First life lesson for a new born baby – ‘Breathe’. A pat on the back by the doctor and baby begins to breathe. That’s the first life lesson for any human and probably the most relevant one.
Our breath is our gift from the very moment we begin to breathe, our breath is our constant guide and companion through different situations and emotions; Our breath is a means to take a deep dive within ourselves and unravel some hidden corners and emerge into our true identity.
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1. Breathe – To focus on the Present
In 2005, as per an article published by the National Science Foundation, an average human mind generates 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. That’s not just a whopping number but what’s also astonishing is that 95% of the thoughts are repetitive and 80% are negative.
Our mind works like a thought generating machine that constantly keeps jumping from one thought to another. Monkey mind as one may call it. Monkey mind is always at work, almost on an auto-pilot, and is judgmental, keeps drawing relation of current circumstance to past.
As soon as you wake up, monkey mind begins to work. You may experience your thoughts still pondering over something that happened in the past (or just last night), taking attention away from the present moment. The whole mechanism operates so swiftly that we ascribe such behavior to ourselves.
Assuming our mental chatter to be our own voice, we indulge ourselves in those thoughts, impairing our effectiveness in the present situation and ability to have a meaningful interaction.
To be more effective and present in the current moment, it is important to tame the monkey mind.
“A Quiet mind is more important than a Positive mind” – Deepak Chopra
- Acknowledge that our mind is monkey-like in nature. An act of acknowledgement makes it easier for the mind to be tamed.
- Bringing attention on our breath brings us back to the present moment. Our breath is a continuous realization of our existence in the present moment and that’s all that there is. When the mind becomes scattered, focusing on breath can help control mind.
- Whenever you observe your thoughts wandering away from the present moment, close your eyes and take a deep breath and know this moment is all that is there.
Breath awareness is not a one day solution to tame monkey mind but a gradual process to remain more present every moment and can be acquired with regular practice. Bringing awareness on breath is our opportunity to begin things anew.
2. Breathe – To learn the art of letting go
Our breath works smoothly and subtly without our interference or attention. It keeps our physiological processes running and happens involuntarily. It’s a continuous flow of breath in and out. We usually don’t hold our breath unless performing a breathing exercise.
How long can you hold breath? An average individual may be able to hold breath from 30sec to 60sec. After this period, one may begin to feel out of breath or flustered and gasp for fresh breath.
By the same token, in life, if we hold on to past grievances or resentments/ regrets, those instances will continue to haunt our present, making our present an undesirable place to be in. Holding on to past constricts both our behavior and actions in the present.
“Holding on to anything is like holding on to your breath. You will suffocate.” — Deepak Chopra
A simple act of letting go of past judgments and resentments gives a breathing space to our current existence and freedom to be.
On personal front, over the years I’ve held on to so many grudges, resentments and regrets not realizing how it continuously damaged my present and future. Besides impacting my energy, it not just curbed my joy and happiness, also hindered my being fully available in many relationships. But once i let go, I experienced enormous freedom in how I related to people, in my actions, expression and in my ability to do new things.
3. Breathe – To find grace in giving
As per Yogic philosophy, one only needs to focus on breath out. When performing any of the Pranayamas (yogic breathing exercises), you might have heard from your yoga guru to focus only on breathing out. Breathing in happens automatically.
Breathing out is a metaphor to our giving nature. One only needs to focus on giving or taking actions and the receiving or results will happen on its own. It is a beautiful analogy between our breath and giving nature.
Humans often become lost in the greed to receive and become so result oriented, that they lose connect with giving and doing. We’ve overtime changed the equation and expect to receive everything without giving.
Breath teaches to find grace in giving, joy in taking actions. The results will happen on their own. If we adhere to this simple yet powerful connotation, so much stress that we undergo everyday, due our greed of receiving, would be taken away.
With every breath in, you’re nourishing and nurturing yourself; With every breath out you can spread love, kindness and compassion to others.
4. Breathe – To respond and not react
If you closely observe, your breathing would be deep and restful under pleasant circumstances; and short or rapid breath when anxious or fearful or stressed out.
As we grow up, we slowly fall out of line of our natural breathing pattern and instead let our emotions and feelings take control over our breathing pattern. We’ve heard of emotional eating or drinking, what we don’t realize is that there’s emotional breathing too.
Mistaking emotional breathing as a normal breathing, we let ourselves be tamed by our emotions and circumstances, forgetting how awareness on our breathing can make us powerful and bring us in grip of any situation.
In situations of anger, anxiety or fear, when our breathing usually becoming rapid and uneven, breathing deeply can help us be responsive and take responsible actions rather than being reactive which may result in embarrassment and guilt later on.
Focusing on breath will help you become centered and be in control of the situation.
“Every emotion is connected with the breath. If you change the breath, change the rhythm, you can change the emotion.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
5. Breathe – To feel Alive
The moment we are born, what is imminent and only truth of life is death. Breathing is a reminder of our existence in the physical dimension. Breathing teaches, that every moment we are alive, every breath we breathe, make it worth our living. That is all that matters.
Our breath is a constant reminder to make every breath count until our last breath.
“Just Breathe”
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To sum it up, our breath has a deeper connotation than just maintaining our physiology; our breath is a reflection of our life. How we breathe, is how we live our life.
We can either let our life be on autopilot and let it be run by emotions, circumstances, or our past; Or we take charge by simply bringing awareness to our breath. It’s as simple as that. Connect with your breath.
“Breathe In, Breathe Out.”
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Thank you for reading.
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This post was previously published on Change Becomes You and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Photo credit: Unsplash