What is it?

I have been practising this technique now for at least 3 months, I actually do it prior to drifting off to sleep, I visualise and feel my intake of breath coming in from my toes and my fingers and reaching the peak intake at my core and then slowly releasing back out again, visualising the release of oxygen from whence it came. I try and do it for 5 - 10 minutes, usually, I can't remember when I stop as I just drift off.

Bone-Breathing increases awareness of our deepest selves, crystallized in our bones. Through this meditation, we relax muscle tensions in order to have more direct access to the bones.

As we practice Bone-Breathing we open ourselves to external energies and let go of our tensions to invite the new energy in.

We all carry chronic tension in our bodies. It is necessary for us to be aware of the stresses in our lives. Muscle tension usually becomes apparent when tension becomes a spasm and develops into chronic pain. By holding such tension, the amount of energy we have is greatly reduced and the chronic contraction that is never released will constantly leech calcium density from the bones. However, when the normal muscular contraction is followed by relaxation, the calcium content of the bones is increased, making them stronger. Muscle contraction, if followed by relaxing, is very good for the body. Bone-Breathing helps with the decontraction process. Here is an extract from fractalenlightenment.com

Benefits of Bone Breathing:

Enriching the Blood. This was the original purpose of Bone-Breathing. Thousands of years agoTaoist Chinese yoga or chikung masters discovered that fortifying our blood by breathing into the bones can help us produce new red and white blood cells.

Bone breathing helps the practitioner escape the modern-day problems of bone mass deficiency, osteoporosis, stress management, lack of energy, low immune system, etc. By circulating the chi to the innermost parts of the body, energy created by Bone breathing, merges with the sexual energy.

The biggest advantage remains, that one can practice this technique, anywhere and anytime. It is a very powerful technique that allows you to pull in energy into one specific area and feel supercharged in that area. It also helps to be more connected and in tune with the flow of energy in our body.

How to do it

Sit comfortably on a chair and place your hands on your lap. Fingers are stretched and open, and the palms are open and relaxed. Advanced practitioner often uses the ‘embrace the tree’ posture as demonstrated by Mantak Chia but for start even sitting comfortably will reap similar benefits.

Start by breathing deeply and rhythmically in slow motion, trying to inhale and exhale as deeply as possible. The ratio of the breath remains 1:2 (Inhale: Exhale). After a few breaths, bring your attention to the tip of the index finger of the left hand. Relax the wrist, hand and fingers. As you inhale, feel the energy transferring from the tip of the finger to the base of the finger and as you exhale from the nose.

As you repeat a few times, experience a sense of warmth/numbing/heaviness/tingling in your left hand’s index finger. Now, compare the same with the right hand’s index finger, which is yet untouched. This comparison will enable you to recognize the effect of bone breathing.

Now, bring the same awareness in all the other fingers of the left hand, either one by one or at the same time, sucking the vital energy in the body. (This need not be done individually every time you practice. This is intended only to help you to isolate the feeling of energy by concentrating on one small area at a time.)

Eventually, all fingers will be used to draw energy simultaneously in both hands. Now, progress further to the forearm, upper arm and shoulders, visualizing your bones as a big sponge consuming in the energy (the beginning stages require more visualization).

Now, reproduce the same feeling in your right hand, gradually progressing from the fingers to the wrists to the forearms, so on and so forth. Feel the sensation of warmth/numbing/heaviness/tingling spreading in both your arms.

The cycle would go from the arms to the scapulae, collarbone, sternum and ribs. The sensation of warmth/numbing/heaviness/tingling might differ from one area to another, depending on the structure of the bone in the specific area.

Now, bring the focus to the feet and toes. It is best to remove the shoes and any tight clothing and guide your awareness up the toes, either singly or together up to the ankle. Breathe in from the toes of the left leg first and then the right leg or both the legs together depending on your capabilities. Feel the breath enter through all your bones, hold it for a while and then let the energy flow out.

Gradually move up from the feet to the ankle, calves, knee, thighbones, pelvis, coccyx and sacrum, up to C7 vertebra in the spinal column. The movement of the breath is depicted with arrows, in the image above. (Do not pull your feet up with the breath. Let them remain flat on the floor.)

Now, you will have to breathe simultaneously both from legs and hands, merging the energies at C-7 vertebrae in the spinal column and from there to the skull covering the entire body. Keep breathing for some time, with a minimum of nine breaths of whole body breathing. And as you conclude bring all the energy to the navel center and close it.

Give it a go, you have nothing to lose!