“There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fountain of action and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out from unseen roots of all created being.” Thomas Merton
Sometimes I ask myself the question, “What am I doing with this one wild and precious life?” My mind rushes into the past and conjures up what I have done…pretty extraordinary, and ordinary, all at the same time…or it rushes into the future – into those precious few days that I have left of this lifetime. And then, like the wild child that it is, mind comes to a complete halt stubbornly refusing to budge….and then realizes that this is the place that it was seeking all along and plops down to rest in the stillness of the moment.
The silence where all is born, the creative well of possibility which delivers the clarity that reveals the next action to be taken. And at the same time complete and absolute peace, well being, and yes – joy. There is a saying “if not now, when?” Over and over we rush headlong into our days forgetting that all around us there is a continuous fountain flowing from unseen roots feeding us from source
There are many roots we can choose from in order to drink from this fountain. The breath is one of these. Opportunities to connect in intimacy abound. G. I. Gurdjieff in “Views From the Real World” says:
“Our mind is like a cabby who sits in a pub and drives passengers to different places in his dreams. Trying to work with the mind alone will lead nowhere. The power of changing oneself lies not in the mind but in the body and feelings.”
What if, as in my yoga class today, you chose to root yourself in the breath, the souls of the feet, the openness of your heart, or any single point of focus and allow the sediment of your day to drift down to the bottom of your being and clear the way for the experience of now. No pretense. No defenses. Simply sharing internal worlds from an open heart and willingness to connect intimately with yourself, others, nature….. the world.
How would your life be then?
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Gratitude to Keith Kachtick of Dharma Yoga, Austin, TX for once again an extraordinary class!
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.
When we really pay attention to our breath a spaciousness arises that has a quality of art in movement. Have you ever thought of your breath as an art piece? As a representation of a timeless geometric code?
The exquisite Thomas Rucker photo above captured my attention in a very breath and body oriented way. It represented to me the Golden Ratio Spiral which is the mathematical expression of the life breath of a living universe. Golden Ratio Spiral spins the breath up, around and through the spine as well as spiraling back and forth through right and left nostrils. This is all a microcosm of the galaxy we spiral within.
The air we breathe, and all life forms as we know them emerge out of timeless geometric codes. The very nature of our breath is a sacred representation of all life on Earth….and the entire Universe. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a tiny particle traveling on the back of the breath? The inner worlds you glimpse might take you shooting off in directions unknown and drop you down into the knowing of a moment nestled in the silence of a pause.
We are an integral interconnected part of the spiral of life.
Allow breath to emerge as an artistic expression of the universe
Wrapping you in carefully selected layers of receptive earth, air and stone.
Happy Birth-Day to the long awaited book that has many of your favorite posts from BreathingSpaces within the pages!! My heart is wide open as I deliver this book into your hands, hearts and souls. My deepest wish is that this book will be of service to those who read it and that it will encourage pauses in life to simply be with the breath and the sacredness of this life we have been given.
Here is some advance praise as well as links where you can purchase one of three options – Downloadable with beautiful formatting and the ability to print out each week’s focus for a daily reminder; e-book for Kindle, iPad, etc; and soft cover spiral bound to place in your library as a treasured resource. For a SNEAK PREVIEW go to: http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/ or the Our Daily Breath tab on this blog.
A Road-Map to Living an Inspired Life!
Richard Cawte, Ph.D.
That says it all.
Life has become so hectic for so many of us, with so many things to do every day (and never enough time to do them!). In Give us this Day our Daily Breath, Gaye Abbott gives us a clear, easy-to-follow guide that helps us find places of calmness and deep ease from which the day can emerge in a fresh, vibrant way.
We tend to pay attention to peripheral things in our lives and yet so often the very thing that sustains us – the act of breathing – is something we barely pause to consider. What I love about this book is that it brings the act of breathing to the forefront, allowing the reader to explore his or her relationship with the world through the breath itself. It’s an inspired piece of writing, flowing from the heart.
Giving us weekly practices is a stroke of genius, because it makes it easy for the reader to experiment and adopt new ways of breathing bit-by-bit. That’s why I love the book so much. It’s more than just a book. It’s a road-map to living an in-spired life, a step-by-step manual that invites us to align ourselves with the rhythms of the natural world – and then shows us how.
Life throws up many challenges, but as Gaye says: “the breath is a tool to anchor you. Allow it to be the constant thread around which you weave your life.” Wonderful advice.
Truly a book to read, delight, rest and reflect in!
Richard Cawte, Ph.D., International Business & Author of the Natural Wealth Course, www.ResonanceWithLife.com
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Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath is a wise, graceful, kind and gently humorous guide to awakening more fully through weekly explorations of breath.
By relating the natural breathing rhythms to the cycle of the seasons, Gaye Abbott invites readers to reconnect with a sense of being at home on Earth and in our bodies. This fresh perspective combines with personal story and observation to offer valuable new insight into the healing and transformational power of breathing.
Lea Bayles, M.A., transformational coach, speaker and author, creator of the Replenish Your Soul series of guided meditations lea@leabayles.com, www.leabayles.com
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Give Us this Day our Daily Breath is a wonderful book born from Gaye Abbott’s decades-long practice of yoga, meditation, awareness, mindfulness and joy, celebrating the breath each and every day like the gift and prayer that it is. Inspirational, creative, healing and practical, Gaye offers insights, exercises and easy-to-follow practices that allow us to fully appreciate and embody this act of breathing and all it contains. Gaye writes, “When we come together with another life form, we share the breath in the air that surrounds us. We take of the same breath, so to speak. Down through the millennia this has continued. In fact, we are breathing and sharing the recycled air of the dinosaurs, the very first humans, the dolphins, and the trees…In many of the classes, workshops and retreats, I often have people sit back to back and feel their own breath first, then connect with the breath rhythm of the other without attempting to change theirs. Almost everyone noticed, in a short period of time, that the breath would synchronize and become one.
Perhaps it was always one to begin with. Through this interconnected basic biological process we can feel each other, and with acute knowing understand what is within the other – even if we do not consciously acknowledge it. What if each one of us joined another – or others – in sharing a peaceful breath rhythm. Would the world change?”
Yes it would, and with Gaye as our guide, it is bound to. And what a joyful and transformational journey it will be. Thank you Gaye for giving us this day our daily breath and reminding us of the incredible beauty, grace and power of this thing called breath that we too often take for granted!
Leza Lowitz, #1 bestselling Author of Yoga Heart: Lines on the Six Perfections www.lezalowitz.com
OFFERINGS: Downloadable (Instant PDF Download Below) with beautiful formatting and the ability to print out each week’s focus for a daily reminder OR through LuLu – e-book (EPub/iPad, Nook, Kindle etc); and soft cover spiral bound or regular soft bound to place in your library as a treasured resource!
“We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He(She) enlighten our minds.”
~Swami Vivekananda/translation of the Gayatri Mantra
As we in the Northern hemisphere experience the transition of moving from the darkest day of the year and turning into the gradual return of light, our interconnected global neighbors in the Southern hemisphere are experiencing the opposite. This turning is felt in the deepest reaches of our bodies, minds, hearts and souls.
I ask of you today to stop. Stop and take a transition breath from business to stillness, from stress to absolute relaxation, from moving into the future or holding on to the past – to being present in this moment only. Find a moment of rest and simply being to take in the exquisite images and hauntingly beautiful voice that are part of the video below.
Breathe….and remember why you are here. Simply to love and be loved.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
BREATHING SPACES 