TREE 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.”

Dennis Lewis from The Ten Secrets of Authentic Breathing

Trees are the lungs of the Earth. They call to us this time of year with their vibrant colors and falling leaves. Trees in their vast diversity are often taken for granted until Fall or Spring arrives. Then our attention is riveted on either blazing color or verdant green.

Many cultures revere trees as living breathing sacred life that provide purification, bathing us with life giving oxygen and cleansing waters when our environment is in balance. They are also used for prayers and ceremonies and often are a central focus for communities.

I remember as a young mother reading the book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, to my young sons. I loved the relationship between the boy and the tree as each went through the stages of their lives.

As we enter the holidays where trees take a central focus for ritual and celebration, perhaps there is another relationship we can nurture that will remind us of the deep and abiding interrelationship that we have with trees, as well as give us moments of peace and a great reminder to breathe fully.

Here is a practice by Llyn Roberts given in the book Speaking With Nature: Awakening to the Deep Wisdom of the Earth, that I invite you to practice as the trees around us change and shift with the season:

“Find a tree you admire on your land, in your backyard, or at a nearby park. Stand on the earth next to this tree, barefoot if possible. Gaze at the tree and sniff the air. Try to sense the misty, nutrient-dense waters that evaporate from this tree being. Although you may not see moisture, you can imagine its release.

Breathe in the rich vapors that flow from the tree like a fountain.

Then breathe out sustaining energy to the tree.

As you continue to “tree-breathe”, attune to this tree’s essence. Feel its spirit for everything it offers. Importantly, feel your gratitude. Just as its invisible waters and oxygen nourish you, the love you release with each exhale is food for the tree; appreciation is a nourishing force.

This is a good time to commit to do what you can to promote healthy trees and air, with the tree as your witness.”

As we relate with the trees around us and in our communities we can be with them as a reminder to breathe fully taking time to simply be present to the moment we are inhabiting.

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.

This exact moment is a gift of awareness.

TREE BREATHING….

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

Inspiring New Possibilities, Living From the Heart of Life While Co-creating Well Being of Body, Being, Heart and Planet….One Breath At A Time

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

Gaye Abbott, RYT assists individuals to dissolve the layers that block well being and reveal, through a combination of the energy medicine of Jin Shin Jyutsu, yoga therapy and breath re-patterning, and as spiritual mentor/guide/coach, the larger purpose and co-creative expression that we are here for.

For those interested in receiving private sessions please contact Gaye at: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com. Travel to your location in the U.S. or globally is available as is Skype mentoring/coaching. Please inquire.

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking effective action in our lives. It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action. This is Language as Energy Medicine

Inquire: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

The Open Palm

Life as it really is dictates that we will go through periods of discomfort. Sometimes minor and at other times incredibly challenging like death of a loved one or serious illness. This very discomfort reminds us that we are alive, as do the moments of pure joy and happiness. There is no good or bad here. It is ALL life unfolding – creatively being brought forth and then falling away.

Surfing the waves of change requires a presence of complete attention and devotion to what I will call here surrender. Without this practice the personal conversations take us on side trips where we can get lost and, at times, unable to find our way out for a very long period of time. If we were on a surf board we may be dumped upside down under the water!

That is until we realize that everything falls away, and new spaces open up. All we have to do is trust.

This past two weeks I have been bombarded by what I could construe as “loss” in the domain of money. As my personal conversations gathered together in anxious and survival based actions to storm the castle walls of change, my body was breached as defenses went down and the immune system sank. Strategic planning around how to avoid worst case scenarios was part of the battle plan.

Now, if you read the above paragraph again you will see language that speaks to the “all out war” approach of tackling a situation that is perceived to be threatening survival. The thoughts and conversations were literally and figuratively creating havoc with peace of mind and well being, and at the same time diminishing the possibility for actions that would get the required results – that in turn would open even more possibility.

Shifting attention inwardly immediately brought the ego/personal conversations to a screaming halt (sometimes it does scream in frustration when either not listened to or attention is deflected away)! What was being called for here?

Certainly not a grasping of actions to take – a “battle plan” if you will…..but instead an “open palm approach” where deep surrender was called for. A shift into operating from a place of simply Being. The personal thoughts and conversations were actually roadblocks, and at times insurgents against life lived in peaceful flow and trust.

As each situation encountered or personal thought of how things “should be” done, one truth kept coming forward. The necessity for absolute trust in the creative force of life unfolding the exact possibilities to take effective action on with heart and soul – that would then create the results required to bring more life and dignity.

Letting go of the grasping of how things should be we find the possibilities and absolute freedom that we have been seeking and yearning for all along.

How did this show up in my life as I surrendered to this unfolding of life? Full breath reinstated in the body and physical well being returned; a loan was funded to assist with the present circumstances; other sources of income started showing up; a new book release, The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer, supported and assisted the shift (see review below); saying YES to opportunities presenting themselves, without resistance or “background conversations”, was more often the answer given; and even a shower drain in the house that had been slow and often blocked for an entire year opened up without any assistance.

Trusting the flow of the living systems of how life operates from the deepest reservoirs of Source demands the open palm of surrender…..and full life giving breath. The butterfly can then be free to fly away…..

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The Surrender Experiment: My Journey Into Life’s Perfection by Michael Singer

When I first saw on the IONS website that Michael Singer had a new book out, The Surrender Experiment, My Journey Into Life’s Perfection—something within me knew that this was to be a perfect catalyst to complete the transition I was presently deeply in process with. That indeed proved to be correct as I journeyed with the author from the 1970’s to present time.

This is not a “how to”, technique, or even spiritual practice manual – but instead a clear and relevant declaration on how life really operates, absolutely supporting the embodiment of peaceful well being, while stimulating effective action taken from the depths of heart and soul.

The author has transparently presented his unique journey, which of course is fascinating in and of itself. However, what opened me was his devoted practice of “witnessing” ever constant thoughts, and clearly “leaning back” from them – surrendering – into a place of simple Being, where the creative Source of all life elegantly evolves and unfolds.

What struck me through each situation he encountered, or each personal thought of how things “should be”, was the absolute trust in the force of life unfolding that over time, was developed and practiced even in the most challenging circumstances. This is what I call the practice of trusting the unfolding of our lives. For it is when we simply open our palms and let go of the grasping of how things should be that we find the possibilities and freedom that we have been seeking and yearning for all along.

Thank you Michael Singer for an elegant and soul Sourced reminder of the possibilities inherent in being human and to being of service in the world.

Reviewed by Gaye Abbott, author of Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath: Weekly Breathing Spaces to Delight, Rest and Reflect In

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

Inspiring New Possibilities, Living From the Heart of Life While Co-creating Well Being of Body, Being, Heart and Planet….One Breath At A Time

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

Gaye Abbott, RYT assists individuals to dissolve the layers that block well being and reveal, through a combination of the energy medicine of Jin Shin Jyutsu, yoga therapy and breath re-patterning, and as spiritual mentor/guide/coach, the larger purpose and co-creative expression that we are here for.

For those interested in receiving private sessions please contact Gaye at: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com. Travel to your location in the U.S. or globally is available as is Skype mentoring/coaching. Please inquire.

NEW OFFERING AS OF 3/20/15!!

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking effective action in our lives. It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action. This is Language as Energy Medicine

Inquire: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

The Wild Breath

I happen to have lived in Austin, Texas for the past 4 years and, as many know, we experienced some wild and wooly weather last week. Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that Central Texas rain is not at all like California or Oregon rain – both places I have lived for longer periods of time – I adjusted to the fact that sudden, and I mean sudden, flash flooding was part of the landscape around these parts.

What no one told me was that tornadoes could also be part of nature’s wildness here, mostly because they almost never touch down in Austin. Though I wasn’t in town for last weeks tornado touch down, I saw the aftermath. This event took me into reflection around the wildness and unpredictable quality of the natural world – something that the human race has attempted to tame, domesticate and destroy since the beginning of the industrial age.

By those very actions, in attempting to create illusive and nonexistent “security”, dire consequences to the planet we live upon are very much a regular occurrence these days. Those consequences also reside within us.

We are finally beginning to realize that in this attempt to control – which we can never do anyway – nature would teach us deep soul lessons. Lessons that would illuminate the unconscious actions we have taken to separate ourselves from not only that which we are made from, but from the substance our very life depends on. Our own “wild souls” if you will, each and every cell of our being intimately connected with and from the natural world.

Just think about it. Even the very act of breathing, such a simple and profound life giving action, has also been captured into a tight container of separation from the wholeness of who we are.

The shallow and contracted breath – fed by scarcity, fear or anxiety – that so many of us have on board, represents to me this loss of the wild, untamed, and natural breath that is our innate and direct link to aliveness.

As we stare into the face of a smart phone or computer, we have lost the essential pleasure and connection that is made while in the presence of and gazing in awe at the wonder of a tree, sitting in the pristine silence of the desert, swimming with a dolphin in breath union, taking steps upon the rocks that make up the mountain, or feeling the expanse of a prairie – all reminding us of how vast and precious is life and who we are within it.

The resiliency of simply allowing the natural unfolding of life through the act of breathing connects us to that which sustains and nurtures our well being.

Perhaps if each of us paid attention to reconnecting to the wild, flowing, fully embodied breath we have been given, it would become an integral and vitally important part of the necessary foundation for cultivating and returning to our own innate wildness.

Taking time to explore the landscape of breath, the terrain that it travels, and the vitality that ebbs and flows from its very nature is an exercise in returning “home” to the wild soul of our being.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Gaye’s Review:

Delving into the wildness of this poetic prose of a book brought me “home”. Home to the elements that make up the “wild being” of who and what I am. The elements of Earth’s scared natural world, calling out to us so powerfully at this time in our planet’s history to come back “home” to the inner landscapes of our wild souls – reconnecting and communing in ways that shift the delicate balance back from the ego’s domestication, taming and destructive actions – into a natural state of cohabiting harmony in intimate and deep listening relationship with the Earth.

I could not stop reading this exquisitely powerful book, and am now on my second read through, stopping to ponder and inhabit the landscapes and the words that flow through me onto the journal page. At times I was reminded of John O’Donohue’s writing that draws us in to a much larger context from a place of simply Being. It is not just a “healing” that needs to happen here, but a complete return to absolute devotion to the wild landscapes and elements that bring us life with every breath we take. Mary Reynolds Thompson has brilliantly succeeded in opening that space for us to explore within and without, guiding us to take effective and conscious action from the wildness of all life – from the depths of our souls. – Gaye Abbott, author of Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath, Weekly Breathing Spaces to Delight, Rest and Reflect In.

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

Inspiring New Possibilities, Living From the Heart of Life While Co-creating Well Being of Body, Being, Heart and Planet….One Breath At A Time

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

NEW OFFERING AS OF 3/20/15!!

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking effective action in our lives. It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action. This is Language as Energy Medicine

Inquire: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

EMERGENCE: Bringing To Light the Unseen and Unrecognized

Deep in the ground
a root grows out of nothing.
Soon, a blossom emerges sending its fragrance
to the wind.
A bee stops for supper.
Pollen spawns an offshoot
years later
a garden of verbena appears.
All that lives grows within,
All that dies lives within.
Each breath nurtures
an unfolding,
pours water
to a budding blossom
and the chest flowers open
breath by breath,
leaning towards Spring.

-Leza Lowitz, Yoga Poems, Lines to Unfold By,
Revolving Head to Knee

Walking in the brilliant sunshine on a path I know well here in Austin was cause for celebration of emerging life that has been hidden within Winter’s embrace. The turn of season’s, especially Winter to Spring, reminds us of the aspects of our being that lay in wait to be rediscovered and brought into the Light as the lovely pink buds on this tree.

Today was my usual day to visit my one remaining Hospice patient at a nearby nursing home. I know little about his life before he was placed here, but what I do know is that in spite of the advancing Alzheimer’s disease he brightens and opens when his senses are stimulated.

What to some is a man who is retreating into a world where no one can reach, is to me unlimited potential for emergence. If you have never been in a nursing home before, and particularly on a Memory Care Unit, you will not know of the containment that often exists and the lack of stimulus to open into flower.

On this emerging Spring day we decided to take a short walk outside in the patio of the Memory Care Unit. As soon as the sunshine and the fresh air were upon Terry his entire being opened and blossomed right in front of me. Ahhhhh sounds erupted, a smile broke across his face, eyes widened, full breath engaged. His excitement literally vibrated through the hand that I was holding as we walked a bit and sat on the patio listening to the sound of the birds in the nearby trees.

In those moments I was privileged to witness that which is unseen and unrecognized by most who care for him daily. Living systems come into being through emergence and are illuminated as they change in the ever present dance of life and death. Art, music, writing, dance, science, the natural world….and we as humans are part of this biological phenomenon.

Taking some moments to be absolutely present to those small unassuming births, rebirths and deaths align us with our own lives in a way that illuminates those liminal thresholds of emergence.

Breathe…..

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

Inspiring New Possibilities, Living From the Heart of Life While Co-creating Well Being of Body, Being, Heart and Planet….One Breath At A Time

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

Gaye Abbott, RYT assists individuals to dissolve the layers that block flowing energy and reveal, through a combination of the energy medicine of Jin Shin Jyutsu, yoga therapy and breath re-patterning, and as spiritual mentor/guide/coach, the larger purpose and co-creative expression that we are here for.

NEW OFFERING AS OF 3/20/15!!

Coaching and Editing for Transformative and Visionary Writers

I help you reveal new possibilities in your creative work

Language is fundamental to who we are as biological beings and is the primary vehicle for taking effective action in our lives. It inherently carries within it our identity in the world and the potential for connection and collaboration.

As an advanced practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu I am able to see and work with the connection between the body’s energy system and that of language. Conversations actually live in our bodies. Words hold energy that stimulate our biology in various ways.

Transformative writing opens spaces, triggers possibility and stimulates your reader to take effective action. This is Language as Energy Medicine

Inquire: JoyfulGaye@NaturalPassages.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

The Last Breath

Breathing is an indicator of whether we are alive or not.

We come into this world taking our first breath with somewhat of a struggle as we inhale this new substance called air.

Little do we know that it will determine the quality of our life and how long we shall live in this particular body.

Our heart nor brain can function for very long without the precious inhale and exhale that marks our every moment.

We somehow forget this as we hold on to our breath, half breathe shallowly, tighten and contract our bellies, or over breathe during moments of anxiety decreasing the quality of those very life moments that are so very precious.

Two hours ago I was at the bedside of a most beautiful 89-year woman who was on the other side of that first life filled breath that brings us into the world. During my year and a half as a volunteer for hospice this woman became a part of my heart.

It happened that my regular visiting time coincided with her taking her “last breath”. Surrounded by loving family Irene transitioned amidst loving stories and touch, laughter, permission to let go, and deep gratitude for being who she was.

This is not the first time I have witnessed a “last breath”, nor will it probably be my last. During those last minutes as the heart slowed the labored breathing became a simple soft sigh of release as life as she knew it slipped away.

Such a gentle letting go that it could have been missed if one looked away just for a moment.

Not all deaths are as peaceful as this one was. What a gift to have it so.

Our breath gives us life. We never know when the next inhale will be our last. In fact we experience a little “death” every time we exhale having to completely trust that there will be a next inhale.

As I gave Irene a final kiss, told her how much I loved her and left the family to say goodbye to her I took a full breath and in that moment realized this.

Every inhale and exhale is a milestone along our path. We only have so many of them before we too transition. If how we breathe is how we live our lives….how would you want to breathe?

There are choices.

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NATURAL PASSAGES CONSULTING

Inspiring New Possibilities, Living From the Heart of Life While Co-creating Well Being of Body, Being, Heart and Planet….One Breath At A Time

http://www.GayeAbbott.com

Gaye Abbott, RYT assists individuals to dissolve the layers that cover the natural innate blueprint we came in with and reveal, through a combination of the energy medicine of Jin Shin Jyutsu, yoga therapy and breath re-patterning, and as spiritual mentor/guide/coach, the larger purpose and co-creative expression that we are here for.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.WildlyFreeWoman.com
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:

http://gayeabbott.com/books/

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