interconnection – Page 5 – BREATHING SPACES

Sweet Chestnuts of Roslin – Breathe With The Ancient Ones

BREATHE WITH THE ANCIENT ONES:

When you are next out in the woods you may come across some ancient ones. You know who they are for it almost feels as if they are telling you the secrets of the ages. As you breathe in the air around them images come to mind of lives long past and creatures still present – circling round, sniffing your presence as if to determine just what kind of being you are.

It is the ancient ones that remind us of who we are in our fullest expression. That ask us to lay down our fears and breathe life into the creative impulse that quickens in us as it has in them for hundreds of years.

Our aging faces and bodies look gladly upon these ancients before us for we recognize the lines, crevices, textures, twists and turns of life well lived – a breathing, pulsing and at times mysterious Source of life that speaks to the expanse of creative potential and interconnection.

Next time you are in the woods remember to share a Breathing Space with the ancients, for they will hold you captive with their tales…… while giving and receiving the breath of life….

Thank you to Breath of Green Air for this magical and beautiful post! Gaye

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breathofgreenair

Deep in the old woods of Roslin Valley there live two very ancient tree ents. In the green shaded light of the summer woods you can make out their limbs and faces, which have grown here for over 400 years. In fact they have stood here for so long that time has gathered in a shadowy mist around its branches, pausing time and place. A deep velvet hush hangs over the hollow and everything present holds its breath afraid to wake the dozing giants, descendants of Roman immigrants 2,000 years ago.

If you venture close enough, you can look up into the branches where antlered wooden deer run free through the field of leaves. With their horned heads held high they keep watch over the paths leading to the old tree creatures body. Among the moonlight these deer hide from Odins Wild Hunt, as they have since time began. All…

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The Breath Pause Between Ubuntu and Namaste

Ubuntu 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 to 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.

We 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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Non-Separation and the Breath

A few years ago a story of the consciousness of interconnection unfolded right before my eyes. This happened from a place of non-separation, or in other words a real sense of oneness between people and nature. It is a simple story really – one of three men and a tree.

Two of the men were leaders within their Balinese community. One man had cut down a tree without permission from his community village. You see in Bali one must obtain the permission of the entire village before cutting down a tree. The sense of interconnectedness with nature and among themselves pervades the Balinese culture.

These two leaders were discussing – with tears flowing down their faces – what kind of consequences the man who had cut down the tree must face. He had apparently done this before, most likely for carving art pieces to sell, so the discussion was a serious one. I never found out what they did decide, but I did get to sit with one of the leaders and share meditation and mutual discussion about cultures translated through his brother. I thanked him for this beautiful living example of deep awareness on how each interconnected being or life form intimately affects another.

How is it that we forget that we are not separate from anything or anyone when our breath tells us that we are constantly intimately connected. We share the very air we breathe with all living things. My dear friend and lifelong mentor, Richard Miller, Ph.D of iRest (grounded and concrete tools to come back home to a place of non-separation and well being) spoke eloquently on non-separation at the Summer of Peace through The Shift Network recently. He emphasized that the ultimate healing for all humans lies first in our sense of separation from ourselves and secondly the “other”, or the world outside of ourselves.

In a recent class I was privileged to facilitate – Decrease Anxiety, Indulge Inner Peace – I remember saying that I believe the core of anxiety comes from when we go away from or leave behind our deep purpose in life, which comes from our wholeness. This results in feeling a sense of separation. This very sense of separation activates anxiety.

Our strong innate imprinting to belong and to survive as we grow up into adults often times takes us away from the very sense of already belonging/deep interconnection that is a gift we are given at birth. This leave taking from our feeling of harmony with ourselves and life itself brings us to “war” within and without.

Deep abiding inner peace and equanimity brings us home to the state of non-separation, or as Richard says “non-dual” state of being. What better tool to resonate with than the breath to remind us over and over and over that we are an integral part of the whole and never separate. Inhale connected to exhale sharing with an abundant circle of life in the moment. When we resonate this peaceful place those around us will attune to the same state.

Be the change you wish to see in the world….come back home.

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The Path of Opening

Angel Oak Tree in Angel Oak Park, on Johns Island, Southern Carolina.

“The person who breathes deep and easy, who holds minimal tension in the shoulders, who lifts the heart and chest – she/he has a very different experience of life. The root of the word courage means heart. When we collapse the chest, we become easily dis-couraged, dis-heartened. When we fill our space and widen our chest, there is suddenly room for connection, purpose and passion. ” Victoria Castle in The Trance Of Scarcity – Hey Stop Holding Your Breath and Start Living Your Life, pg 64

Reading this passage from Victoria’s book this morning I was inspired to write this blog post and also made painfully aware of my own bodies tension and contraction. As I sat to meditate it became very clear that I was clenching my mouth and jaw for no particular reason. When checking with my breath it was contracted as well! This most likely represents many years of muscular armoring in perceived unsafe situations along the way.

The “story” that went along with this contraction spoke to me quite clearly – “Hold tight! You don’t know what is coming at you next!” What a terrible story to live by, yet I am willing to bet that many of us hold this type of story in our bodies and psyche – most often unconsciously. I know that when I live in contraction the tension keeps me disturbed, off balance and attending to what is wrong – or in Victoria’s words “holds us in the Trance of Scarcity”….. and I say perpetuates “struggle mode”.

The amazing tree above spoke to me of the OPEN way in which we are meant to be. This Angel Oak is wide open, spreading, begging to be connected with (as there are so many lovely branches to sit upon), and completely available to you, I or anyone/anything. She has learned surrender, openness, trust, and wisdom from her years of being present to the moment of nature. She is completely embodied in her tree elderhood.

We too can be in that flow by coming out of the daily creation of separation and into the natural state of belonging. When we are out of this flow our breath is shallow, or we stop breathing for periods of time; our shoulders are slumped; brows furrowed; tense necks; clenched jaws; and a collapsed chest. When we release these contractions and the stories that have created them, our world opens up and we naturally “belong” without any effort on our part.

So, I leave you with some identifying markers for the state of OPENNESS. Remember that this state comes with a full embodiment of sensation and breath. What we embody, we become!

OPEN is: (from The Trance of Scarcity)

Ease…Prevailing trust….relaxed body….effortless breathing….”can do” attitude….collaborative….curious, asking questions….see opportunities…..generous……willing to take risks…….laugh easily at self…….energized……fighting FOR (not against)…..resilient….grateful…..releasing things easily…..make clear requests and agreements…..generative, accountable……wholehearted – and coming from your wholeness.

When we each inhabit this place of openness it not only affects others, but inspires them to open as well! I extend my hand to each of you on this path of opening. Though the body memory may want to go back into a contracted survival mode – your willingness to be aware of sensation and breath will give you a choice. The way in which we breathe and embody is the way in which we live our lives. How do you want to live yours?? Create and live by a different story!!

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Return To Deep Harmony

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

WEBSITE: www.ResonanceWithLife.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview, Reviews and purchase links can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

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