The One Thing?
Aug 26, 2024
I’m on the edge of being weird, more weird than usual. I’m starting to have strange thoughts about breathing. What if, what if all we needed to be happy, healthy, and strong was to know how to breathe?
All of us breathe, but not all of us breathe optimally. And most of us “just breathe” even if we have a dedicated time to practice breathing. But what if breath was more? What if breath was everything?
That can’t be a strange thought because breath truly is life. It is the first and last thing we will do during our physical existence. And if something should interrupt our ability to breathe for longer than a few minutes, we exit this existence. Breath determines nearly everything about our body and the course of our lives.
How we breathe determines whether or not we are in “fight or flight” or “rest and digest.” It also determines how our body responds to the world, how we think and feel, our hormones, and all of our bodily systems. How we breathe even determines whether or not we can express speed, power, and strength.
Breath is everything.
But what if it is also the only thing?
What if everything we want out of life could be more easily reached if we practiced exploring our breath? What if we practiced breathing properly and explored how breathing feels?
Have you ever done this? Have you ever felt where your breath goes when you breathe? Have you ever intentionally directed it where you wanted it to go? Do you know how to breathe into your belly? Your back? Your pelvis? Your neck? Your right hand?
Have you ever explored the power of your exhale and the gift of your inhale? Have you released your exhale forcefully to feel the compression around your spine and the rise of your pelvic floor? Have you ever extended your exhale so thoroughly that your inhale rushed into you, feeling your entire body? Have you ever explored holding or withholding your breath? Have you felt how your body loves, craves, and needs your breath?
It’s nuts, I know. But I think there are ways to use our bodies to not only reset our nervous systems but also to renew our bodies and our minds. I think we can use our breath to heal, age gracefully and powerfully, and move fluidly and beautifully.
What if The Breath of Life really is The Breath of Life?
What if it is more than an automatic action we take for granted? What if it is more than a subconscious movement that facilitates the exchange of gases? What if it is the way to experience strength, health, peace, even happiness?
I don’t think it’s too strange. After all, if we can control our breath during stress, we facilitate better outcomes and expressions. We “get through to the other side of things” so much easier.
If you think about it, breathing is the greatest act of trust you will ever do, and you do it 12 to 20 times a minute. Exhaling is letting go of what keeps you alive, expecting to be filled with a fresh, new, life-sustaining inhalation. Breathing is faith in action. It is giving and receiving. It is powerful.
It’s just a thought. I’m still fleshing it out. I know there is more wonder than what I know; I know, though. And it feels good to explore it.
If you have never really spent time exploring your breath, you owe yourself the opportunity. It just might change your life forever. If you don’t know where to start, try some of these:
How to Discover Your Breath
How to improve your breathing and strengthen your diaphragm
Jumpstart Your Inner Core
How to Strengthen the Pelvic Floor - Part 1
Or join us at one of our Pressing RESET courses and change your life.
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