For over a decade I have been actively practicing the art of breathing. Yes, I know. We ALL breathe, all day and night from the moment we start until we one day stop.
The kind of breathing I am referring to is “mindful breathing”.
Would you please try an exercise with me so I can show you an example?
Take a moment to quiet the area around you. If you are in buzzing office, don’t worry you can do this too.
Look down at your feet, notice the ground beneath you.
Feel the support of the chair or seat that holds you.
Soften your shoulders away from your ears.
Loosen your jaw.
Take a deep breath here.
Now that you’ve brought your attention to where you are.
Take a hand to your belly and a hand to your heart.
With your eyes in a soft gaze or closed,
Breathe in a deep breath through your nose.
Breathe in so deep that you feel your belly expand in your hand.
Sip another drop of breath in once you think you’ve reached as far as you can expand.
Now exhale through your nose.
Feel your belly draw back,
Stay lifted in your spine.
Empty out anything that’s left behind.
If your reading on a phone or your hand is on the mouse, pull away from your screen and try the exercise without.
Did you notice a difference between your normal breathing verses that expansive breath?
This is where I wish I could ask you what you are thinking. Even after 10 years of practicing this kind of breathing, I still find myself amazed and eager to keep learning.
The breath is a powerful tool that we all have access to. In all of the religions I’m familiar with, the breath is seen as a source of life. Our soul is our greatest asset and our breath is our direct access to it.
Before I’d taken that first moment to focus my full attention on my breath, I’d taken for granted God’s most precious gift. Since then I’ve seen the breath calm me in situations of high stress, I’ve used it in my parenting as a way to regulate emotions, and the list goes on of its benefits.
The beauty of the breath is that it is nothing new to you. It is with you wherever you go, a tool that you will have as long as you live! I’ve yet to meet someone who has perfected it.
There is no level to reach or badge of honor you get once you’ve started focusing on your breathing. The value comes from the small moments where you notice it helping. The realization of how you were slower to anger when a focused breath was involved. The tantrum time gets cut in half because you held your child close, queuing them to focus on their inhale and exhale instead of throwing toys at the wall.
What may have once been a small insignificant breath becomes a big life changer over time.
Our existence came into this world because of one breath. The breath that gave life to us then has the power to give us life abundantly till the end.
Makenna Curtis
Local Pulse Community Writer
Holy Moments
