Tag: breath

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

Occupy Breath

“Love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says ‘more for you is less for me.’ But the lover knows that more of you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings. This shift of consciousness is universal in everybody, 99% and 1%.” ~ Charles Eisenstein



Today I had the powerful experience of viewing a taste of the upcoming feature documentary, Occupy Love.  It reminded me once again of the powerful shift in consciousness that is happening globally right now, and I do believe that the internet has a great deal to do with it.  Many indigenous peoples have know for centuries of the deep interconnection that connects us all.  They called it the web of life.  Yet, little did they know that we would “artificially” create this “web” with our technology in the years to come.

Many of us experience this interconnectedness on a deeply felt level every single day of our lives. We are all empathic.   You only have to go out into nature and observe for a little bit to see this fact in vivid display.

Our breath is just as interconnected as the internet, the bees in a hive, a pod of dolphins on the other side of the world, the atoms that make up the body you are inhabiting, or a group of people that have chosen to “Occupy Wall St”.

The only reason why you have enough air to breathe is that we have an unspoken agreement that all life will share it together.  We are gifting it to each other – every human, plant, mountain, animal, insect, cell, river.   Somewhere under all the strife, wars, economic greed, consumerism and self absorption there is a blueprint for conscious and heart felt giving.  That blueprint is becoming clearly visible now and is harder and harder to disregard.

In our every inhale and exhale we are giving and receiving….an atmosphere teeming with life – our life.  Since we are intimately and consciously sharing the air we breathe with every living thing, how can we feel separate?  Occupy your breath fully so that the gifts you have to bring to the world are clearly coming from a fully embodied human in touch with the heart of matters.

“What we want to create is the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible. A sacred world. A world that works for everybody. A world that is healing. A world of peace. ”  Occupy Wall St – The Revolution Is Love

“There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted.  Then there’s another way; a breath of love that takes you all the way to infinity.”
-   Rumi 

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com  (new offerings!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com (Richard Cawte, Ph.D. most recent post is on “Making Connections”)
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com (Check out the Daily Breath page for a video of me and a Sneak Preview of a new book coming out in January 2012!)

Breathing and Balance

Recently I was taken by the insight that being in balance is not a state to cling to.  We all know that when we are “out of balance” in our lives that it can affect many things in our body, mind and emotions.  However, I question whether that is because we are “attached” to being “in balance”?  The better question might be, do we have something to learn in the territory of imbalance?

We are told by culture, our parents, and our ever-present egos that we must “maintain” and not be taken over by feeling or emotion, get angry, be sick or out of sorts, be different, or go too far from mid-line.  The fact of the matter is that we will always go in and out of balance.  It is part of being alive as a human being, just as natural as our inhale and exhales from moment to moment.

An opportunity to explore within a yoga class the concept of moving from balance to imbalance for an entire 90 minutes brought for me great awareness on how the control of ego gets in the way of a full breath.  The breath was the barometer that informed me whether I was attached or not, which translates to whether my ego was invested in being in balance or not.

It was transparently simple!  Every time my ego became involved in maintaining “balance” – in this case within yoga poses – the results were predictable.  Struggle, effort, and breath holding or significantly diminished breath.

The most surprising result of attachment to whether I was in balance or out of balance – and we were given multiple attempts for both experiences – was that when I completely let go of what state I was in I felt more grounded and rooted and my breath was full.  In other words, balance became innately easy and falling out of balance had no ego centered judgement attached to it.  In fact falling out of balance was fun and became just another “dance step” in life.

What happened with the breath?  Every single time I was attached to a certain outcome my breath diminished, was held, or stopped all together.  With surrender to whatever was happening in the moment it all became a part of living life and savoring whatever experience unfolded itself as free of self judgement as possible.  In fact, my balance improved within letting go of the resistance to falling out of balance!

We often are so busy living life ahead of ourselves.  A diminished, held or shallow breath will clue you in to this very pattern.  Even something as simple as leaning forward when you stand or walk affects the quality of your breath.  Watch and learn!

Be willing to learn from the places of imbalance in your life and remember these 3 things:  (Courtesy of Keith Kachtick, Dharma Yoga, Austin, Texas)

*Release attachment to being in balance.
*Surrender to gravity
*Root down into the Earth as if your breath was digging deeply down into the ground

From this place – no matter what happens in your life – you will find that the breath remains full and rooted to your Source.  A state of being to return to over and over again.  Allow yourself to play with the imbalance and marry it to balance.  What a delightful dance that is!

WEBSITE:

www.IgniteWealthNow.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

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

 

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Breathing To Be 100!

90-year-old Australian Rower, Ralph Howard

The 80 and 90 year old women and men that I see frequently in the medical clinic never cease to amaze me.  Many are still driving, living on their own, dress beautifully (and colorfully!) and have a zest for life reflected in their curiosity, creativity, sense of humor, and varied interests that I find contagious!  I often ask them how old they feel inside and I often get the answer of at least 50 years younger than their actual age.

I remember when I turned 50, and was having a very difficult time of it.  I asked a beautiful woman in her 70’s how old she felt inside and she paused a bit and then said – well I do believe I feel about 24, until I pass by a mirror and happen to glance at my image she laughed.  It was then that I realized that aging is an inside job – and how healthy and vital we remain through the years that we are given is a great deal in our hands, our minds, our hearts – and our practices.

90-year-old Andora Quimby started weight training at age 78!

Here is a portion of a blog post on Living To Be 100 from David Dowell – Creator of OomphTV (who has a mother in her 80’s that teaches yoga and has recently launched, with her daughter, a business called The Green Buddha)

Be sure to look for Breathing Spaces additional “secret”!

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Today I ran across an article from Health magazine.
Apparently those born after the year 2000 are more likely than ever to live to 100, according to research from Denmark. Good news for the kids, but what about us grown-ups?
Genetics do play a big factor in how long you live (thank you grandparents), but only somewhere between 20% and 50%, depending on the experts you ask. That still leaves over 50% up to YOU! Walter Bortz II, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford, suggests how you can improve your odds of a long life and reduce disease.

We can call this The Walter Bortz II, MD, Secrets to a Long Life:
*Bulk up on fruits and veggies, +5 years (plant based whole foods diets reduce disease)
*Exercise five days a week, +2 to +4 years (move and elevate your heart rate for a half-hour a day, minimum)
*Reduce stress, up to +6 years (from meditation to music to movement to art therapy. Find something that work for you.
*Get a hobby, +2 years (provides a sense of accomplishment.)
*Floss, +6.4 years (removing harmful bacteria reduces stroke and heart attack risks.)
*Vacation, +1 to +2 years (leisure is a great stress reliever!)
*Sleep seven to eight hours nightly, +2 years (sleep assists cell repair.)
*Have sex, +3 to +5 years (releases feel good hormones and burns about 200 calories, too!)
Thought you would like to know!

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*BreathingSpaces Addition:

Breathe Consciously and Fully, +7 years (assists body/mind/heart/spirit to stay vital, energetic, and in balance/harmony!  Also great stress reliever and disease buster!! )

After all is said and done my vote is for quality, and the above “good habits” can certainly contribute to that.   By the way, it is never too late to start!  Let us know if there are additional practices that you would add!

Addendum: For more info on Andora Quimby

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

www.DivineWealthJournal.com Most Recent Post: Keeping Your Head When Others Are Losing Theirs