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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Flying while breathing

Llywelyn Nys
I am breathing. I know that sounds ridiculous because we all breathe. Breathing is what we do. Breathing is what we have to do in order to stay alive. So why am I making such a big deal about breathing? Because it is something we take for granted. It is something that we do not think much about until we can have trouble doing it. Like when you are underwater and come up gasping. Or when something happens and it becomes hard to breathe. Then we panic. 

When I get overwhelmed I whip myself into a frenzy and then I go ahead at warp speed not really noticing what I am doing, what I am not doing, and who knows what else I miss in the process. The other day I was in full frenzy mode and a dear friend told me to breathe. Not in the I need air in my lungs to live kind of breathing, but the slow down, focus, and get ahead of yourself kind of breathing. Exactly what my yoga instructor tells me every class. If you are breathing, you are getting the benefits even if your poses suck. (Okay, I made that last part up. She did not exactly say that, but she reinforced that the poses really don't matter, they are just guides or something like that). Breathing clarifies things. Breathing slows down reflexes, gives you a minute or at the very least a moment to your center. 

Anyway I am trying to remain calm, ask for help when I need it (which is a lot lately), and breathe deeply a whole lot more often. Because that is what I need to do to survive in sometime turbulence of my life. At least now I can see the light at the end.