The Gift of Breath
Are you breathing into your feelings?
This was the question my yoga instructor asked during class recently. Imagine if we took the time to breathe into our feelings instead of immediately reacting to them. Breathing into our feelings is the purest form of acceptance. I do not have to label, define, declare, explain or act upon my feelings. I just need to breathe into them. Imagine the miscommunication and conflict avoided if instead of instantly reacting to our feelings we simply gave ourselves permission to breathe into them. Consider all of the self-criticism, the self-limiting narratives and the self doubt minimized by first breathing into, rather than personalizing and acting upon, our feelings. This simple step of breathing into our feelings gifts us a true pause. A pause that allows us to simply practice breath. The breath of silence. The breath of calm. The breath of self care. Our mind slows down. Our breathing slows down. Our heart rate slows down. We literally gift ourselves a respite; mind, body and spirit. A time to breathe. To reset. To start again. The freedom from becoming our feelings.
