Tag: mindful breathing

The Art of Conscious Breathing: Nurturing Mind, Body, and Soul

by stephsimply, posted in Yoga

“The breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness.”–Thich Nhat Hanh 

Students at the end of a yoga class with a seven minute meditation at the beginning of class (There were several absent on this particular day.)

Settle your mind 🧘

Settle your body onto your mat.  See if you can begin to settle your mind.

Soften your eyes.  All the muscles around each eye relax.  

Release the lines of your forehead; soften your ears, and allow the jaw line to release.

Let the shoulders melt away from your ears as your heart space softens.

Relax the muscles of your hips and legs while you rest in the knowledge that the earth can support you.

Feel the feet relax, allowing the arch and each toe to release.

Take a deep breath in.  Pause.  Sigh it out through your mouth. 

Whatever thoughts, worries, concerns that you had before entering this room, allow them to drift away on the stream of conscious breathing.

Another slow, deliberate inhale. Wait.  Now, exhale long, smooth, and controlled once more through your mouth.

Pause once you’ve fully exhaled and gently close your mouth, unless, of course, you are congested and cannot breathe through your nose. 

Inhale. Pause for a moment. Long, slow exhale through your nose.  

Follow the exhale until your lungs are fully emptied, and wait for a moment before you inhale again. 

Once more, be present with the inhale.  Intentionally allow for a pause.  Then, slowly, with full concentration, exhale–following the exhale until its full conclusion. 

Pause, and continue this conscious breathing for the next few minutes.  

If thoughts enter your head, recognize that you are thinking.  This is only natural.  Then, return your attention back to your breath.

Several of the students after yoga class that began with a seven minute meditation, a hour of yoga moves, and ended with ten minutes of relaxation pose, savasana.

Conscious breathing 😮‍💨

As I write these words, I find that my own breathing has slowed. My own heartbeat is slowing. My thoughts, worries, and concerns about how I will convey in writing what I want to share have begun to loosen their grip on my brain as I allow the words to flow in unison with my breath. 

This year in my school setting, I have the privilege of teaching a yoga/mindfulness class to high school students. It is a dream I have had for years finally coming to fruition. 17 students, 11 of which are males, which I find remarkable, signed up for the class.  Most, but not all, of the students are athletes, overloaded with the act of balancing coursework with their sports’ schedules and the desire to still have a typical teen social life.

However, when they walk through the gym doors, roll out their yoga mats, their job is to take a break from their very real, youthful concerns. It’s not easy. Like all of us, strands of stress and worries cling to their minds and bodies the way cooked noodles often cling to one another if the noodles have not been properly stirred during the cooking process.  My job is to stir the proverbial pot of their mind and guide their bodies through yoga movements that encourage the release, at least for a few moments of their day, from the stickiness of their constant concerns.

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The Power of the Pause 🙏

The pause between breath reminds them, and really, all of us, of the importance of taking intentional pauses throughout our day to pay attention to the here and now.  Mentally pausing to let go of thoughts of the past, thoughts of future plans, and thoughts of all those unanswerable “what ifs” can be a valuable respite.  Taking a few moments to close the eyes, tune out the world, and focus on your in and out breath can release tension and provide a short rest for the mind, eyes, and body. 

Even on our busiest days, taking a short pause, enough for a few deep breaths, can renew and refresh your focus, especially if you are feeling anxious and/or stressed. By taking deep breaths, especially those in which you can extend the exhale, sends signals to the body to relax.

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TEnd and befriend 🧘🏿‍♂️

Based upon my limited understanding, longer exhales encourage the vagus nerve to send a signal to engage the parasympathetic system (think: rest and digest or tend and befriend system) and relax the sympathetic system (think: fight, flight, fawn, or freeze system). Those deep breaths, especially with the longer exhalations, let the body know that it is in a state of calm, so that it can “tend and befriend” the work challenge you must complete rather than “fight” it or all together mentally “freeze.”

In addition to soothing the mind and body, by consciously paying attention to our breathing, we can connect to the wonder of being alive, and the miracle that is our body.  Our bodies, with its amazing autonomic nervous system, automatically takes care of so many functions and unconscious processes without us having to think about it. We truly are marvelous creations.  Conscious breathing can be that bridge between our physical bodies and our conscious minds, as Thich Nhat Hanh pointed out. And, it is a tool for bringing our attention to the present moment.  After all, you can’t focus on your breathing and not be aware of the here and now.   

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Conscious Breathing is the Link

In the end, taking time to intentionally connect with our breath offers numerous benefits. Deep breaths with long exhales can allay our fears, concerns, and worries.  It can bring a sense of calm in a short amount of time to an otherwise chaotic day.  Conscious breathing can invigorate and recharge the mind for an important and stressful project.  Furthermore, deep breathing can link our minds to our bodies while also bringing our attention to the present moment.  So pause, take a deep breath, or three, release the grip on your worries and burdens, and reconnect with here and now, and the font of peace that dwells within.

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Mindful Breathing for Inner Peace: Embracing the Wisdom of Native American Tradition

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Simple Observations and Musings

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.”–Swami Vivekananda 

Author note: A reader requested I write another meditation.  I hope this benefits not only that reader, but anyone else who may be in need of a quiet mind, even if only for a few moments.  

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Wakeful Worries 😏

As I rose early on a recent morning, thoughts were bouncing around on the trampoline of my mind.  I had a to-do list that was growing and several creative ideas sprouting.  Overriding all of this, however, were stresses and worries springing about like jackrabbits in the desert. In fact, those negative thoughts, I realized with a sudden clarity, had been vying for residency in my mind for several weeks to the point they were disrupting my sleep.

Feeling the inner war, I opened a window, sat down in a chair near it–cup of coffee in hand–and welcomed nature’s morning muzak.  I took in a deep inhale, and slowly let it out. 

Inhaling, I felt the expanse of my ribs. Exhaling, I sensed bits of tension releasing. Focusing on my breath, I gently closed my eyes in an attempt to relax my body and release the mind noise.  Inhale, soften. Exhale, dissolve.

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Focused Breathing 😮‍💨

I am unsure how long I remained in this focused state of breathing, but soon, my mind drifted–as it tends to do–back into thoughts.  Thoughts of past events, worries of future events, and pressing concerns for the day ahead kept popping up. I had to keep redirecting my mind back to my breath and gently pushed aside those niggling thoughts.  It wasn’t easy.  Like a curious toddler trying to tempt fate, my mind kept circling back to those all-consuming worries and concerns.  

Inhale, redirect the mind back to the breath.  Exhale.  Let go of the negative thoughts jostling for attention. 

As my mind engaged in this game of ping-pong, I was reminded of a story I heard years ago during my yoga teacher training.  

Inhale, notice how easily the body can breathe.  Exhale, notice how naturally the body releases. 

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The Parable of the two Wolves 🐺

The story, as I recall, is based on a Native American parable.  An old tribal leader was teaching his grandson about life. The grandfather tells his grandson that there is a fight going on inside of him. He describes it as a terrible fight between two wolves.  

Inhale, notice the ease of breath.

One wolf is evil, the story goes. He is filled with anger, envy, superiority, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false-pride, and ego.  

Exhale, let go more.

The other wolf is good. He is filled with joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, and compassion.  

Inhale, lungs fill.

The grandson thought about it for a minute, and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” 

Exhale, lungs release.

The old tribal leader smiled and replied, “The wolf you feed will win.”

Inhale truth; exhale falsities. 

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our Thoughts can be shackling ⛓️

I sat with the story, returning to the ebb and flow of my breath. The nourishment of the inhale continued to fill me with a sense of peace.  The long, slow exhale showered the soul, washing away worries, fears, and anxieties.

Many of us have experienced moments when we feel shackled by memories and traumas of past events. For some of us, those past occurrences created deeply-rooted fears, planted in our minds like cancerous tumors. Those seeds of fear from long-ago have a tendency to create clouds of self-doubt, blocking rays of hope and joy that can be found in the present moment.

Inhale, strength.  Exhale, dread.

However, there are times when all the present can offer you is a stem full of thorny events as if the sweet blossoms of life have been stolen. Illness, disease, work-day stressors, financial struggles, and numerous other difficulties prickle and needle our days with seemingly no balm for the soul. At these times, it can be easy to dip into the waters of sorrow, the woe-is-me story.

Inhale, perseverance. Exhale, detachment from the story.

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mindful connections 😌

However, even when we are surrounded by the chaos of life, there is a place of peace and ease. All it takes is a moment to reconnect with our breath, the river of calm and life-giving force within us. By giving up the struggle for one moment, we can let go of the bubbles of tension held within our depths, and allow them to rise and release with each exhale.  With each inhalation, we strengthen our connection to our True Source, our Infinite Creator.  With each exhalation, we can surrender our illusion of control and trust that all is as it should be.  

Inhale, fortitude. Exhale, liberate the mind.

By watching the ebb and flow of each inhale and exhale, we can lay down our burdens of our fear, doubt, and pain for the time being, and allow the Universe to carry the load for us. We can inhale the peace, and with the exhale, perceive the lightness of nothing is weighing us down in the moment. We can allow ourselves to feel the Divine creations that we are, and have faith in the process.  All is well in this moment as we breathe.

Inhale, trust.  Exhale, believe.

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breathe. connect. have faith. 😌

  In the same way that we trust our lungs to breathe for us–even when we are not focused on them–so too must we put our trust in our Creator and the flow of our life.  It doesn’t mean all will be perfect, for life is not simple. However, when life, and/or those around you, choose to feed the bad wolf, take a breath, and remind yourself that you have the power to choose to feed the good wolf, simply by pausing and taking a few deep breaths. 

Inhale, faith. Exhale, peace. 

One breath in, one breath out for peace and calm

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Simple Observations and Musings

 “We need to find God, and that cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence. See how nature–trees, flowers, grass grows in silence . . . We need silence to be able to touch souls.” –Mother Teresa

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The Miracle of EArly Morning 🌅

One of my favorite times of day is the stillness of the early morning.  Don’t get me wrong, depending upon how early I have to get up, it can be a chore to drag myself out of bed.  However, once I am up, enveloped by the hum of the house and the ambiance of the celebratory, daybreak birdsong, I feel a peace begin to zip up around me like my favorite hooded jacket. 

Now that daylight arrives earlier, it is especially delightful on the weekends to sit at my desk, steaming mug of coffee beside the laptop, and gaze out the open window as the birds continue their lilting praise of the arrival of daybreak. Sometimes I see the contrails from a jet writing across the sky.  Other times I observe the rustle of trees or my neighbor’s cat stalking some unseen prey. Regardless of what I notice, I take a deep breath, and invite the silence within.

Gazing out into the trees and grass of my backyard, there is a peacefulness of the Divine Presence.  Observing the continual miracle of seasonal change, I am bearing witness to the continuity, strength, and resiliency of nature.  With one breath in and one breath out, I can connect to Divine life force within, silently supplying me with continued strength.

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Welcome the Silence 🤲

I continue to welcome the silence, and I allow it to wash over me, cleansing the stresses and worries of the night that interrupted my sleep.  I ask God to hold space for me within the silence as my soul settles into place. One breath in. One breath out. Each breath, rich in the silence, nourishing my peace of mind, if only for a few minutes.

Momentarily, I become part of the silence and my brain softens into the quiet, temporarily liberated from its continuous lists of things to do, notice, and concerns. One breath in. One breath out. I feel the silence breathing peace through me, filling my cells. I ask for the peace to live through me and to emanate from my actions, knowing even then, I will still stumble into mistakes.

The early morning silence centers and anchors me to the importance of being more mindful of the here and now.  One breath in. One breath out. I allow the silence to cultivate peace within that moment, and I ask that it remain with me as I move through my day, understanding that disturbances of my inner peace will also most likely occur throughout the day. I further pray the silence will infuse and imbue my day with moments of peace I can offer others, if only through the simple act of a smile or kind word.

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Whispers of Silent Inspiration 🙏

If I am fortunate, the silence will sometimes whisper inspiration when I do encounter stress in a later moment. It only requires that I momentarily bring awareness to my breath, and once more, I can connect to the True Source filling my lungs, giving me life. One breath in.  One breath out. 

When the silent morning meditation begins to wind down, I become more aware of my surroundings and my own physical body.  I look for those poetic plane contrails, but they have usually vaporized, reminding me of the impermanence of struggles, strife, and life in general.  One breath in. One breath out. My words, my thoughts, my deeds are like those contrails, here, in this moment, but eventually given to the heavens.

Bringing awareness to the moment, I will feel the tendrils of morning silence loosening its grip, and I mourn briefly that I must leave its embrace. There are more words to be written, more students that need taught, and more people that need loved.  One breath in. One breath out. I remind myself that I can always come back to the comforting peace of the silence of my mind with one moment of conscious breathing. 

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The antidote to noise and Chatter 🧘

It seems to me that we currently live in a world where many of us have forgotten, or even fear, silence.  Chatter and noise seem to flow in an endless supply, alongside daily routines filled with responsibilities and heaping portions of distractions. However, by seeking the solace of silence and focusing on your breath, if even for a few moments, we may discover our heart rate slows, racing thoughts may decrease, and the body may relax a bit.  One breath in.  One breath out. 

The older I get, the more my appreciation and need for silence grows.  If we listen too long to the noise of the media, news, traffic, screens, chatter, and so on, our stress increases, our worry increases, and our anxiety increases.  We forget that silence soothes our souls and brings us back to the presence of God within and around us. All it takes is one breath in and one breath out.