Breathe
A person can survive without food for several weeks; without water for several days; but without breath? Less than seven minutes. Breath is central to Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions.
Jewish and Christian traditions mention breath starting in the book of Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.”
Breath is calming.
Sometimes I forget to breathe. Sometimes I get so stressed out that when I tell my tale of woes each grievance builds on the previous one cultivating into a giant collection of gripes, grumbles and injustices. A sure sign of the snowball effect is when my voice gets louder, my speech gets faster and my husband will feel the compulsion to interject, “Breathe, Lisa!”
So, I guess I will take the advice of all the major world religions (and my husband too) and try to breathe easier this week. I read online that some people do “breath prayers” (which sounds a lot like meditation to me, but what do I know?) These are the steps:
- Inhale
- Concentrate on a mantra or prayer, like, “Give me strength and courage”
- Say the first part of your prayer, “Give me,” then exhale halfway
- Say the rest of your prayer, “strength and courage,” then exhale fully
- Repeat
Whether you do yoga, Pilates, meditation or prayer, I hope you breathe easier this week too.
Lisa
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