Tag: breathe deeply

The Breath Pause Between Ubuntu and Namaste

unityUbuntu does indeed feel like a Unity word!  Take a moment to feel it as your mouth creates the sounds that bring the word to life.  It is flowing, connected and literally feels like a way of life.  My body wants to dance with this word. Dancing to the sound of drums – the beat of our hearts – uniting us in every breath moment.  Taking it all in INHALE!

Nelson Mandela states that Ubuntu asks the question:  “Will you do something to engage the community around you to improve?”  As our global community becomes smaller and smaller in the sense of communication and interrelatedness this indeed is the question of our day.

What action can you take today in your own community – within you own being –  that will most certainly affect others beyond your geographical location merely by the respect, human kindness, caring, trust, unselfishness, love, and sharing that you are actively demonstrating?

Meeting each other in Ubuntu we may find that the most embodied response is Namaste.  Two hands at our hearts toNamaste_silk acknowledge all that we are, bowing to all that another is, whether that other be human, animal, plant or a vision that brings us closer together as a global community.

This gesture resonates with Ubuntu on a very deep and profound level.  It recognizes that the life force, the divinity, the Self or the God in me is the same in all.

It also reminds us of the deep interconnectedness between all life forms.  What is done to another all can feel.  What is said by one can be heard by all.  What one creates sparks creation by others.  What stillness is felt in one becomes the sacred in another.  And it goes on….EXHALE….

The breath pause between Ubuntu and Namaste is called collaboration.  A deep collective determination to co-create and realize a shared goal, vision or significant change in current systems or structures.

Namaste_smWe are at the crossroads in a time when we must take action to shift our consciousness from one of separation, judgement, misdirected power, war and blame to one of connectedness, sharing, co-creation, peace, understanding and love.

Already so many across the planet are breathing in from the place of Ubuntu and breathing out Namaste.  Will you be one of them?  INHALE/Ubuntu….PAUSE IN COLLABORATION….EXHALE/Namaste

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Return To Deep Harmony

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My recent offering of a class called Decrease Anxiety, Indulge Inner Peace has been an awakening on many levels.  Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States affecting 40 million adults age 18 and older.  That equals 18.9% of the U.S. population and doesn’t even include those under 18.

Shallow constricted breathing is one aspect of the emotional posture of anxiety.  Our entire system turns acidic with this type of breathing, our secondary breathing muscles in the neck, shoulders and upper chest become tight and contracted,  and the stress response is activated over and over again.

Did you know that the average person reaches peak respiratory function and lung capacity in their mid-20’s  As they continue to age they lose between 9%-25% of respiratory capacity for every decade of life.  The findings resulting from a 5,000 person clinical study group observed over a 30 year span showed that the way a person breathes is the primary measure of potential life span. (Framingham study).  This tells me that we can change the decline in respiratory function by breathing more fully as often as possible and potentially decrease anxiety!

“For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on Earth”  Sanskrit

That full diaphragmatic breath that was so easy when we were infants somehow became distorted and contracted as we learned over the years that is was often not safe to be completely ourselves.  This “shut down” on so many levels is perhaps the core reason why there is so much shallow breathing and anxiety these days.

In addition, the minds default for survival always seems to go to the past and to the future to supposedly protect us from making the same mistakes or creating new ones.  We resist the fact that everything changes.  It is the moment to moment experience of life NOW that somehow gets lost in the fray!

A key to opening back to what Deepak Chopra calls “deep harmony of body, mind and Spirit that was yours at birth” is a full unrestricted breath…one after another.  Is our goal to always breathe in this way?  Well, perhaps intention is a better word here for if we can be aware of our breathing throughout the day, and at least start and end our day with at least 5 minutes of conscious breathing practice, our body will start to remember what it was like to be that open and unrestricted.  Our hearts will celebrate as they are massaged by the diaphragm and open to love, and our minds will once again remind us of the capacity for wholeness and interconnection.

We won’t always be able to breathe this fully, but at least we can have the intention.  It takes practice and a willingness to live the moment.  Here is a mantra that you might want to use in your daily breath practice:

On the inhale silently say to yourself “alive” and on the exhale “now”.  Then rest in the “pause” before the inhale naturally comes back in again.  The moment is a gift of awareness.  This also can be a great “break”  during a very busy day when you realize that you are forgetting to breathe, or in the midst of emotional, mental, or physical stress. 

As Dennis Lewis says in the last of The Ten Secrets of Authentic Breathing, “Remember you are a breathing being, alive right now and here.  Let yourself feel the mystery and the miracle of your breath and your life as often as you can.”

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Every Breath As A Prayer

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Often we feel that a prayer comes in the form of something spoken out loud or within, on our knees,  sitting in meditation, joining with others in a group,  read or written – in other words an action we must consciously take.  What if every breath we take is a simple prayer and a means to connect head with heart as proposed above?

What would you do with that practice?  Defining prayer as each breath taken expands the sacredness of what it is to be alive!

If each breath is a prayer then…

We are constantly in prayer

We have an unlimited opportunity to love

Our every breath is a deep connection to something greater than ourselves

Each breath is a prayer of gratitude for the life we have been given

No moment is less or more important than another

We are constantly praying with every other life form that breathes and vibrates

There is no separation between ourselves and the sacredness of life

There is nothing we have to DO to pray or any belief system needed

Prayer is life breathing itself

There is a beginning prayer and an ending prayer within this one life

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Cherish Yourself Within The Breath


“As you breathe in cherish yourself. As you breathe out cherish all beings.”

H.H. The Dalai Lama

As 2013 begins we may take a look at our lives to see and feel where we can be more of our authentic selves, increase our happiness, love more, achieve more, create more…..and it goes on.  It there was one intention for the year, only one mind you, what would that be?

For me I ask to be mindful of my breath.  The full, natural optimal breath that was given to me at birth.  Breathing fully is perhaps the best way to value yourself and your overall health.

Dr. Andrew Weil, father of Integrative Medicine says it this way, “If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.  From my own experience and from working with patients, I have come to believe that proper breathing is the master key to good health.”

Many of us find ourselves breathing from a very shallow place when we even notice our breath.  This shallow breathing is an integral part of what I call the anxiety cycle.  Shallow breathing tells the body to protect and be on guard.  What unseen forces are out there to get me?  …and it takes us into the future or the past, forgetting the precious moment we have right now.

On the other hand a full breath activated via the diaphragm with soft belly and full ribcage expansion tells our body and our 377365_284005775041434_1705234306_npsyche that all is well.  Ahhh….looking forward to the next full breath, the next life moment.  Do you want to live a full, healthy and expanded life?

DID YOU KNOW…The average person reaches peak respiratory function and lung capacity in their mid 20′s? As they continue to age they lose between 9% and 25% of respiratory capacity for every decade of their life! The findings resulting from a 5,200-person clinical study group observed over a 30-year span showed that the way a person breathes is the primary measure of potential life span. (From Framingham study) Do As One

The breath practice above suggested by the Dalai Lama is simple and effective, or the simple words of “I am breathing in” and “I am breathing out” for 10 breaths, with eyes open or closed, and in a posture of comfort is one way of breaking the anxiety cycle….and putting your focus on enhancing the way in which you are presently breathing and living!

Begin 2013 with cherishing your breath, yourself….and all beings.

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Our Earth Breathes – We Can Help Her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JViFugTtNQ

“Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.  Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out”, is a beloved saying of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn.  As the video shows above, we are not alone in the act of respiration.  Our Earth that sustains and feeds us is breathing as well.  The question could be asked, what are we feeding her??

The Institute of Hearth Math who has done many years of scientific research on the power of the heart to inform our actions, feelings and thoughts believes that we should ask this question.  The passage below from their most recent newsletter addresses this question:

What Are You Feeding the Field?
This Earth Day, we all can pause to assess what our emotions are contributing to our environment, how we are feeding the field environment. This goes beyond conserving and respecting Earth’s resources. Everyone must ask, “What am I feeding the field?”Personal experience tells us when we are angry, inhospitable and uncaring, we affect not only ourselves, but also those around us. Consider how one unkind, thoughtless or angry person affects a roomful of people; the feeling of discomfort and negative energy is noticeable. Conversely, have you ever felt the change a room’s atmosphere undergoes upon the entrance of a vibrant, cheerful or positive person?What if people around the world intentionally experienced sincere love, care, compassion and other positive emotions simultaneously and fed this positive energy into the global field environment?This question led to an experiment, and after nearly five years, more than 40,000 members of the resulting Global Coherence Initiative, with members in 87 countries, regularly feed positive energy and heart-focused care and intention into the planetary field environment.Collectively, we create a field that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field and energetic systems. As people intentionally send coherent love and care to the world, a more powerful heart-filled environment is created. This helps to build a reservoir of positive energy that benefits the planet. This reservoir can then be utilized to help bring balance and stabilization to people, thereby making it easier to find solutions to problems like climate change, the destruction of the rain forests and other global issues.There is more to this phenomenon than the feeling you get. HeartMath researchers repeatedly have categorized real mental and physical changes study participants undergo when they experience positive and negative emotions. HeartMath and other research shows that focusing on core heart-felt emotions can enhance one’s connection with others, and that this connection extends far beyond the individual.The research article Coherence: Bridging Personal, Social, and Global Health concludes that being responsible for and increasing our personal coherence are not only reflected in improved personal health and happiness but also feed into and are reflected in a global field environment. ” Institute of Heart Math**************************************

As we breathe from a place informed by our heart our breath opens and becomes more fluid and easeful.  We then change the environment of this “global field”….thus making better decisions for the health of our planet, which is essentially intimately connected to our own health.  Remember on this 2012 Earth Day celebration………EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY!

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