Our breath is with us every moment of our lives. The very first thing we do when we are born is inhale. And the very last thing we do before we leave the body is exhale. Our breath is also a powerful channel between us and our eternal selves: the Divine, the unseen life force energy that fills us and guides us through this human journey. Our breath connects the seen and unseen, the physical and mystical. And it is the key to living fully, sleeping deeply and feeling connected to the deep, wise, loving energies that want to expand and grow within us throughout life.
I used to think to myself, “I wish I was given a user manual for life.” And in my practice, many people have echoed a similar sentiment. Not long after I discovered breathwork, I had the next thought, “Connecting with my breath is the user manual I’ve always wanted!”
Breathwork is an amazingly flexible and creative tool for calming the nervous system, activating greater states of energy, releasing trauma, opening to feel more connected to your intuition and wisdom, and giving and receiving more love.
You may be thinking, “Hey, I breathe 24 hours a day and that’s not happening for me!” That’s because regular breathing is what’s called an autonomic function. It’s one of several physical processes that occur in the body without our conscious awareness or control to keep the body organism alive. But, there is something magical about the breath. It’s the only function of the autonomic nervous system that our body performs automatically, on one hand, but can consciously control and manipulate, on the other. Isn’t that amazing?
So, by using different breath patterns, coupled with focus and intention, breath can be prescribed and used to improve many aspects of life and health. (As a side note, this practice refers to conscious manipulation of the breath, and is meant to be done in measured doses, while you continue to breathe normally, through your nose, at all other times of day.)
Breathwork is thought to date back thousands of years and is found in many cultures around the world. It is a common understanding in both Eastern practices and Shamanic traditions that the breath can be used to create altered states of consciousness. These are states in which we can experience great inner peace, deep love and connection between ourselves and all living things. These expanded states of awareness can deeply impact our day-to-day lives as we experience deeper trust and love and open into more of who we truly are.
As we commonly access deeper states of love and guidance in our practice, we come to know what joy, bliss and gratitude feel like from embodied experience. We also have realizations of limiting patterns of thought and behavior that were formally unconscious. You may discover yourself engaging in negative self talk. “They don’t care what I think.” “That would never be possible for me.” Or “I don’t know how to do ‘that thing,’ whatever that dream is living quietly in my heart.” As you start to notice when those thoughts arise, we can work on them consciously and let them go. Or there may be some bothersome behavior that you have convinced yourself is “no big deal.” But then in a breathwork session, you see how it may be limiting you. Or you realize you could trade that time or money you’ve been spending fruitlessly to go after something so much more important to you. You start to realize that those dreams quietly waiting for your attention are part of the magnificence of who you are and what you came into this world to do. You matter. Your dreams matter. Breathwork is an opportunity to breathe yourself and your dreams alive.
I invite you to take a big, deep breath right now, welcoming the energy of life into your heart. And slowly exhale sending gratitude for all of life out into the world from your heart. Allow everything to slow down. Allow your mind to slow down. Imagine stillness all around you. Feel the energy of life within you and all around you. What do you notice?
Breathwork is an incredible pathway to opening yourself up to experiencing life as a beautiful, uplifting journey. You get to breathe through life’s twists and turns, its ups and downs with a deep trust that life loves you. You can partner with the energy of life to breathe yourself through anything. As you work with your breath, you are creating a relationship with it. This relationship weaves deep connections between the seen and unseen aspects of you and your life. Life is an infinite and powerful energy that wants to partner with you. You are made of this energy and you are breathing it through you every step of the way. Practicing conscious breathwork is the path of falling deeply in love with life and letting life love you back with open arms.