Interoceptive Sense and Influence of the Breath

When thinking about organismic processes you can feel and influence, the breath makes a brilliant example. You don't need to think about your breath. It will happen. You could be oblivious to it. Or instead you could be precise and deeply discerning: about which nostril is dominant, the cadence, how your diaphragms coordinate (yes you have many diaphragms) and on and on, as many Feldenkrais lessons illustrate. But breath awareness doesn't stop at what you feel — you have an extraordinary amount of — yes, I'll use the word — control over how you breathe. Or not. You can exercise zero control and be just fine. It makes sense to think of most or all of our sensorial bundles similarly to breath — that it is a big long gradient of how well it can be felt, how much it can be influenced, and what level of awareness we choose to have at any given moment.