Finding the Rhythm in Your Breath

Copyright 2006 Marshall House

Focusing on your breath can be a truly empowering experience. You may have a tendency to discount the power of noticing and using the rhythm of your breath because your breath is so much a part of you. It might just seem too simple.

Ordinarily, of course, your breath works in the automatic mode. Thank goodness for that! If your breathing needed your constant attention, you would not have time for other adventures.

As an intentional practice, for short periods of time, giving your full attention to your breathing can be a very powerful, brief meditation. A "short period of time" might be measured:

* By numbers of breaths, for example, three in-breaths and three out-breaths;

* In minutes, for example, one minute or two or three; or

* By the time viewed through or measured by an event, for example, sitting at a traffic stop light.

Choose whatever measurement you want, and then practice focused, intentional breathing many times throughout the day. This practice will keep you balanced, filled with extra oxygen to help you to maintain greater stamina.

One interesting dynamic to notice is the actual shift between automatic and intentional breathing, in other words, notice the movement or transition from automatic (unconscious) breathing to intentional (conscious) breathing and vice versa.

In addition, notice that your breath becomes different when you are giving your full attention to it. I have read that humans use different muscles when breathing in these two different ways. Perhaps that is true. My own personal opinion is that you use the same muscles, but you use them differently in these two modes. I consider that this is similar to the difference between using your gluteus maximus muscles to walk down a hill as compared to walking up a hill.

Another dynamic to pay attention to is the pace or rhythm of your breath. There are many aspects of the breath that you can give your attention to. The rhythm of the breath is only one. It is one I particularly like because it has a discernible resonance. Examples of other dynamics are texture, sound, depth, length, evenness. I like to help people to find the rhythm of their breath because it helps them to attune to other rhythms and movement in their lives. For example, they might notice a particular breathing pattern that is replicated in other situations. After making the association, they change the rhythm in the breath, usually rather easily, and then they notice that changes in the other situations follow naturally.

I notice this correlation frequently with my clients. Of course, discerning such connections does require the ability to read subtle energies. Usually, after I have identified and articulated the correlation to my clients, they relate to the idea. The key is to make changes in the least invasive, most natural ways. Here are two specific examples:

Deidra was having trouble communicating with her boss, characterized by interrupting each other and half-stated ideas. I noticed in her breathing the same pattern of hesitation and shortness, as if she rarely completed either the in-breath or the out-breath. I suggested some exercises that helped her to be more aware of the rhythm of her breathing, which helped significantly, along with some other strategies, to manage herself more effectively with respect to her boss.

Tom had great difficulty when we had to stand in front of a group to speak. He felt unbalanced and had less acute thinking. This, by the way, is a very common dynamic as many people find stand-up presentations stressful. I decided to start with the easiest strategy: some simple breathing exercises to neutralize the old pattern and establish a new rhythm. He practiced daily, and especially before each presentation. The difficulty ceased immediately.

Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most powerful. So, remember to breathe! And, even more specifically, remember to find the rhythm in your breath.

Three Words to Unlock the Cheerfulness of the Present Moment

Copyright 2006 Tom Russell

Has a ray of happiness ever reached you at an unexpected moment? Haven’t you longed for these rays to break through more often, and with greater intensity?

The present moment can be compared to an island in the middle of the sea. It appears to be isolated but beneath the surface the island is one with the entire globe. Like the island, you appear to be separate from the whole of life; however, at a deeper level you are one with God/Truth/Reality and no storm has the power to disturb this connection.

Awareness is a secret known for countless centuries. It is like the letter that was well concealed by placing it out in the open in the center of the table. Its beautiful simplicity often caused it to be overlooked and unappreciated. For example:

* “The Buddha was asked, ‘What do you and your disciples practice?’ He replied, ‘We sit, we walk and we eat.’ The questioner continued, ‘But sir, everyone sits, walks and eats.’ The Buddha told him, ‘When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating.’”

* P.D. Ouspensky, author of In Search of the Miraculous writes:

“Trying to remember yourself is always right. Whatever you are doing, just try to realize that you are doing that. Effort to remember yourself is the chief thing, because without it nothing else has any value; it must be the basis of everything. Only in this way can you pass from the mechanical to a more conscious state.”

Awareness flourishes when you remember what a deeper part of you already knows, and does so in all kinds of circumstances and events, both pleasurable and challenging, simple and complex.

There are three simple words you can use to unlock the cheerfulness of the present moment. They are: “I am Here.” These three words instantly release you from rambling thinking and return you to the pleasantness of the present moment. They can be used many times a day, either silently or audibly, to teach the mind the supreme value of now.

Voice the words “I am Here” and let them remind you to notice as much about your environment as possible, including colors, the breeze, your posture, your voice, the room and the objects, the car you’re driving and the passing scene. Awaken to the subtle! No other place is richer than now.

“I am here” unlocks the power to keep your mind where your body is. Your body is always in the present moment, so why not join it? This is a classic tool for growth taught by history’s greatest teachers, including moderns like Vernon Howard, J. Krishnamurti and Idries Shah.

It is nothing short of amazing how much “I am here” opens you to the cheerful breeze that circulates through NOW. There is no force or hard effort in these words, just simple recognition. The wise increasingly understand, “Now is happiness -- now is intelligence – now is where I really want to be.”