The Art Of Breathing
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Mkwiro Village, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 27 2009 | By: gvikenya
Devon Tighe is a two-week volunteer, assisting with GVI’s marine conservation research. She hails from New York City where she does strategic research at the New York Times.
Back home in New York City I practice yoga. Now, let’s be honest: When most people think of yoga they think of a flaky, tree-hugging, hippy-types sitting around crossed-legged, chanting long, sonorous “om”s. Allow me to attest that this is not the case. For many of us, yoga is, very simply, about breathing.
Regardless of whether you come from New York, London, Nairobi or Mkwiro Village, I imagine you have heard the expression “just breathe”. In the literal sense, breathing is the natural, instinctual mechanism that keeps oxygen flowing throughout our bodies and keeps us alive. In the more prosaic sense, we associate breathing with the calming of our nerves, the steadying of our focus. Or, as we often say in the yoga studio, with the “letting go”.
When I participated in my first dolphin survey, we were fortunate to come upon an extraordinarily large pod of forty dolphins. While the mere sight of them was stunning, what I found myself most mesmerized by was the sound the animals were making. When dolphins surface for a peduncle dive – which is the arc-shaped swimming movement most of us are familiar with – the animals exhale out of a blowhole that lies several centimetres in front of the dorsal fin. While we were out among the large pod, I was surrounded by the gracious, full-bodied sound of exhaling as the dolphins heaved gusts of air out of their graceful, dancing bodies.
“They are letting go” I kept thinking to myself. As we do in yoga, they are linking movement with the breathe. They are steadying themselves to stay on course. With that wonderful sound of spewing breathe, they are pushing out the dynamic force that connects us all – humans, dolphins, all the precious life in our world.
When I return to the hustle and bustle of New York City when I am finished with my time here on Wasini Island, I have no doubt that one of my favourite memories will be the sound of the dolphins. Exhaling.
Devon Tighe
Tags: blowhole, breathing, dolphin survey, dorsal fin, London, marine conservation, marine research, mechanism, Mkwiro Village, Nairobi, nerves, New York City, New York Times, oxygen, peduncle dive, pod, strategic research, wasini island, yoga
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