AIR

Breathe in new life

Photo by Carsten Sprotte

You have become oblivious to this, the miracle of every moment. But you cannot escape it. Your chest expands and contracts, as does all that exists. Air flows in and out of you while the currents sweep over our liquid globe. The flow is forever, but at some moment you will become aware. I am alive! Your breath is your life, constantly renewed. As it infuses your body with energy, follow it with your consciousness. Become your breath, and in that brief moment cease to be everything else you think you are.

Breathe at dawn. Breathe at dusk. Breathe at every possible moment in your dense daily life. These pauses will be like spaces between the letters, the words, the sentences, and the paragraphs that tell your story. Without space, the meaning is lost. Without silence, there is no music.

Breath is a pause.

There is even a stillness within the breath itself, between inhaling and exhaling. A pause within the pause. Do you get annoyed and impatient when your computer requires 44 seconds to perform an operation? Use the time to breathe, deliberately!

You were born breathing, yet must learn to breathe. Learn to inhale slowly and deeply. To hold. To release. Involve the entire core of your body, drawing breath like fluid up a straw from the base of your spine to your head. Use your abdominal muscles to pump and direct the breath.

Breathing is like thinking. You cannot stop it from happening, but you can direct it with your awareness. You can make it an instrument of your consciousness.

The air is free. Only you have set a toll. The barrier to wholesome breathing is yours and yours only. Be grateful for breath, this great gift to you and to all.

Koan:

Breath of life. Breathe in life. Become your breath. Who is the giver, and who the receiver?