Category: Tools For Breath Enhancement

DANCING BREATH RAP – DO IT NOW!

Exhale/Inhale

Here you will find the symbols of Inhale and Exhale.  There is an ancient practice called Qi Gong, or Chi Kung, which relies on the breath as an integral piece of the practice.  Qi Gong is described as: “the philosophy and practice of aligning breath, physical activity and awareness for mental, spiritual and corporeal health, as well as the development of human potential. It includes certain forms of martial arts and the spiritual awakening to one’s true nature.”

Like Dan Brule of BreathMastery (who’s website offers 5 core breath practices) you might see in these symbols the following:

“I see in the symbol for the exhale a bold vertical stroke that reminds me of the spine. It has what appears to be a serpent rising and coiling upward around the spine. (depicting what in Yogic literature is called the “Kundalini Serpent”).  That same vertical stoke appears on the inhale too. But on the inhale, I see a downward diagonal stroke shooting thru what looks like a rounded belly. This reminds me to send the breath deep into the abdomen. Directing the breath energy into the “dan tien” is a basic practice in Chi Kung.”

It is within this movement of inhale and exhale that we live and thrive.  In the rising like a serpent up the spine, and the softening of the rounded belly, we move the life energy/chi that is necessary for our vital health and aliveness.

In our often sedentary lifestyles in the Western culture that natural breath is squelched and contracted into a shallow chest effort that often never, ever gets down to our bellies, let alone front, back and sides.  Stagnation and dis-ease converge on our already stimulus overloaded bodies and we lose our zest for life – or perhaps life itself.

This on the other hand is what we aim for:  “For the most part, when the breathing mechanism is uninhibited, it will reflect and express your moment to moment natural state. A healthy breathing mechanism will automatically adjust itself to your energy. It will respond naturally to chemical or metabolic changes, to the intensity of your emotional experience or physical activity. And, it should respond easily effortlessly to your conscious will.” Dan Brule

Continually seeking practices that enhance the practice of breathing consciously, shake us lose from our inhibited and habitual breath patterns, and that increase life energy there appeared on my Facebook page today a very fun video with Dr. George Love (http://www.freewebs.com/4doorstohealth/) of Baton Roca, Florida.  Dr. Love is an acupuncturist, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and a Master of Blue Dragon Qigong. I don’t think that he will be able to make his living doing rap….but what he does have to offer here is a way to move that chi around and BREATHE!  Have fun!!

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

JUST LAUNCHED!  www.DivineWeathJournal.com Recent Post:   “What Is Divine Wealth?” with The Brit & American

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com Recent Post: Woman to Woman/Sister to Sistah

Everything You Need to Know About Life Is In One Breath

“Everything you need to know about life is in one breath.”

–Dewitt Jones, Photojournalist

 

 

 

 

 

 

After listening to the recent interview with Dewitt done by Sheila Finkelstein of Picture to Ponder I was brought back again to what an important tool and a metaphor for life the breath is.   You fill yourself up and then the biological imperative is that you must give it back out.  We, at times, attempt to hold our breaths thinking that it will make us “safe”and nothing bad will happen. Amelia Earhart said “Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?”

 
That is what holding our breath is about. You can’t not breathe – but you can, if you choose to do so, contract away from your own life experience and the calling and relationships that may be asking you out to play, create, and experience life fully, by shallow breathing or holding the breath.

 

You have to breathe!  Taking in a full breath fills you, gives energy, stimulates natural biological processes, and expands your potential for excitement about life and the contribution that you naturally have to bring.

 

Your contribution is then present in the exhale.   A giving out of the fullness that you have just taken in from a place of enough – to sustain, support, and create new life. For within the exhale a space is created to bring in more.

 

There is always enough, and for most living things this process is on automatic.  It is something that we can trust and relax into, especially during particularly difficult or stressful times.  Can we use the breath as a tool for recognizing the wealth and potential that is our life now?

 

Soft belly, relaxed shoulders, face and mind at peace – take time NOW to enter a Breathing Space of fullness.

 

Take that full breath and move, breathe and listen to Words From The Hopi Elders:

( from the album Songs of the Earth – Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe)  The music video was filmed by Majbritte Ulrikkeholm & Søren Frieboe .  Listen to the album on www.majbritteulrikkeholm.dk)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

IGNITE! – New Beginnings

As I walked the nature path with my neighbors dog today seeing the smiling faces of many, I realized that my energy was low.  The sun shining down upon me, the brisk air, and the contact with the Earth was enlivening me in a way that staying indoors and resting had not.

Allowing my shoulders to relax and my feet to make connection with the ground beneath me, I became aware of the earth supporting me as I breathed.   Self- image, at times based on a sense of separation from others and from the objects that senses perceive, let go of its grip.  It was at this moment that breath expanded lower into my belly and throughout my body.  A new and vibrant energy pulsed through me.

These changes were not produced by any kind of “doing”, but instead experiencing the moment as it is  with absolute presence.  The sense of “being supported by the Earth” will shift your breath and your awareness, and when practiced on a regular basis will allow you to energize, ignite,  and take action on the changes that will alter your life in the ways you dream and vision for this coming year.

With the coming of the New Year you may feel this need to renew, energize and shift into new awareness.  The astrology for this first month of 2011 also brings with it opportunity to expand beyond our old patterns and beliefs, and energize life altering changes freeing us from perceived limitations.

Scott Wolfram of The Travelers Well  www.travelerswell.com speaks on “igniting a vibrant explosion of energy” in your life now in the month of Janus. 

He says in his most recent newsletter:

“… as we move into the New Year, we move into the month of January, which is named for the Roman god Janus.  Janus is the god of boundaries and transitions, of doorways and new beginnings.  At each New Year, we all pass over a boundary of time and transition from one year to the next.   From the perspective of Janus, the New Year is more than changing the calendar it is the crossing of the boundary between the past and the future.”

He goes on to say that “the first 2-3 weeks of this year are the best times to energize 2011 as Jupiter will conjunct Uranus (at 27 degrees of Pisces) – which will not happen again until the year 2024!  The conjunction of these two forward-looking and powerful planets provides an opportunity to energize the future oriented perspective of Janus.  Jupiter and Uranus provide one of the most powerful astrological combinations to energize life altering changes, freeing us from the limitations of the past and projecting us into the future.”

The beautiful video below reveals to us the vastness, light, mystery,  and ever evolving Presence of all life – you included.

Time for a New Beginning


A spacey eclipse in the vacuum of space Nominee in the 1st Annual Firmament Video Awards Category.  Music: ‘Dawn of a New Century’ by Secret Garden

Practice the breathing space of connection with the Earth this month.  Feel the support, open the breath, and ignite your passions and creativity – freedom!

 

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  WildlyFreeWoman

Welcome Home – Sharing a Breath of Kindness and Generosity

“Do a deed of simple kindness; though its end you may not see, it may reach, like widening ripples, down a long eternity.” -Joseph Norris

This being my last post of 2010 I wanted to make it something that we can not only reflect on, but something quite simple really that each of us can take action on every day of 2011.


Be Selfish Be Generous

How many times a day are there opportunities for you to touch someone with kindness and generosity?  I would guess that they are actually unending.  It is simple to bring smiles to people, to lighten their load for the moment, to completely surprise them in a good way, and perhaps to inspire them to pass on the kindness to others.   This of course extends to all living things on this planet as well!

While I was living in the Bay area of San Francisco I would often pay for the person behind me on the Golden Gate bridge.  It is amazing to watch how people receive these random acts of generosity and kindness.  Some would honk as they passed by or hurry to pay so that they could catch up to you to smile through the window…and others would stay at the ticket booth for awhile – I don’t know how long as I had to drive forward – and seemingly argue with the person collecting the toll not quite understanding that they had just been “tagged”.  Letting go of the outcome is part of this “game” too, but somehow there is always an effect that is generated!

Similar to what Jim Norris said in the above quote Mother Theresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless”.  Words, actions, smiles, creative, spontaneous, and anonymous acts of kindness and generosity all contribute to being the change we wish to see in the world.

I had to put this video on the post as every time I watch it I smile.  Put out by T-mobile it is an example of what can happen when a person is made to feel special.  In this case it is like a virus that runs through an entire airport terminal.  If you get a chance listen to the comments of people afterward that are from passengers that were arriving at the airport.  (separate video on the right side panel)

Welcome Home – Life is for sharing (t-mobile)

Let this New Year be one in which you practice what I call the sharing of a breath of kindness – a breathing space of acknowledging that through these simple kind and generous acts of humanity we are making the life of someone or something else better…. even for just a moment…and in turn it truly does ripple out forever.

Why not make this a New Year’s Resolution.  Below I have given you a link to receive free of charge something that will assist with this commitment.  The site also has great stories from people across the globe to inspire you to take action.

What is a “smile card”? It’s a game of kindness — do something nice for someone and leave a card behind asking them to pay it forward. To date, 861,401 cards have been shipped without any charge.

http://www.helpothers.org

I invite you to share your stories throughout the year on this blog… I know I will!
2011 – a year for acts of generosity and kindness!  I’m in…are you?

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

In Our Own Being – We Are Enough

What are we here for?? 

Ram Dass says “Our whole spiritual transformation brings us to where we realize that in our own being we are enough”.

“I am enough, there is enough, you are enough” – a mantra spoken by a friend of mine on a daily basis has shifted her life and her perception of “enough”.  Perhaps when we fully embody this fullness within ourselves,  everything else shifts a tiny fraction allowing us to see and feel life in an entirely different framework – exploding our narrow perceptions and beliefs, and expanding our ability to give to others and ourselves from a place of creative awareness, open heart, and deeply aligned self acceptance.

From this place of enough comes the act of generosity.  This act comes not from a place of “have to” , “duty”, or “obligation”,  but a place of wholeness within – a place of fullness where generosity comes naturally as an outward expression of who we all are.

As each of us move through the holiday season, perhaps feeling obligation to give – remember to check in within yourself to feel what is natural and what way of giving enhances the breath and aliveness of another – and in turn to yourself and the planet upon which we live.

Breathing and living from this place gives us opportunity to live fully knowing and experiencing that there is enough.  This can come in the form of simple eye contact, a hug, or as in the video below an awareness that we all share the same humanity.

There was an opportunity the other day in the medical clinic I work at to fully embrace a patient as I called him back to the exam room.  This older man was outwardly a little rough in appearance and smelled strongly of the tobacco that he used regularly.  As he came towards me and moved into an embrace that he  initiated, I fully gave myself to the experience allowing myself to accept and let go of the slight reluctance I had to get “that close”.  As we pulled back from each other I  found myself smiling broadly at him.  The eyes of this Native American man held the love that he wanted to give…and that which he yearned to receive.

This simple act of generosity in connecting with another in whatever form that you feel naturally arising within you is the real gift that we can give each other.  We may not ever know exactly the impact that it has had….but we do know how we feel when in the act – ENOUGH!

You ain’t livin til you givin!

“He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows. He breathes, but does not live.” ~ Proverbs

 

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

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