Category: Abundant Breath/Abundant Life

Life Is Breathing

“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.” ~ Albert Einstein

In a time when we are becoming more and more conscious that everything is connected we are moved ever closer towards the reality of an ever expanding universe.   This is humbling and at the same time wondrous!

One single exhale can extend out into the spaciousness of all that is around you.  The next inhale can allow that vast amount of space to enter into your body and awareness creating a sacred place to rest in and be nourished from.

There is nothing to do….just sensing and opening.  What a miracle the breath is…reminding us that we are ALIVE as well as sensing sacred beings.  Let us not forget this.

Let us LIVE this…

LIFE BREATHING


All around us everything is breathing
Listen carefully 
for you may miss the soft exhale 
of the flower on the vine.


Or the inhale of rich brown soil
 from the earthworm beneath your foot.
Butterfly wings waft the air
 towards you as an offering


While bird songs are heard 
in a series of exhales


As the tree that shelters 
releases a leaf to the ground
Chimes move in the breeze
 creating the sound of the breath 
in notes sung in tune


with the expansion and contraction
 of the Earth – all in union with
 your next inhale….. and exhale

Be present to life breathing around you


mindful of the artful ways that
 breath pulses among the 
minutest of cells and atoms


woven amidst the field of being 
that captures each one of us within the next inhale

All breathing for and with each other


An exchange of intimacy that 
connects us in levels so deep
 that even the whale in the ocean depths
 senses into the next breath


that you will take.

Be still for just a moment

and listen 
to the symphony of breath 
that fills every moment
 with the exquisite pleasure


of being Alive Now. 

Life is breathing.
  Listen….listen

~Gaye Abbott  11/11/2011

(Excepted from Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath, pg 94)

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WESITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Embrace The Moment – Emaho!

Once again yoga class has given me a gift!  For some the gift might be preparing a delectable meal, painting a picture, running a marathon, writing an inspired sentence, or even having a very connected conversation with someone.  For me today in yoga class it was about EMAHO!  Emaho is a Tibetan invocation for auspiciousness; an expression of joy, wonder and amazement.

How many times during a day do we embrace the moment?  What an amazing practice this can be.  When it comes to the breath we can either use the breath to stay in the moment of an experience….or we can allow the breath to BE the experience.  There is a distinction here.  In the former we are using the breath as a focus to quiet the mind…or watch it as the case may be.  In the latter our moment IS the breath – how it moves in the body, what is expanding and releasing, ….the actual joy and wonder we feel when we are breathing fully and enjoying every single second of the body of the breath.

Let’s take this a step further.  Instead of focusing on how we are breathing, how about focusing on the very miracle that we are simply breathing and ALIVE!  Our attention often goes to the details of what is wrong in our lives, our bodies…or our relationships.  What if we tipped that on its head so to speak and consciously decided to be thrilled to be right here, right now no matter what is going on!

Experiment this week to see if simply loving the fact that you are breathing changes how you perceive the moments of your life.  Might the food that makes its way to your taste buds delight you with its textures, colors, form and abundance.  Might the simple act of walking have an entirely different impact on your consciousness.  Or sudden immersion in a conversation totally giving the person that is speaking your undivided attention. 

Hold your hands in the air and allow your body to sway, undulate, jump, twist, be at rest to notes that mold their way into music that moves you.

It is not so much about HOW your are doing things in your life…but that you are being within those moments with as much of your attention as you can possibly pour into them.  Distractions are a plenty in this over stimulus life of ours.  Can the fact that you are reading this now as a breathing alive person turn you on in a way that, up until now, you have avoided?

As we age we may want to grab onto the moments and hold them to us – like a held breath.  Or sometimes the moments are pushed away because of some aversion deep within that is resting in judgement and the past.  Would you like to practice something different?

Mantra for the week:  I am thrilled to be breathing right here, right now!

That is all we have.  EMAHO!  Exapand it into everything – the light and the dark, the joy and the pain…. in your one wild and precious life!  NOW, put your hands up in the air and…..

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WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Belly Love and Body Image

In a recent post by Melissa Geiger called Reclaiming The Wisdom of Your Belly   she talks about the power that is located in this part of your body.  Our modern culture has us not only being ashamed of our abdomens, but also doing everything we can do to hold it in so that we will supposedly “look better”, or fit the cultural standards that have evolved from who knows where.  This applies to males as well as females.

The fact of the matter is, if we hold our bellies in trying to achieve something that our natural body does not want to conform to then we can NEVER get a full embodied breath, nor expand that lower portion of our lungs.  With belly held tight the breath inhabits upper chest and shoulders resulting in perpetually tight neck, shoulders, upper back and jaw.  No wonder we continuously need massages to help relieve these chronically tight muscles!

To help us in our decision to have a renewed loving relationship with our bellies here are a few things to remember (from Melissa Geiger/link above):

The Power of Your Belly

*In other cultures around the world, the belly is honored as the center of our physical & spiritual power.

*The Japanese word for belly is hara, and they use this word as a description of a person’s character. A “person with belly” (hara no aru hito) refers to someone who is calm, centered, warm-hearted and wise. Developing your hara is synonymous with developing maturity & integrity.

*On a physiological level, your belly is home to your Enteric Nervous System (ENS), which is often called “our second brain.”

*Psychological stress has an immediate impact on your digestive system. Chronic stress often leads to chronic digestive issues.

*60-70% of your immune system is located in your digestive system.

*Our digestive health has a direct effect on our daily sense of well-being.

*Diets that are high in sugar, fat & processed foods make your belly an environment where pathogenic bacteria, viruses & cancer cells can thrive.

*Eating raw & living plant-based foods bring more oxygen into your belly. Oxygen helps to create an environment where healthy cells thrive and unhealthy cells get crowded out.

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Many of us hold stress and tension in the area of our bellies, and the extra weight which is often gained there as we age adds to our refusal to simply love and accept this part of our body.  Breathing Spaces has talked about relating with the breath as if it was your lover.  What if you treated your belly just as mindfully?

Place your hands there and feel the warmth of energy that flows in as you bring loving thoughts and feelings through your hands into your belly.  In stressful times take time to move from this part of your body, rest your nurturing hands there, allow the belly to softly expand outwards as you inhale releasing any held tension, use your favorite massage oil to increase circulation and promote lymphatic flow, or simply be mindfully present to this powerful center and breathe.

After all Buddha had a belly!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT: 

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Soulful Breath

There is an organization called Playing For Change that travels globally, as well as connects musicians all over the world, on behalf of healing and connecting all of us through music.   I haven’t yet found a video that they have done that I haven’t overwhelmingly enjoyed.  However the most recent one below has to be one of the most SOULFUL pieces I have heard in a very long time!

Listening to this I couldn’t keep still and I found the music moving me in body, heart, soul and breath!  It wasn’t about the words….it was about the feeling within the voice, the passion in the depths of the music, the interconnection between all of the group that created the deep soulful rendering of a very old song.

When I drop into what a “soulful breath” is I feel that it has these same qualities.  The feeling and quality within the breath.  You have an opportunity every time you breathe to put some “soul” in it so to speak.  Passion for your life, the relationships you are creating, and the way you treat your environment.

Does your breath reach way down into the depths of your lungs, belly, hips, and back?  Or does it show up as a shallow rendition of your life?  Is there passion as you breathe and move, or are you on automatic?  What if your breath was your lover.  Would you pay more attention to it then?

Take some time to listen to this Playing For Change song soulfully rendered by the Blind Man….and if you are not moved physically and deep down into your very soul…… then you better check your pulse! (and your breathing!)

Be A Breath of Life

Baha’i Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind,
a dew to the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

The shape of our life depends on how willing we are to create a masterpiece.  As my life unfolds itself I sometimes wonder what shape it will take next….forgetting that it is in my hands as I take a breath,  release it completely, and trust that I will be guided within the spaciousness that shows up with the next exhale.

Do you forget that the person standing next to you in the interminably long line is affected by the quality of your breath?  In fact the person sitting at the edge of the Ganges mourning the loss of a loved one is also affected by your breath, as is the whale that breaches out of the depths of the ocean.  The question is, will you be a catalyst for love and peace….or yet another addition to the anxiety and fear that strangles and contracts the life that we all have been given?

The choice is to be a breath of life, even amidst our own fears and longings.  Your life and those dear to you, as well as the entire planet, need your breath of life.  Since we all share the air would it not be a good practice to relax into the next exhale with all of the love you can possibly embody in one brief moment of time?  There is the peace….

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BOOK LAUNCH on 2/26/12!  Watch for the availability of Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath this month.  Available in download, spiral bound, and e-book forms on this blog site as well as ResonanceWithLife!  See a sample on the Our Daily Breath tab above.

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT: 

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com