Breath as a Portal
It is no accident that Breath in Latin is Spiritus, or in common parlance, Spirit. Conscious breathwork is, in both my experience and opinion, a portal to another realm of being and knowing. When I am consciously breathing I remember what peace, love and acceptance feel like. These are the things spirit speaks of. This is the heaven we strive for and if we are lucky, they are the places we visit, or inhabit more and more as we grow into wisdom of our awareness.
What does this all mean, practically speaking, you ask?
First off, breathing brings me back into my body. Within a few minutes of slowing down my breath and noticing the movement and sensations in my body as the wave of life moves through me, I start to calm down, relax, forget the flurry of thoughts that were causing me anxiety, overwhelm or discomfort.
I eventually come to settle into the deliciousness of ease and flow. I remember the magic, mystery and wonder that resides in the body. My heart, never resting, always pumping and working for me, the breath’s constant rhythm of in and out, receiving and giving. I relax into the flow … and am accepting of uncertainty, not knowing, mystery (the things the intellect so wants to control, package, know). I embrace the ineffable and give up all struggle.
I am connected to the wavelike rhythm of the breath, feeling how breath moves within me, from pelvis to sternum, filling me with life and letting go of death, clinging to neither. Allowing and accepting, and so the flow continues.
In this space, the tangible expands to include the metaphorical… I’m through the door.
Breathing in and out, both impulses move through me in a constant motion and rhythm, steady, and reliable like the changing of the seasons, the sun and moon, rising and falling, waxing and waning.
My breath connects me to life, love, and the joy of being alive. As breath passes through us, so too do the seasons of time, the seasons of love and loss, joy and sorrow. I know that listening to the impulses of my body, I can access its wisdom and guidance. My body tells me ( in a whisper) to rest when feeling weary, to sing when the impulse moves you, and to breathe as the body breathes you.
The breath also connects me to a place of gratitude.
I give thanks for my faithful heart, the wisdom of the body and the connection to spirit.
I give thanks for breath as my teacher, as a portal. Some call it a door to awareness, others to consciousness. I accept that the place it journeys me to is ineffable and unique and I know it is a place that exists within and is available to each of us.
My goal, through bodywork and coaching is to help others find this space, so they can take a similar journey, whenever they want. Breath by breath, we can pass through the door to that embodied knowing, that delicious place of peace, acceptance and joy. Pleasure. bliss. enlightenment. Call it what you will. It is the place where we are able to effortlessly renew, enjoy, and relax into that knowing, ineffable place.
Joyful embodiment, accessed through breath.
A few comments about terms: embodiment, somatics, sensory awareness, bodybased