Breathing is the action of merging with life. Think about something or someone that you love. When you are with that person or enjoying that thing that you love, you can take in a very big breath.  You can also exhale in a way that brings total relaxation to your body and to your mind.  All things that we want to merge with; we drink in energy/love of any person/place/or thing through our inhalation. Our deep, full breath merges our life in THAT MOMENT with the environment around us. We exchange experience through a deep breath. IF you are in love, make love, enjoy smelling a flower, a box of strawberries or chocolate or simply a moment of peaceful relaxation; you want to breathe so deeply to merge with that experience of beauty you are merging with.   When my mind completely merges with my breath, at that moment in time I forget myself (thinking) and simply become part of what I am involved with. In those quick seconds or minutes there is no resistance. I feel free. I am free.  This is freedom.

Remember walking along the seaside or through the mountains. What brings back the ethereal experience of the memory? The visual will change from natural environmental changes, changes in population or style but the smell and vibration don’t change.  We remember the air.  The quality, the smell, and the spirit. We remember from the deep breath that merged us with that environment.  

On the other side of this is the feeling of smelling something very unpleasant. In this situation you avoid taking any deep breaths. If you find yourself in the company of someone distasteful, you may feel claustrophobic. You don’t want to even sit too close to them.  The last thing you want to do is to take a deep breath. You don’t want to merge with that experience.

When do you exhale? Do you really completely  breathe out, completely letting go? That “sigh of relief” that says “relaxation.” Movement through the body requires complete and balanced, rhythmic respiration- exhale and inhale.  Notice what allows your exhalation.  Notice that feeling that brings on that really big exhale. Watch what inspires big inhales and what inspires big exhales.

As autumn passes watch how a leaf falls from a tree. You see how it swoops down and rises back up and softly sways from side to side gliding on the support of the breeze surrounding it on its descending journey.

I think of my inner body being as being supported in a similar way with the breath. I feel the lightness of space as I move into any posture led by the intelligence of the tidal rhythm of my breath and moving along the wave-like movement that my mind can follow.  One student said it perfectly.  She discovered the demand of concentration which led her this insight.  She reflected in a moment following a posture, “I have to watch myself with every breath.”  This is true, so simple, yet so difficult to attain.

Breath gives life.  It gives intelligence to the brain.  The breath is your bigger brain.  Look to your breath for answers, not your brain.  Let your brain pause to listen through your breath, and sooner or later, calm insight will effortlessly take you where you want to go.

©shelley piser 2009