by Karyn Robinson
As my first yoga instructor always said “It’s all just an exercise in breathing.” From the moment we are born and inhaled our first breath, our first taste of life, to the day we die and exhale our last, the exhale of the whole experience, everything in between is just an exercise in breathing.  Breath is a necessary function of life, even if you hold it, it will come back.  If you don’t breathe, your breath will breathe you.  No problem, auto-pilot, like swallowing and blinking, no thought.  What if we did give it some thought, paid some attention to it?  Do you breathe because you have to or because you want to?

Sometimes, if we are very lucky our breath will be taken away.  Taken away by love, by beauty, by an incredible act of courage.  To be in awe, to sharply inhale, often with hand to the mouth or to the heart, from a glorious shock of gorgeousness is truly blissful. Try to allow this awe into your life, it is all around you if you look, and more importantly see.

Breath can heal you.  Right now scan you physical body, where are any aches?  Send the breath there, expanding, inhaling deeply into the flesh, bone, muscle, add color if you like (gold and white are my favorite breath colors).   Concentrate on that area for a few more inhales and exhales, slowly. Inhale your colored breath and exhale any tension or ailments, literally see them exiting your body.

In our society the breath pattern is the quickest thing we mimic of those around us. Who is setting that pattern for you in your life or are you setting it in your family’s life.  Test it out tonight at the dinner table with your family.  Intentionally slow down your breath, even allow some opulent sighs, what does it do to your 10 year old playing with his peas?  Texting shortens our breath, typing lengthens it a bit, looking into your beloved’s eyes makes it luxuriously long.

What if you allowed your breath to burrow deeply into yourself, letting it etch out space within you.  Imagine the breath digging deeply in with each inhale, getting into those dark and dusty corners, the places of non expansion, bringing with it light and carving out the places we have long forgotten.  If only we’d let it in…. and out…. And in …. And out….. and in …. And out…..

Suggested listening:  Breathe by Telepopmusik