, London: Piatkus.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Mijares, Sharon G. (ed.) (2009), The Revelation of the Breath: A Tribute to Its Wisdom, Power, and Beauty, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Morley, James (2001), ‘Inspiration and expiration: Yoga practice through Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body’, Philosophy East and West, 51:1, pp. 73–82, https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2001.0013.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Nair, Sreenath (2007), Restoration of Breath: Consciousness and Performance, Amsterdam and New York: Radopi.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Nestor, James (2020), Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, New York: Riverhead Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Piper, Adrian (2013), ‘Removed and reconstructed en.Wikipedia biography’, Adrian Piper Foundations, http://www.adrianpiper.com/berlin/removed-and-reconstructed-en.wikipedia-biography.shtml. Accessed 29 April 2020.
  28. Pont, Antonia (2013), ‘That tender discipline: Spacing, structured nothingness & kumbhaka’, in L. Škof and E. A. Holmes (eds), Breathing with Luce Irigaray, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 83–98.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Saner, Emine (2020), ‘How to take the perfect breath: Why learning to breathe properly could change your life’, The Guardian, 26 August, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/26/how-to-take-the-perfect-breath-why-learning-to-breathe-properly-could-change-your-life. Accessed 26 August 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Siegel, Daniel J. (2018), Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, New York: Penguin Random House.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre (2008), Yoga Mind and Body, London: Dorling Kindersley Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Skjoldager-Nielsen, Kim (2009), ‘Challenging smooth consumption: Durational performance as cultural misfit’, panel abstract, Psi #15: Misperformance: Misfiring, Misfitting, Misreading, Zagreb, 24–28 June.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Škof, Lenart and Berndtson, Petri (eds) (2018), Atmospheres of Breathing, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Škof, Lenart and Holmes, Emily A. (eds) (2013), Breathing with Luce Irigaray, London: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Stern, Eddie (2019), One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life, New York: North Point Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Svatmarama (1970), Hathapradipika (eds. Swami Digambaraji and Pt. R. S. Kokaje), Lonavla: Kaivalyadhama.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Swami Kuvalayananda (1966), Pranayama, Lonavla: Kaivalyadhama.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati (2009), Prana and Pranayama, New Delhi: Bihar School of Yoga.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Swami Rama (1998), ‘Portal to higher awareness: The science of breath’, in Swami Rama, R. Ballentine and A. Hymes (eds), Science of Breath, Allahabad: Himalayan Institute, pp. 72–112.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Swami Rama, Ballentine, Rudolph and Hymes, Alan (1998), Science of Breath, Allahabad: Himalayan Institute.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Tufnell, Miranda (n.d.),‘Pneûma project’, Miranda Tufnell, http://www.mirandatufnell.co.uk/pnemu.html. Accessed 10 June 2020.
  42. Tufnell, Miranda (2004), ‘Breath’, Miranda Tufnell, http://www.mirandatufnell.co.uk/trial/Page2.html. Accessed 8 July 2024.
/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00065_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): art; health; inspiration; performance; presence; resilience; respiration; well-being

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test