The Beauty of Breath

The top of our Visioning 2024 workshop page says, This is the year we trade certainty for trust.

If you think about it, that’s asking a lot. Because certainty is comfortable, familiar. It feels steady, stable, secure. Safe.

But now everything has changed. Nothing is as it was.

Our new reality is beginning to emerge from the ashes of the old structures that once held everything together. It’s birthing itself in real time from our own hearts and minds. The future is calling us home to ourselves, pressing us to go within and listen deeply for guidance.

As we each grapple with doing meaningful work (or just maintaining our sanity) in this shifting landscape, it can be extra challenging to prioritize the very self-care we need most to foster that inner trust right now.

The struggle we so often face to put ourselves first just got harder.

For us, the guided journeys, energy exercises and breath practices we use are good self-care, and also transformational tools. Even as the ground beneath our feet cracks open, testing our trust at every step, our quest for genuine connection, authentic experiences, and spiritual fulfillment continues.

So, protecting even a tiny portion of time for those tools has officially become essential. And what could be more essential than breathing?

A sweet way to support yourself through these turbulent times is with Micro-Moments of Self-Care — brief breaks in your busy day that promote easeful flow, presence and peace. Let’s begin with simple breath practices.

If you have a favourite, this is a perfect time to press it into service. Here are some of ours...

JUST NOTICE

It’s so easy to get distracted, by everything, especially now. So having an autonomic nervous system to keep us breathing under stress is a very good thing. But that automation also makes it easy to forget about the beauty, the magic, the miracle that is our breath. Breathing is a testament to your body’s genius. 

Which is why our first favourite breath practice is to Just Notice. 

Take a micro-moment to stop and Just Notice your breath.

Notice the cool dry air entering your nostrils and moving up into your sinuses and down into your lungs.

Notice the warm moist air exiting your body on the exhale.

That’s it!

Bonus points for closing your eyes.

EXHALE DEEPLY

Here’s the thing about that automated breathing under stress: it tends to be shallow. Turns out, our body is designed to release 70% of its toxins through breathing. That’s a lot. But the breath needs to be deep to really do that good work for you. You don’t need a coach or guru to guide you. All you need is to exhale and inhale deeply at least three times in a day for about 40 seconds each. Best way to spend 2 minutes of your day. Go ahead and give it try:

Exhale Deeply. Then inhale slowly. Then do it again.

If you’re doing it for a count of five each time, that’s 4 complete deep breaths in and out.

Repeat three times in your day (morning, noon and night?).

And you’re done.

HAND BREATH

This practice is for emergencies. Well, anytime, really. But particularly when things have gone awry. Or everyone is making you crazy. Or you’re just not coping. You get the idea. This practice is focused on quieting your brainstem or reptilian brain, responsible for fight / flight response. 

Place your left hand gently at the back of your head, where your neck disappears into your skull [brainstem].

Exhale completely. 

Now inhale slowly, as if you were breathing into your hand.

Keep your hand on your brainstem.

Continue to exhale completely and inhale slowly into and out of your hand until the panic subsides.

Repeat as needed. 

Call on these or other quick, simple, easy breath practices you may already be familiar with to keep you steady in the energetic storm that is already here and is sure to push us to the edge of our personal comfort zone as we make that move from certainty to trust.