Somehow March is already halfway over and I can smell Spring right around the corner!

This month I have been busy with motherhood and marriage and meditation school and meetings which usually leaves me feeling a bit overwhelmed but surprisingly I am feeling pretty good.

I definitely attribute my calm and focus to my continued daily morning meditations and movement yet I also know that a lot of my composure is coming from my breath.

Two Sundays ago I led the first of 4 sessions for a new virtual series I created called Breathe + Bloom and it’s all about befriending the breath.

In just 2 sessions I am already seeing and hearing from participants that more and more they are taking the very real option to choose the breath intentionally in times of high stress and anxiety and even depression, resulting in a higher quality of life for them.

Basically, our breath is everything and when we take time to intentionally explore and work with it we find there are both immediate and long term benefits to be received!

Studies are proving that with just a few minutes of deep breathing we can move our own selves from our fight or flight nervous system to our rest and digest nervous system, balancing not just our bodies but our minds and spirits.

So instead of writing more about the breath and all it’s beauty, let’s befriend it right now through this practice!

Natural Breath Observation

Come to a comfortable sitting position, allowing the body to settle in.

Gently close your eyes or take a soft gaze at something pleasant.

Set an intention for your practice, perhaps imagine yourself as a seed being planted in the ground and this practice is the water, fresh oxygen and sunlight you need in order to bloom into your fullness!

Now see if you can tune your attention to your sense of hearing and listen to the layers of sound in the room around you.

Notice what sensations might be in the field of awareness of your body.

Shift your attention to your breath, allowing it to come in and out without changing anything about it.

Notice whether you can sense the breath in your body. What temperatures might you feel? Is your body moving with the breath, if so where? Are your breaths deep or shallow?

Stay curious instead of critical, this is an inquiry into how and where you are breathing in the moment. Be gentle and loving with yourself here.

Continue observing your breath for a few minutes and let that be enough.

Deepening Your Practice

Want to dive deeper? Try counting your breath cycles up to 10.

Each inhale and exhale is 1 cycle.

Once you reach 10 full cycles of breath, let that be enough.

If you get lost counting laugh it off and either start over or from where you remember leaving off!

Once you are done take a few quiet moments to just sit in silence with yourself and any energetic shifts that may have happened!

I hope this practice carries you through the rest of your day wherever you are reading this!

Please email me if you ever have questions about your practice! Especially if you find being with your breath challenging, which is totally normal and ok and with time and the right supports around you (from therapists to a self hug) your breath can become your best friend.

May you find healing here

Yours in Community,

Shea