Conscious Breath

Hey friends. Jason here…

Why all this talk about breath?

We do it without thinking right (thank you autonomic nervous system)?

So if this breathing happens automatically, why make a bigger deal out of it?

I’ll get into this by sharing a story from my life.

It was 2014, and I was fresh out of my second stay at an inpatient addiction treatment facility. My marriage was ending, and I was staying in a somewhat seedy suite that I was paying for by the week because I had no idea where I was going to go. I was away from my kids and their day to day. I was in shock about it all, and yet I knew it was necessary.

It seemed like so much to process - almost impossible. I woke up one morning with a KNOWING. I just knew that I needed to start sitting quietly and do breathing meditation. I had no technique. No perfect posture or eyes rolled up towards my third eye.

Just a life that seemed to be falling apart and my breath.

At first I could barely sit for a few minutes without getting up. I had so much pent up anxiety, shame, self hatred, and fear that my inner noise would get overwhelming when I tried to sit and breathe. But day by day and little by little, I started to sink more deeply into the breath and find refuge there.

I started learning some more practices like Tonglen, a Tibetan Buddhist practice in which you breathe in the suffering in any situation (or the world) and breathe out compassion. I had a lot that was upsetting me in my life at the time, so I used that Tonglen practice to keep me from getting stuck in bitterness, especially as it related to me having much less time with my children.

I could see how this breath practice was actually saving me in some very intense moments.

I share all of this to say:

CONSCIOUS BREATH is a miracle.

It is a prayer of the deepest form. It provides undeniable support in some of life’s most harrowing moments. It helps us to take in the beauty that life offers. It is sacred reciprocity with nature and with Life at an existential level.

Conscious breath can bring a sense of calm to an inner storm.

Conscious breath can bring clarity and focus as needed.

Conscious breath can amplify divine qualities like: compassion, strength, clarity, unconditional love, fortitude, creativity, abundance, and forgiveness.

So how can you engage your breath with more consciousness and depth?

Start by breathing with all of your attention. FEEL the breath as you breathe.

✨ Where do you feel your inhale in all its parts? Pause at the top and feel that fullness. That’s life giving you all you need in that moment.

✨ Where do you feel the exhale as it releases? Pause at the bottom of that exhale and feel the beautifully empty stillness created in that moment.

It’s as if all of life’s cycles and everything in between is represented in our breath.

🌀🌀🌀

I’d like to share a practice I’ve heard taught by Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhát Hahn that utilizes a gatha (short phrase internally synchronized with the breath).

The phrases can be customized to your needs in the moment like this:

Inhale.

BREATHING IN, I AM (fill in the blank).

Exhale.

BREATHING OUT, I AM (fill in the blank).

For example, in a moment of anxiety you could practice with:

BREATHING IN, I AM CALM.
BREATHING OUT, I AM PEACEFUL.

Simply allow the words to point your awareness toward the experience you are cultivating in the present moment.

You’re not forcing anything to become true. You’re utilizing the breath to recognize those qualities in yourself as freely and infinitely available.

As you relax deeper and deeper into this meditation, you might drop the phrases and simply internally recite the qualities, like this:

Inhale.

CALM.

Exhale.

PEACEFUL.

The words might fall away entirely as you rest in the ocean of the breath.

The next time you find yourself needing support of any kind in your life, give this simple breath mediation a try. Even 3 minutes can be deeply transformative.

Let us know how it goes for you!