The breath is one of your greatest teachers, healers, confidants… Consider your breath… It is your connection to the divine. Your breath is what enables you, a spiritual being, to be present in this reality. Your breath is primarily an unconscious function for most of you. It is not something that you consciously create, control, manipulate, or own. You spend most of your day completely unaware of it.
Your breath originates from something greater than your conscious mind. Greater than your ego self. When you take a breath, it is as if your soul is breathing through you. Can you imagine that? You are connected to your soul — imagine that you have a cord that connects you to your soul. Think of it as an umbilical cord. Through this cord travels the breath – the life – that flows through you to this reality, then back through you and to your soul. You are not continuously conscious of your breath because it does not originate in you. Each breath you experience is just that — an experience. It is your (predominantly) unconscious experience of this ongoing process: your soul inhales, drawing life and pleasure – breath – through you, through this cord, and into its being. It exhales, sending divine energy back through you and into all that is. This is a simultaneous exchange of divine energy between your soul and this dimension, in which you are one very blessed and divine participant. With each breath you and your soul take, your soul is savoring and relishing the experience. To breathe is an act of love. To love is to feel alive. Imagine walking along the beach on a warm summer night, the spray of saltwater is carried through the air on a refreshing breeze. You are blissfully at peace. You take a deep, satisfying breath and slowly release it, relishing it. That is how your soul experiences *every* breath.
The next time you inhale deeply…..feel yourself expanding….feel the divine energy moving through you. As you exhale, feel a sense of calmness, peace -bliss- and know that you are sharing this divinity with both your soul and this world. You are part of a loving exchange between life and God.
Why do I say that breath is a great teacher? Focus on your breath. Feel how it flows. Notice how perfectly it connects. It is smooth, effortless, flowing. It does not hold on, try too hard, or judge itself. What can we learn from that? Imagine if we were able to apply these qualities to all other areas in our life. We already know *how* to do this with our breath….we are just not always aware that we are doing it. Where else can we learn how to flow, how to not hold on, not judge ourselves? How commonly do we find ourselves trying too hard to ‘succeed,’ or holding on to the past, a loved one, a negative habit? What would happen if we tried to hold on to our breath in the same way that we hold on to our loved ones? We would nearly die. We would cut off the flow of divine energy – of life – to ourselves. This is what happens to those areas of our life where we don’t allow flow. We cut off our divine energy there. We die a little. Holding onto things in life is as effective as holding on to your breath. In the absence of life flow, of love, of divine energy, we experience fear in these parts of our lives. When we learn to flow again, we remember.
Meditate on your breath, become conscious of it. Learn to understand it and what it has to teach you about yourself. You already know how to breathe. But are you aware of it? You already are a channel for divine energy. Your breath is your perpetual, living, subtle reminder of the divinity that flows through you. Becoming conscious of your breath brings you closer to the consciousness of your own soul and the greater process that we share with it. Once you remember and become conscious of this greater, divine process that you participate in every moment of your experience, you *will* be amazed……