"Breathing"

So, I'm surfin' through my blogroll, and I see that Jenny is taking up yoga. She mentions that taking yoga has made her realize "how little (she) breathe(s)." I can totally identify with that, as success in a speedy world encourages non-contemplation of bodily things like chewing and breathing. Oddly, even though I have been lifting weights since high school football, I never really applied what I learned about breathing technique to my quotidian awareness (not, I'm not a no-neck guy...I played defensive back [mostly safety, which means I am the fastest person at running backwards]). My *secret* admiration of Dr. Weil didn't snap me out of this unawareness. It wasn't until my partner convinced me to take ballet that I began to *really* pay attention to this common and repeated activity. I think it probably started with trying to hide the fact that I am *always* the most unflexible person in any given ballet class. Breathing definitely helps with schootching a micron closer to your toes or knees (or to at least breaking a 90 degree angle). This daily ritual of breathing was only reinforced with music and the heuristics that dance teachers use to align posture (making the figure 8 through your spine and head, etc.). These are some of the reason I love seeing people like Deb Hawhee, Blake Scott, and Byron Hawk taking on the rhetorical situation of bodies...