Let’s talk about breath, baby.

Did you catch the Valentine’s Day nod up there in the subject? I hope your day of love was just that.

Did you know that there is a whole “body” within our body related to breath? In fact, the health of our physical and mental bodies is directly tied to how we breathe according to ancient Vedic teachings. The breath, or prana, follows energetic passageways in the body known as the nadis. If you’re familiar with Chinese medicine, this is similar to the meridians (though not the same).

Watching someone and teaching them to breathe is a deeply intimate experience. Isn’t that interesting? In order to be living right now, reading these words, you must be breathing and yet…we are never really taught how to breathe, the intricacies of breath, and what types of breath can invigorate or soothe our systems. Nor are we taught that the way we currently live our lives creates limitations in the fascia and musculature within our physical frames. This alone can make it physically challenging to take a deep breath.

Back to the intimacy. This is going out a few days after Valentine’s Day after all.

A few months ago, you may know that I had the honor of attending a dear friend’s birth as her doula. With all my training as a doula and prenatal/postnatal professional, I was honestly surprised how I immediately attuned to her breath as she labored before anything else. When I arrived at the hospital room, I sensed the energy of the space and began to observe her breathing. Nothing hands-on (though that did come later), little conversation. I simply wanted to watch her breathing and how her body was responding to that breath. Because the body does respond. We can infer so much by watching someone breathe.

It’s an intimate act, to watch someone as they breathe. And, because breath works (and this particular woman was in a hypnobirthing zone), I supported that. Along with the reminders to inhale fully and exhale completely, we were able to soften her jaw, brow, shoulders, hips. She was able to expand and contract with the diaphragm, which is connected to the pelvic floor. It was gorgeous to watch.

When I think back to Bodhi’s birth, Eugene hovered over the edge of the birthing tub, coaching me in my breath, too. Sama Vritti. Horse lips. He cued it, because he knew it. It was one of the only things that worked for me, and was one of my most intimate experiences with him ever.

I believe we crave this intimacy with ourselves and with others. So, how much attention are we offering to our breath?

In the Sutras, Patanjali writes that practicing pranayama lifts the veils covering the heart. In Book II, Sutra 52 of the Yoga Sutras, he shares, “As its [pranayama] result, the veil over the Inner light is destroyed.”

WOW. Read it again.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

We all have veils covering our hearts, which is the seat of our eternal, inextinguishable flame. These veils come in the form of fears, doubts, anger, rage, confusion, cloudiness, societal pressures, etc. The breath becomes a gateway inward and an unveiling of an immensely powerful light. Yes? Breath allows us to trust ourselves and to open to intimate experiences within and with others. We need to move our bodies, yes, and we also need to move the breath within our bodies.

Now, I know that I keep dropping hints that Narrative is opening for enrollment in a few weeks where we’ll be meeting weekly for practice. Breath will be a huge focus for each class - breath awareness, expansion, and also breathing techniques that take you that much deeper in your own practice and study of Self. I can promise you these techniques help to soothe your system, mitigate anxiety and depressive feelings, inspire creativity, expand your capacity for love, and offer the intimate experiences we all crave by dropping the constraints of ego.

But for now, I encourage you to stop where you are, close your eyes if you can, and notice your breath. Notice if you’re breathing from the chest or if you can breath down to the diaphragm and the belly. Notice if the breath feels shallow or short or ragged. See if you can guide it to a deeper, longer, smoother place and just be with that for a few minutes. When you’re in meetings or sitting on the floor with your children, see if you can attune to your own breath. Are you holding? Restricting? Is your belly tight? Can you deepen the breath in these moments, too? What do you notice?

There’s so much more to breath - the nadis, of course, breathing techniques (pranayama), the vayus (or energetic winds of the body), movement to open the chest/shoulders/side body to allow for more expansive breath - and so I hope you’ll join me soon in Narrative. More information to come.

With love,
Leanne