Tag: Breathing Spaces

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath

ANNOUNCEMENT!!  I invite you to go to the Natural Wealth website to see a Sneak Preview of my upcoming book: Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath expected out in e-book and soft cover by 12/1/11!!  Got to right hand column and click on Be Breathed – Our Daily Breath.

Would love your feedback as the book is not quite finished yet…and your comments would be most welcome!  Also check out the video that took me so many takes….and laugh along with me.

REMEMBER –  Laughter is a series of exhales expressed with uninhibited joy!

Thank you for taking the time to take a peak at the Sneak!

 

 

Gaye Abbott           Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath

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

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!

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

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

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
Natural Wealth Website:  www.IgniteWealthNow.com

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.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com