Breathe it all in

Often, we choose songs that seep into our hearts and speak their words for us, but seldom do we choose music for our lungs. My Zen has always been those moments that make you breath, and sometimes if you’re lucky they come attached to a song. Recently more than ever the impact of breathing on our health (body and mind) has been taking off. From reduced inflammation, to calming anxiety, breathing is not only our life force but medication and it’s something I try to do daily.

This playlist is a list of those songs that seep deep into my airways, allowing me to breathe full crisp breaths, and how I use them as an ‘anchor’ reminding me to get into my Zen at different times of the day.

Transport and Jovem Dionisio’s Copacabana

Whether I’m on a bike, bus or tube, the slow Bossa Nova of Dionisio carries my mind back to the moment, and the breath back to my lungs. When I exhale I’m swaying down the escalator bare foot into the Rio sea.

For this song my ‘anchor line’ translates to something like; "I don’t need to go to Copacabana - I take my mind wherever I want” (followed by some beachy sax that is quite honestly meditation in itself). This reminds me of the power within each of us, that we a capable in each moment of choosing our feelings, destination and state. You don’t need to be anywhere, or look for paradise, you can just breathe and have it all. I may be on a bus, but my lungs are breathing in the same they would on a Rio beach. Our paradise is now. There’s a quote I love displayed on the London underground - "and if I talk of paradise I’m speaking of my grandmother who told me to carry it always on my person" (Roger Robinson).

Waking up and Real Love baby by Father John Misty

I've always found being dragged between the realms of dreaming and waking maddening and am thoroughly annoyed for the first 10 mins of my reality adjustment. As a result I always try to do a breathing meditation as soon as I wake up. The sounds of Real Love Baby wrap their arms around me and sway be out of bed whilst I swing like a drunken giraffe in the dappled morning sun. Even if it isn't sunny, this playlist somehow lights up my mornings I breathe with the relief and revelation of my ‘anchor’ lyric that;

“I'm in love, I'm alive , I belong to the stars and sky”. With this affirmation I can finally start my day.

Showering and Varias Queixas - Gilsons

My secret breathing ritual to press pause on my mind and relax me for sleep has always been showering in the dark. It’s like shutting off one sense opens the doors to the others; the darkness lends itself to the now, to breath, as the spotlight is taken off of the outer world.

As I begin my shower to this song, maybe my favorite on the playlist, my ‘anchor line’ “do what you want until you hurt me, transported in my heart, there is only love” reminds me I carry paradise on my person at all times. I feel my heart and lungs swell as I stand under my darkened waterfall feeling the truth of that statement open my lungs in relief.

Bedtime and Enya – Caribbean Blue

The last song is one that makes me breathe deeply every time, the one that makes me feel as if this is the only moment there ever was, and me (and my problems) are insignificant in the best of ways. My Grandma used to play this to my dad when he couldn’t sleep, and my dad for me. The magical melodies waltz me into deep inhales of sleep filled air and as soon as I hear the choir start to sing I exhale as Enya begins “So the world goes round and round

With all you ever knew”. All you can ever know is within you, therefore all you need is within you.

If nothing else today breathe. Let music be your que to anchor yourself in the now, create rituals, songs and playlists that remind you to inhale and exhale. You will soon start to find it easier to choose your feelings, state and perspective. Find your zen and enjoy the music.