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The breath of life becomes the cause of death to one who lives within a shell.

Alice Bailey

The air we breathe is spiritual ecology in action. When we draw in the breath of life, we share that air with all other human beings, all life on our planet. It is through respiration that our oneness with the trees becomes a manifest fact, and our communion with the oceans has immediate impact. Through the circulation of the gases and energy of the atmosphere, the reality of the planetary whole reveals itself, with implications for all human life. This vision underlies holistic healing as much as it does ecology—the science of the whole. From the perspective of spiritual ecology we can repeat the question of the mystics: “Who is breathing?”

Every minute, usually unconsciously, we breathe in and out between ten and fifteen times. We move enough air to and fro every day to blow up several thousand balloons. In this way the body can extract the oxygen it needs from the air and discharge waste carbon dioxide from the blood.

Whilst only one-fifth of the air is oxygen, this is the part our body needs for our survival, as oxygen is needed by every cell in the body to release the energy that is locked in food reserves. Many cells can survive for a period of time without oxygen, others need a constant supply. Brain cells die—and cannot be replaced—if they lack oxygen for more than a few minutes.

Supplying the cells of the body with oxygen is the responsibility of the respiratory and circulatory systems. This process is controlled by the brain via the medulla oblongata in the brain stem, where messages concerning blood composition are integrated with other information, thus regulating the appropriate breathing rhythm.

The ebb and flow of the breath draws into the being life-energy. Thus if there are respiratory disturbances which inhibit gas exchange, they can lead to a lowering of the body’s vitality, an increase in metabolic disorders, and degeneration of tissue.

The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system is a complex and beautiful embodiment of integration and wholeness.