Glossary · 词条
One breath, many words
Four traditions saying the same thing. Here they sit side by side, in both languages, explained plainly.
- Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) 空气质量健康指数 AQHI · Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada
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Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, developed by Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada. It rates the short-term health risk of air pollution from 1 to 10+, based on ozone, fine particles and nitrogen dioxide. On smoky days in Alberta, check the current reading for your area before planning time outdoors.
- Ataraxia 不受搅扰（宁静） ataraxía · ἀταραξία · Greek, “untroubledness”
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Greek for “untroubledness”: a steady calm that events do not shake. Followers of Epicurus, the Stoics and the Pyrrhonist sceptics each prized it and reached for it by different roads. It is close to what FreeBrea calls being at ease (怡然).
- Breathing from the heels 踵息 zhǒng xī · Zhuangzi, “The Great Teacher” (大宗师)
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A phrase from Zhuangzi’s “The Great Teacher”: “the true person breathes from the heels; ordinary people breathe from the throat.” Read as a picture rather than anatomy, it describes breath so slow and deep that it feels as if it reaches the whole body, down to the feet.
- CO₂ tolerance 二氧化碳耐受度 CO₂ tolerance · hypercapnic ventilatory response
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How comfortably a person tolerates rising carbon dioxide before the urge to breathe becomes strong. That urge is driven mainly by CO₂, not by falling oxygen. Slow, gentle breathing exercises are often said to raise tolerance; the evidence is mixed and the measures vary, so we teach comfort, never breath-holding contests.
- Deus sive Natura 神即自然 Deus sive Natura · Latin, “God, or Nature” · Spinoza, Ethics (1677)
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Latin for “God, or Nature”, the phrase in Spinoza’s Ethics (1677) that identifies the divine with the single, all-including order of nature. Everything that exists is a mode of that one substance, and freedom is the ease that comes from understanding what must be. We read it as the Western version of “all things are one with me”.
- Dharana 专注 dhāraṇā · धारणा
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Sanskrit for holding attention on a single point, such as a breath, a sound, a flame or a phrase. The sixth limb of yoga. When attention wanders and you bring it back, that is the practice, not a failure of it. Counting breaths is its simplest form.
- Dhyana 冥想（静虑） dhyāna · ध्यान
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Sanskrit for sustained, unbroken attention, the seventh limb of yoga: what dharana becomes when the effort of holding falls away and attention simply stays. The Chinese word chan (禅) is a transliteration of it. In a class it is closest to the Observe passage: watching thoughts come and go without pushing or grasping.
- Diaphragm 膈肌 diaphragma · Greek, “partition”
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The dome-shaped sheet of muscle beneath the lungs and above the abdomen, and the body’s main breathing muscle. On the in-breath it contracts and flattens, drawing air in and letting the belly swell gently; on the out-breath it relaxes and rises. “Belly breathing” simply means letting it do its full share.
- Fasting of the heart 心斋 xīn zhāi · Zhuangzi, “In the World of Men” (人间世)
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Zhuangzi’s teaching on listening: not with the ears but with the heart; not with the heart but with the breath (qi). The heart is emptied so that it can receive. FreeBrea’s five passages follow the same path inward: senses, body, breath, mind.
- Free and easy wandering 逍遥游 xiāo yáo yóu · Zhuangzi, chapter 1 (逍遥游)
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The first chapter of the Zhuangzi, usually titled “Free and Easy Wandering”: moving through the world without being fixed by it. The text pictures someone who rides the changes of the six qi to roam without limit, depending on nothing. FreeBrea’s Roam mode borrows the word: you do not steer, you let the breath carry you.
- Gelassenheit 泰然任之 Gelassenheit · German, “releasement, composure”
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German for composure, or letting things be. Meister Eckhart used it in the fourteenth century. Heidegger took it up in the mid-twentieth century as a reply to the technological age: use technology, but do not be owned by it, saying both yes and no to it. We read it as a Western cousin of wu wei.
- Heart rate variability 心率变异性 HRV · variation in the interval between heartbeats
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The small, natural variation in the time between one heartbeat and the next. A healthy heart does not tick like a metronome; it speeds up slightly on the in-breath and slows on the out-breath. Researchers use HRV as one indicator of how flexibly the nervous system responds. It is a measurement, not a score to chase.
- Inspiration 灵感（吸气） inspīrāre · Latin, “to breathe into”
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From Latin inspirare, “to breathe into”. The word still means both breathing in and being given an idea or an impulse, as if a new thought arrived on the breath. Its counterpart, expiration, means breathing out, and also ending. Both halves of a breath are in the word.
- Interoception 内感受 intero- “inner” + reception · term from Charles Sherrington, early 1900s
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The sense of the body’s inner state: heartbeat, breath, hunger, tension, the need to rest. The term comes from the physiologist Charles Sherrington in the early 1900s. Noticing that your breathing has become shallow is interoception at work, and it is the skill behind the second depth of the method, Notice. It can be practised, and a body scan is one way.
- Non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) 非睡眠深度休息 NSDR · non-sleep deep rest
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A name for guided practices done lying down and awake, with no aim of falling asleep. The term was popularised around 2021 by the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman for methods much like yoga nidra. Research is early and the studies are small, so we offer it as a way to rest, not as a remedy.
- Parasympathetic nervous system 副交感神经 para- “beside” + sympathetic · a branch of the autonomic nervous system
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The branch of the autonomic nervous system that leans toward rest and recovery: it slows the heart and settles digestion after effort. Its main nerve is the vagus. A longer out-breath tends to engage it, which is why FreeBrea’s breathing practices lengthen the exhale. It works alongside the sympathetic branch, not against it.
- Physiological sigh 生理性叹息 double inhale + long exhale · “cyclic sighing” when repeated
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A double inhale through the nose, a long one and then a short top-up, followed by a long, slow exhale. People sigh like this on their own every few minutes, and the top-up is thought to reopen small air sacs in the lungs. In a 2023 trial, five minutes a day of “cyclic sighing” scored slightly better for mood than mindfulness meditation. Evidence is early.
- Pneuma 普纽玛（气息） πνεῦμα · Greek, “breath, wind, spirit”
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For the Stoics, the warm breath that runs through the cosmos and holds everything together as one living whole. The West’s nearest word to the Chinese qi.
- Pranayama 调息 prāṇāyāma · प्राणायाम
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From the Sanskrit prana (breath, vital air) and ayama (extension, regulation). The fourth of the eight limbs of yoga set out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and a general name for deliberate breath practices: slowing, lengthening or pausing the breath. In FreeBrea classes it appears in its plainest form, slow breathing with a long exhale.
- Pratyahara 制感 pratyāhāra · प्रत्याहार
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Sanskrit for drawing back the senses, the fifth limb of yoga. It does not mean shutting the senses off, but letting attention stop chasing every sound, sight and sensation so it can turn inward. As the body quiets in a class, the outside gets less loud: that is the territory of this limb.
- Qi 气 qì · 气 / 氣
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In Chinese thought, the stuff and movement of life: breath, air, vapour, and the vital energy that animates the body. The written character pictured rising vapour. Zhuangzi writes that a human life is a gathering of qi, and death its scattering. It is the nearest Chinese word to pneuma, and to ordinary breath.
- Resonance breathing 共振呼吸 about 5.5–6 breaths per minute
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Breathing at roughly five to six breaths a minute — about four seconds in, six out — a pace at which, for many people, heart-rate rhythms and breathing line up. The pace the room keeps during the Breathe passage.
- Restorative yoga 修复瑜伽 Restorative Yoga · from B.K.S. Iyengar’s use of props
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A gentle style of yoga in which the body is fully supported by bolsters, blankets and blocks in a few simple postures, often held for five to twenty minutes. It grew out of B.K.S. Iyengar’s use of props and was developed by teachers such as Judith Hanson Lasater. The point is rest, not stretch. It is the other half of the Release passage, beside Yin.
- Return Tea 归茶 归茶 · guī chá · Gui, Return Tea
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FreeBrea’s first object: the tea served after class, which we mean to offer for home in the same blend. It grew out of the ritual, not the other way round. You learn to make it in the room, then make it again at home. It is plain tea, offered as a ritual, and we make no health claims for it.
- Returner 归人 归人 · guī rén
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What FreeBrea calls the people who come, instead of “members”. A returner is someone who keeps coming back to themselves, and comes back to the room only because they want to: there are no annual contracts, streaks or reminders. The aim is that, in time, you need the room less.
- Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) 森林浴 森林浴 · shinrin-yoku · Japanese
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Japanese for “forest bathing”: spending unhurried time among trees and taking the place in through all the senses. The term was coined in 1982 by Japan’s Forestry Agency. Studies, many of them small, report lower stress readings after time in forests. It is a way of being outdoors, not a treatment.
- Sitting in forgetfulness 坐忘 zuò wàng · Zhuangzi, “The Great Teacher” (大宗师)
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A passage in Zhuangzi’s “The Great Teacher” in which Yan Hui describes letting the body fall away and the clever mind go quiet until he is at one with the great passage of things. Often translated “sitting in forgetfulness”. It is a classical picture of what the Observe passage of a class points toward: sitting, doing nothing, letting effort drop.
- Spiritus 斯皮里图斯（呼吸、精神） spīritus · Latin, “breath, spirit”
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Latin for breath, and also for spirit. It comes from the verb spirare, “to breathe”, and lies behind English words such as spirit, respire, inspire and expire. Roman writers used it for the breath of life. The same word carried both meanings, and its descendants still do.
- Sympathetic nervous system 交感神经 sympathetic · a branch of the autonomic nervous system
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The branch of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for action: it raises the heart rate, quickens breathing and sharpens attention. It is not a fault; you need it to climb stairs or meet a deadline. The trouble comes when it stays switched on after the need has passed. Slow breathing gives the other branch more room.
- The five passages 五段 到 · 松 · 息 · 观 · 归 — Arrive · Release · Breathe · Observe · Return
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The five passages of every FreeBrea class: Arrive (the threshold), Release (the body), Breathe (the breath), Observe (the mind) and Return (back to the world). One loop that runs from the outside in and then out again. The room’s light, sound and scent change with each passage.
- The Return 归 归 · guī · “to return, to come home”
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The name of FreeBrea’s method, and its core word. A class is one loop of five passages — Arrive, Release, Breathe, Observe, Return — ending with the line “You’re back.” The method is not a standard to reach but a path back to yourself, and each person walks it differently.
- The three depths 三层 能放下 · 能觉察 · 能自持 — Let go · Notice · Hold your own
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How FreeBrea measures progress: not by how hard a posture you can do, but by how quiet the mind can get. Level one, let go: in the room, you put the outside down. Level two, notice: you catch shallow breathing in daily life. Level three, hold your own: a few breaths bring you back anywhere. Level three is graduation.
- Vagus nerve 迷走神经 nervus vagus · Latin, “wandering nerve”
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The tenth cranial nerve. Its name is Latin for “wandering”, because it travels from the brainstem through the neck and chest to the abdomen, reaching the heart, lungs and gut. It carries signals both ways and is a main route of the parasympathetic system. Slow breathing is one of the things that changes its activity, which heart rate variability reflects.
- Wu wei 无为 wú wéi · 无为 · literally “not doing”
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Often translated “non-action”, but closer to “not forcing”: acting in line with how things already are, without strain or grasping. Laozi and Zhuangzi use it for a kind of skill, like the cook who follows the grain of the ox instead of hacking at it. Heidegger’s Gelassenheit points in the same direction.
- Yin yoga 阴瑜伽 Yin Yoga · modern style, developed from the 1970s
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A slow style of yoga in which seated and floor postures are held, passive and supported, for several minutes each. The aim is a gentle, sustained load on the connective tissue around the joints rather than muscular effort. Shaped from the 1970s on by teachers including Paulie Zink, Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers. It informs the Release passage of a class.
- Yoga nidra 瑜伽睡眠 yoga nidrā · योग निद्रा · “yogic sleep”
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Sanskrit for “yogic sleep”, though the aim is to stay awake. Lying down, you follow a voice that moves attention through the body, the breath and sensation. The modern form was systematised in the mid-twentieth century, notably by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, from older traditions. FreeBrea’s deep-rest practices are close relatives.