This section addresses the following questions:

• I understand the space around our joints decreases with increased tension, but breathing into that space does my head in. As a former nurse, knowing how breathing works physiologically and anatomically, I can’t grasp the concept of breathing into a joint or my heart space or other places. Am I supposed to close my eyes and imagine breath going somewhere I absolutely know it cannot go?
• I have some ‘difficulties’ with the imagination part of the joints exercise. In general, I am not the ‘imagination type’ (it’s hard for me, most of the time my mind goes blank and there’s just nothing). So how do you visualize the containers/space in the joints? Is the container the space between the two bones that form a joint? It’s pretty abstract for me!

Yes, it’s true. You cannot actually breathe into your elbow! But you can send your attention and intention there, and the breath is a powerful vehicle for these things. What is interesting is that when we bring this idea of expansion and breath into the joint, it actually increases the circulation there. With practice you can feel this, though it is easier to feel in another’s joint than your own.

In terms of how to visualize, there are a couple of ways. You could imagine the space between the two bones expanding, and the distance between the bones getting farther apart. Or, you could simply imagine something abstract — a sphere that is expanding, or a color that is deepening, or getting lighter. Whatever works for you; the most important elements are the attention and intention.