Our Life Partner, The Breath. A Love Story.
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Stressful situations will always arise in our life, and sometimes it will feel as if there’s no solid ground to support us. Each time we pause and replace our attention on our breath, our mind comes “home” to our body. Each time we replace our attention on our breath, we grow more grounded. For a moment, we stop thinking about the future or replaying the past. For a moment, we can stop zipping around trying to make things better.
Paying attention to our breath brings us here, into the present, where we are able to notice what’s happening within us and around us on a moment-to-moment basis. It’s the fastest, most efficient way to draw ourselves out of that cycle of anxiety—out of that cycle of not-okayness—and into a state where we feel centered and calm.
Slowing down our breath takes little more than attention. Breathing is not an “activity” we need to accomplish. It is simply a process that we allow to happen.
As we practice letting go of effort and feeling the ground support us, we begin to experience the natural rise and fall of the breath.
We notice that after an exhale, our lungs spontaneously and organically fill again with air. The breath is simply waiting for more room so that it can fill us. And we can begin to see how our breath is our life partner, always there for us—without question.
Similar to the way we learn to rely on the support of the ground, becoming aware of our partnership with the breath reinforces our experience of connectedness. Of not feeling alone.
Your breath is talking to you all the time. . . and usually sweetly, if you listen.
Your breath is not the one that’s saying, “Hey, idiot.”
Your breath is the one that’s saying, “Hey, I love you.”
The practice isn’t to figure out how to stay here, it’s learning how to come back. Our practice actually begins each and every time we find ourselves there instead of here. We’re learning how to notice that we’ve tripped out and then how to guide ourselves back. It doesn’t matter how many times we trip out. What matters is that we return.
Here.
Sweetly. Gently. Over and over again.
We’re training in returning to our breath in yoga and meditation so that we can return to our breath when we’re out in the world.
So we can confidently pause and listen to our life with the support of our calming, centering breath.
Try this practice now to reconnect to your breath moving through your heart space:
Yoga for Anxiety SOS Practice: Heart Breath
And enjoy more practices below.
Listening to Your Breath
Imagine being with someone who loves and supports you—
a friend . . .
a teacher . . .
someone who really means it when they say,
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to work so hard.
You can relax. Come relax with me.”
Just for right now there’s nothing to get.
Nowhere to go.
It’s okay not to work so hard.
Exhale as if all your work is done.
Find the space at the end of your exhale.
Feel that space at the end of your breath.
Even for only one breath.
Allow yourself to feel what it feels like to be done.
Listen to your breath as it comes and goes.
Listen to your inhale as it fills you.
Listen while your breath says to you,
“Hey, come here. Come be with me.
Let’s be together. Let’s be together,
here, now.”
Other Practices
Listen:
Soft Belly Breathing
