“When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life”
I’m taking deep breaths right now as I prepare to hit POST on another piece!
I said I long to serve, I want to write, I’d love to “edutain” – I’ve professed this to almost anyone who’ll listen lately, so …deep breaths…Inhale PROGRESS, exhale FEAR…
Breath is our most accessible and powerful tool! It connects our inner and outer worlds and you can use it anytime, anywhere, for free. It can be used to raise your vibration, lower anxiety, calm your nervous system, slow down time, change your mood, and to positively energize others.
If you’re new to the idea of breathwork, even if you’re not sure what exactly it is or if it’ll do anything for you, I urge you to try. Start with increasing awareness of and depth of your breaths.
Harnessing the power of my own breath has been a tool I’ve personally utilized for years when:
- deep breathing got me through childbirth twice (my son was 10lbs and a drug-free delivery)
- deep breathing+lots of meditation helped me navigate the world as a single mother following my separation after 20 years of marriage
- deep breathing+visualization helped me level up to make a professional leap into a position with a brilliant coaching organization that would forever better my trajectory
- synchronizing breathing helped during the 6 weeks post-break up/pre-moving out, when strong emotions sometimes made one of us feel like it was ‘hard to breathe’
- Alternate Nostril Breathing / Pranayama quelled the rapid heartbeat episodes I’d have prior to adequate and consistent Magnesium supplementation (a mineral deficiency misdiagnosed as anxiety – more on that in the future)
In his recent book Think Like A Monk, Jay Shetty recounts learning that how to breathe was lesson #1 at Monk School. He was told on his first day by a young monk he encountered “We experience every emotion with the change of breath” and “When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life”. I’m inclined to agree.
Think of how we associate our breath with our emotions. We sometimes say “I feel like I can’t breathe” in the face of extreme excitement, nerves, mounting anxiety or when we feel restricted. We say “I feel like I can really breathe” when we’re in wide open spaces, connected to nature, moving our bodies in a way that opens us up, when your space is uncluttered, when you’re relieved about some outcome or resolution, when we’re aligned.
Breathing techniques are some of many holistic tools that I keep in my wellness toolkit. I could go on in depth but I’m sharing tidbits here. If you’re interested in going deeper, hearing more specifically on various techniques and how to use them, let me know, we can stay in touch 
Full disclosure – I was a little worried that my transition back to city life after a month of breathing that delicious Costa Rican air, was going to be difficult. Endless construction and traffic is something I’ve been intentionally moving away from. As a testament to how the universe truly does conspire in my favor (I work on perpetuating that emotion), I found a place with open-sky views and greenspaces all around.
I feel like I can really breathe here.
Xo M
Inhale calm, exhale fear, press POST
