Each and every moment presents us with an opportunity and a choice. Life’s very design provides us with constant opportunities to evolve our Selves. Certain choices promote a path towards evolution in what can be perhaps seen as an ascending or upward direction, much as a spiral, or as a basket is woven, ever onwards towards the next tier, one step further along. Other choices lead us in circles, often with a feeling of going nowhere, of being lost, or simply unfulfilled.

There is a thread of consciousness that we are, that each of us is, and that each of us is connected to. At the miracle of birth, we join the mystery of breath, and at the miracle of death, we rejoin the Great Mystery, (and beyond…well, that’s for you and your Self). Between those two bookends we need not feel lost, because the common thread is the marvel of the inhale and exhale of our breath, and it is the choice to ground ourselves in the awareness of this subtle and yet magnificent part of our biology that is perhaps the simplest key to health, happiness, and re-orientation when we find ourselves going in an endless loop of discontent.

Science today tells us that stress kills, and in a society such as ours is today, one organized around an idea of more (more commitments, more deadlines, more debts, more connections, more to-do’s, and always más, más, más!!!), the body reaches a limit, a boiling point, and what steams forth comes as chronic illness, pain syndromes, psychological dis-ease and a perversion of the human spirit. Stress increases the release of stress hormones, and when these act on the body over a prolonged period of time, burnout, chaos, and illness result.

Therefore:

Embrace the mystery of the breath!

With each breath we inhale. There is a short pause. We exhale. There is a short pause. And this marvelous rhythm repeats. Drawing our attention fully and decisively to that cycle, we tap into an opportunity to be our own doctor. A studious attentiveness on the sea of our breath yields neurochemical secretions that counter those stress hormones, providing a brief respite, a balsam for the deep ache that is our dis-orientation. This medicine comes in the form of our body’s own internal pharmacy, our body’s own self-organized divine intelligence, a product of our beautiful dance with the Master.

Many have found that, with dedication, as one comes to know their breath through ever deeper study, chronic illness, pain and dis-ease may be reversed, productivity rises, and well-being burgeons. This is one of the reasons for the spread of such practices to the global West en-masse after several thousand years (and one of the reasons Google execs pay employees to meditate).

Try it! Sit, stand or lie down quietly and close your eyes. Bring all of your awareness to your breath, feeling the sensation of air entering, being sustained by, and then leaving your body. Feel the transition between the top or bottom of the breath (the “pause”). Just watch. Do this for a few moments. Then check in with your body. Feel the difference from when you started. Via this mechanism humans have learned to control their heart rate and rhythm, lower blood pressure, even begin to manage blood sugar. They have learned to counteract pain, raise body temperature, achieve great insights through the quiet contemplation of their natural connection to breath. A simple search of the Literature (and even several documentary films) demonstrates much telling research regarding the subject matter.

Our breath is not only a means, but a relationship, and it is our direct connection to the cosmos. As we inhale, we take into our body the sighs of our Mother Earth, and as we exhale, She takes in our gift for her (we know much of this mutualistic cycle as photosynthesis and cellular respiration).

The mystery deepens.

Imagine a world where we routinely made the awareness of our breath a part of our daily rhythm, for even 10 minutes a day! Firming ourselves in such a routine, we find a sense of true justice, we find that all piddly power schemes crumble, that true, authentic power is in the silence of the present moment, that humility is reached through non-striving, and that achievement is centered between the two lobes of our breath, at the altar of the heart.

Choose breath, and breathe…

forLoveofLife

(Come join us for 30 minutes of mindfulness meditation every Monday evening from 6:45p (sharp) – 7:15pm at Bright Life Art Studio, 114 E Coal Ave. Suggested donation $3-5. July 8th class cancelled.)