Patterns As Prisons

Dewitt Jones  “Our patterns, too long unquestioned, become our prisons. Break the pattern! And see the scene before you with new eyes.”

Weekly I receive a picture and quote from DeWitt Jones, an internationally known photo journalist who is committed to viewing life and the world as something to celebrate every single day.  This weeks picture and quote made me start thinking about the patterns of breathing that we inhabit on a moment to moment basis, most of which we are completely unaware of.

What I saw in the pattern of the regimented vineyard above was multifaceted.  The red bucket of course interrupts the necessary uniformity required to grow and harvest grapes – almost as if it was an exclamation point thrown in to startle the eyes from only seeing a certain pattern.  The mass of yellow flowers beneath support the possibility of other choices as they wildly grow in whatever way they choose.

Having lived in wine country for 14 years I was used to seeing scenes such as the one in this picture and noticed when the new growth or Fall colors would change the landscape and thus the pattern.  However, there was always an underlying blueprint that best supported optimal growth.

This is how I see the patterns of our breathing.  The underlying blueprint for optimal breathing was installed before you were even born and activated once you took your first breath.  It is what is overlaying this healthy natural breath blueprint that I address here.

A very large percentage of people breathe very shallowly using secondary breath muscles (neck, upper back and chest).  Consequently why there is so much tension and discomfort in the head, neck and shoulders.  These muscles were never meant to be the primary care giver for the breath. They are often depended on because of bad posture, sitting for long periods of time, stress and fear, and most certainly lack of daily movement to stimulate natural breathing cycles as a result of being in our heads way too much of the time.

Did you know that there is a correlation between upper chest breathing and heart disease?  Of note is that almost all people that have had heart attacks are presumably chest breathers.  The heart is attached to the diaphragm by fascia.  Each time we breathe utilizing the diaphragm and other primary muscles for breathing the heart is massaged!

This is just one of the many benefits that a natural fluid diaphragmatic breath can bring.  Our primary breathing muscles are the thoracic diaphragm, the muscles between the ribs (intercostals), and the abdominal muscles (front of belly) as well as the pelvic diaphragm.  When you breathe in a natural healthy way the breath should be felt in pelvis, belly, back, and all of the ribcage.

Invite a full embodied breath in today and give it to the rising sun – a key to break free of the patterns that have captured your vital health and aliveness!

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WEBSITE:  www.IgniteWealthNow.com

Breathing and Moving In Life

To my faithful readership – there has been a reason for a lapse in current posts.  Not for want of interest in the breath, but instead because the breath is taking me to new levels within my own life.

There are two projects that have my attention and that I am breathing into.  One is a book on the breath that I will publish before the end of the year, and the other is a newly launched website with my dear friend and business partner Richard Cawte in the UK.

In reference to the former you shall have notification and a sneak preview within a month or so.  For the website please feel free to go to:  IgniteWealthNow and explore, contribute, and make comments.

One of the pages on the website called Inspire/Connect/Enrich begins with a video that I wish to share here.  When we breathe, see, feel and listen to our lives from deep within our heart and soul something amazing happens.  We live our lives and perceive life itself differently.

When we are in gratitude, in the presence of beauty, moved by a persons words, focused on a project or cause that has great meaning for us, or dwelling in our creative imagination our breath expands. We lengthen up through our spine and the heart has more space to open.

More and more of us are awakening to our purpose here in this lifetime and how we breathe is reflective of this movement from the deepest part of our being.  It is not always easy in our over stimulated lives to capture the essence of what is really important., nor do we always know how to take the next step.

However, the breath is ever moving and always renewing itself.  Take inspiration from the breath and direction from your heart.  All will unfold from there.

Do take some moments to watch this video presentation by Louie Schwartzberg below, and join Do As One on the Fall Equinox, 9/23, by breathing together with others across the globe to usher in the change of seasons.

Do As One Universal Breathing Room

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STOP! Unplug…..Focus One Point and Breathe

Yes.  I am going to invite you to go on a “media fast” this week.  That means smart phones, internet, television, newspapers, ……   Choose one day, or take the entire week.  It is up to you.

The reason for this is to open into possibilities that are obscured by the sheer volume of stimulus that captures our attention every single moment of every single day.

What would it be like to have space to notice what is going on in the world around you….not what you are being told is going on.

Take as an example my experience in doing this for the past 3 days in which I let go of my resistance to writing the first draft of a book on the breath that I have been sitting on for the past year.  I knew clearly that there were ideas and  creative paths that would not be open to me if I was returning e-mails, talking to people on the phone, and going out to make social connections.  Television and newspapers have not been part of my daily life for many years now, so that part was easy.

So I stopped.  I created a space for writing and just being with what unfolded itself before and within me.  So much more space appeared….and time slowed down.  The creative muse inside woke up and started an ongoing celebration resulting in an out pouring of ideas that resulted in 12,000 words written in 3 days.

During this three days I took a walk around the local lake here in Austin, Texas in the sultry 90 degree heat.  Not plugged into anything while I walked I was free to observe nature, people, dogs and the morning.

Half way through my walk I took a seat on a bench placed high above the lake on a pedestrian bridge.  My back was to another rail bridge that I had noticed before.  On it is painted in colors:  Focus One Point…and Breathe.  Graffiti art of the sacred kind.

With that reminder I did just that, and instead of being distracted by my minds constant barrage of chatter I was quieted as I gazed at the Lamar Street bridge directly in front of me, constructed with gracefully curved cement supports.  Sunlight helped to mirror these supports in the water creating an art piece of beautiful duplication.  What was above the water was also below.

It appeared to be another world in the water that was reverse from the one in air.  As I continued gazing a cloud obscured the reflection for a few moments and the magical world beneath the water was in shadow, disappearing before my eyes.  Once the light came out from behind the cloud this under water world was revealed once again.  It was there all along.

How many worlds, or possibilities are in the shadows, but still really there for us to shed light on and actively explore? Sitting with this I gazed down at the sidewalk just to my left and on it was written in colored chalk, “God bless you  friend” with a heart drawn at the end.

Walking back along the path I greeted an Austin resident who had brought his wheelbarrow down to the lake in order to transport water to the drought affected trees that grace this path.  Thanking him for what he was doing out of the kindness of his heart we exchanged a smile.  I am certain the trees felt the love directed at them.

Finally, climbing into my car and reaching to peel the juicy orange that awaited my return a man approached with a one gallon gas container.  He asked if I could spare some money to complete what he had in his pocket to purchase one gallon of gas.

Reaching into my wallet I took out my last dollar bill and grabbed some quarters and handed them to him commenting to please excuse the quarters as they had a bit of dark chocolate melted onto them.  We exchanged a smile and I was told once again “Thank you and God bless!”’’

Now, my question is would I have experienced all of this if I had earplugs in listening to music or whatever, allowed my mind to set an agenda of a certain time I needed to be back home to begin writing again, had my eyes down on the path focused on how many miles I needed to go today in order to get a good workout, or was even busy thinking about what my next chapter in this book was going to be?

My point is – unplug.  Unplug from the distractions that put your life on hold while you are caught up with everyone else’s opinion, judgements and agendas – or your own for that matter.  Not forever mind you.  Just for periods of time to be reminded of the extraordinary life you have before you in this moment.  Relax into the spaciousness,  beauty, and unseen worlds that appear from out of the shadows.  Focus one point….and breathe.

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Breathing Compassion in the Pitch Dark

Blessed be the longing that brought you here 
and that quickens your soul with wonder. 
~John O’Donohue

Being a visual person has its definite rewards and joys, yet I learned the other night that it also has its set backs.  Most of us in this world “see” through our eyes, being constantly stimulated by beauty and ugliness,  advertising and art, internet and the pages of a book, and it goes on and on.  The images all around us bring richness and meaning to our lives….and can also bring sadness and pain.

I have often wondered in my life what it would be like to simply not be able to see anything but blackness or shadows.  I have a dear friend who has slowly been losing her vision over the past 17 years or so and is almost completely blind now.

When asked a few days ago whether I had any blind friends, I couldn’t think of any because Vicki is so confident in her abilities to navigate the world – and she literally does as she travels by herself all over the world singing, teaching and giving key-note addresses – that I never even considered her as blind.  She would laugh about that! (click on her name to see more!)

Frequently over the years I have experimented with closing my eyes and seeing how it would be to do daily tasks, and orienting myself in a different way.  This necessarily brought to the forefront some of my other senses that get put on hold when busy “seeing” my world.  It was easy to imagine not having sight when I had my own massage therapy business, as so much is communicated through touch, and a persons voice and energy.  But it was another thing to imagine myself navigating without vision in all aspects of my life.

I remember in a college class while a classical piece of music was being played our professor asked us to close our eyes and hear the music in a different way.  Immediately images starting forming as I used all of my senses to really FEEL into the separate pieces of the music.  I also was able to sense it in various parts of my body depending on the quality of sound.

Oh, and then there was the time at the culmination of a ropes course that each of us in our group was taken one by one, blind folded, and asked to climb up a sawed off tree trunk to the top where a round disc (that moved when you stood on it) was placed.  Once you were up there you were asked to determine where that trapeze might be in front of you (and it changed with each person as the leader of the group adjusted back or forwards) and then jump off and catch it….all of course without your vision to guide you.

You were harnessed in case you missed…..but your psyche and your body did not know that!  Catching that trapeze (and I did!) invited my other senses to come on board on a level much deeper than visual assessment might have.  In fact it was an amazing experience as I breathed and sensed my way to that trapeze somewhere out there in the void!  But the fact is that I could take my blindfold off once the experience was over with.

What if you had been born blind and had never seen colors, natures beauty, or the inside of a building or home your were about to go into??  What if there was no visual memory bank to borrow from??   What if you had your full vision and then over time, or all of a sudden, you lost it?  A couple of days ago I placed myself in an environment where I could not see at all and not only that, but I was with 100 other people who were doing the same thing.

The Austin Blind Cafe in their own words is “a mind bending / heart opening experience where the audience will dine, participate in a Q & A with their blind wait staff and enjoy a concert of original music by Rosh & One Eye Glass Broken.(click here to hear some music)..all in the pitch dark! “  That is the very compact version, but as you can see I have much more to say about it here.

Our group of 5 was led into our dining experience by great humored Faith who has been blind since the age of 7.  As we lined up and touched each other on the shoulder I felt like a small child being led into a magical place in the pitch dark….and it turned out to be just that!

Delectable Vietnamese food had to be felt for, smelled and imagined as taste buds lit up with pleasure with each bite with either fork (if you could find it!) or fingers.  A little to my surprise I was immediately comfortable in the pitch black – in conversations with my table mates, listening to the Q & A session with our blind wait staff, embodying the original music played by immensely talented musicians, and culminating at the end of the evening in 100 people singing together from a deep feeling of connection – all without the distraction of visual input.

I had met only one of our group before so the conversations involved a “getting to know you” without eye contact, recognition,  and visual judgement distractions.  There was a sense of cooperation that developed at the table especially when water had to be poured and new food passed.  There was also a sense of stillness at times that gave rise to simply being present to whatever was going on in the room.  But instead of “seeing” what was going on, we were hearing, tasting, feeling and touching it.

The young woman beside me would place her hands around mine as she passed me a new yummy offering….and after a particularly moving a capella solo we found each others hands and squeezed.  One of our table mates was reported missing from his seat at one point.  It was discovered that he had been dancing to the music in the room somewhere.

Jokes were thrown about by the blind wait staff as they fielded questions, but it could not be denied that we learned more about what it was like to be blind by the openly honest answers to our questions…and by our own experience of being deprived of our visual sense.

Some sighted people in the room were obviously in a bit of understandable anxiety at being in pitch black for so long as their voices rose higher making it difficult to hear conversations at our own table.  For some it was an opportunity to let go of “being seen” in a particular way;  to embody music more completely without distractions; to completely focus on smelling, tasting and feeling into the food that was put into our mouths; to feel the rise and fall of breath; and to open to a deeper and more expansive compassion and connection.

At one point during our dining experience Katie, the young woman next to me, stated that her focus in school was International Relations with an emphasis on the Middle East.  In talking with one of my table companions after the experience I simply said, I wonder what would happen if leaders of nations or ideologies in conflict were to have a similar experience. Could much strife be averted in this way?  A friend of mine in the UK told me he thought every child should experience this at least once during the school year to encourage empathy and understanding.

So creators of The Blind Cafe,  I invite you to allow us to assist you to widen this experience globally!  Deep gratitude to The Austin Blind Cafe, and to all visually impaired individuals, for teaching us how to breathe compassion in the pitch dark…..

P.S.  No pictures have been added to this post on purpose!

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Obstacles to Simply Breathing

Just fresh out of my favorite Sunday morning yoga class the peace, stillness and resonance of life energy are still palpable.  During this last month it has been my “job” to release as much of the contraction and holding as possible that has built up over the last 4 years while employed in a job that was not in alignment with my heart and soul.

It continues to amaze me how much tension and holding that is perpetually present in our bodies.   These are patterns built up over time.  So….do you have an elephant sitting on your chest?  Or perhaps a boa constrictor wrapping itself around your belly?  No probably not, but then it may feel like that when actually putting attention on the quality of your breath, the tension in your body, or whether you are even breathing at all!

What are the barriers or obstacles to a full natural breath?  This post would be much too lengthy if all were listed and discussed, so let’s just get down to the core of things.  There is an all too pervasive implant within us that wasn’t there when we first entered into the air breathing world.

That belief system is “I am essentially flawed”.  From that place comes a leaving behind of the awareness and practice of our wholeness, and at the same time a journey of struggle towards striving to be “perfect”. In yoga this is called dukha which means misery, unhappiness, and pain.

“Ring the bells, it still can ring.  Forget your perfect offering.  There is a crack in everything.  That is how the light gets in.”  -Leonard Cohen

As we travel further away from our essential heart based nature and senses we enter the world of dukha.  From this place comes a holding in areas of our physical body all fueled by fear and the false belief that we are not good enough exactly the way we are.

The Hindu religion has an elephant headed God called Ganesha who represents the remover of obstacles. What I learned recently is that Ganesha always has one of his tusks slightly broken off.

When in Bali, Indonesia several years ago I bought an amazing carving of Ganesha and when I received him via shipping from Bali I noticed that he had a tusk broken.  At the time I thought it was mishandling in the packing and shipping process….and now 5 years later I realize that this is the representation of the perfect imperfection that we all are and a reminder to look beyond form.

“Acceptance of the somewhat funny looking elephant-headed man as the divine force stills the rational mind and its doubts, forcing one to look beyond outer appearances. Thus Ganesha creates the faith to remove all obstacles, forcing one to look beyond form, removing doubts and pointing out the spiritual side of everything.”

Coming full circle this post is now an invitation to come back to the senses and out of the mind.  To move towards flourishing and away from the pain of dukha.  Our planet is going through a tremendous shift right now and the quality of feeling “at home” inside of ourselves is essential to let go of the holding onto of old deeply engrained patterns that keep us – and everyone else – stuck. Humanity yields to the wisdom of nature, the heart, and the senses – and the breath deepens.

I will end with an observation from my brother who called me today.  He was incredulous that he was the only one riding the waves out in the ocean on a summer weekend in San Diego.  He just couldn’t understand how people there seemed to have forgotten the simple pleasure of getting in the ocean and being with the powerful, wonderfully wild and fluid water – letting go into the sensuality of simply being.

Simply being removes the obstacles to simply breathing.  Enhance your breath.  Enhance your life.  Simply be.

 

 

….and LOVE RAGES ON

 

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