So I’ve been doing yoga for almost 30 years, and I taught yoga for about 17 years… I have taught everything from very advanced yoga poses and sequences, meditation, and pranayama (breathing techniques). I have been invited to teach high level athletes how to breath, I have taught at yoga retreats and I finished by even teaching teachers how to teach yoga. If I had a nickel for every time I said the words “enjoy your breath“ well you can imagine. Basically, I have done my share of practicing and teaching all types of yoga.
So this week, when I was faced with a terribly devastating loss, you would think I would’ve been prepared for it. But after a week of unfathomable sadness and trying to uplift those around me, I felt like a shell with no insides.
I did what I needed to do, I went to a yoga class. We started in child’s pose and it felt like any other time that I had been on my mat, but then the teacher said something that changed my perspective on everything.
“I find myself being very jealous of you all, because for the last week I realized I haven’t taken one single conscious breath.”
So imagine my surprise, as a tenured yoga teacher and student, surrendering my swollen, exhausted face down into my mat I realized I had not consciously taken a single breath in over a week either!
That first deep inhale and huge exhale was the biggest relief I may have felt in all of my life. It’s one thing to consciously breathe in a yoga class or take a deep breath when you’re in a beautiful outdoor environment, or control your breathing in meditation. All of that is fabulous and necessary, but until you remember to take a deep breath at the worst possible time, I don’t think you realize how extremely valuable it is.
The thing about breathing is that it happens on its own (while we are living) without really thinking about it. But we are also able to control our breath, to slow it down, and therefore to calm our minds and take us out of that fight or flight mode.
After the holidays which can be pretty stressful in and of themselves, just to sit and take a few deep breaths feels like a huge glass of water when you are completely parched. It enabled me to finally soften and reflect on what had happened and begin to heal.
We have to remember that even when we are surrounded by tragedy and devastation, or inundated with stress, the one thing we can control is our breath.
If you do nothing else today, just sit for one deep inhale and on the exhale let go of anything that is stuck or weighing you down.
I love this post. It's funny because I know you were thinking of taking out the suggestion to "take a breath" and I think it's the most important part of this post, and I have a story about it for you.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about how you were going to take it out as I was driving myself to my own workout, and my heart was pounding away as it always is when I take some time for myself (I always feel guilty) - and then I got a "double-whammy" of healing - on the radio was a review of the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood documentary (hear me out, I promise this will make sense) - and the woman (a colleague of mine, actually) talking about Mr. Rogers mentioned that watching him come in, sit down, take his shoes off, repeatedly, for years, had a very calming effect on people. Repetition calms. She then mentioned that he never seemed in a hurry, that he always had time for us. That made me stop. It made me take a breath, like you said. It made me realize that I don't need to be in a rush, and that I don't need to feel bad about taking some time.
So thank you for this.