Learning How to Breathe

I am grateful for the time that I have been able to spend breathing. It should not be a new concept, as much as it should be a well known practice. Breathing is something I was raised to believe was a practice of basic human being, for survival. Imagine my surprise when people would get upset or I would get upset, and the response of professional interventionists would be “Breathe” or “Slow down, so you can breathe.” As I continued to grow, I began to learn the value of the strength behind “air entering my lungs” and spreading oxygen through my muscles. I would feel renewed when I was able to stretch and allow my body to relax and I could take in the air to breathe, and feel the release of tension and trauma. It was like embracing stillness, which I had never been encouraged to do.

As time continued, I learned to love the ability to escape into meditation and calm my mind to a slow embrace of time. I was pleasantly surprised when it became easier to do so after I graduated from high school and began to practice in a manner reflective of my emancipation. The anxiety of full school days was replaced with classes that fit my area of interests and a life that was not impacted so powerfully by the individuals that I was surrounded by. I began to understand “breathing.” I was not aware that it was breath that I was following as much as it was a pathway, but I began to interweave breathing into my life.

When I entered my master's program and became aware of the gifts of “stepping back,” and being able to see things from a broader view, I realized I was still learning. I was learning the value of being able to understand. To give myself a break from being high anxiety and constantly going like a machine, I learned about holistic health and began to truly value holism.

Over the years as I continued to learn more about coping with difficulty, trauma, and stress I grew in my understanding of mental health, with emphasis on learning how to understand the process of healing. I learned the approach to healing that made the concept of “breathing through life” not just “to live” meaningful. As people look to deal with feelings of grief and loss, or issues regarding trauma and pain, when they “have the time” it can hinder the growth process of what makes us human. The loss of understanding that can result when a person continuously picks up responsibilities not only blocks self-awareness, but impedes the mind and body’s ability to gain meaningful absorption of how grief and loss build within the self and deepen the mind, body, and spirit connection.

How many times have you heard someone say, “I can’t deal with that right now,” or “I will give it the time it needs after I take care of this one important issue/thing?" It is this concept of dealing with ourselves as though our own emotions and our own thoughts take so much time, and so much effort, it takes away from the basic ability to survive and meet basic needs. When we give ourselves permission to “Slow down” and feel the emergence of breath re-awaken our senses, we allow ourselves to know the release of stress and anxiety that can result after issues of loss and/or trauma.

I bring this all back to breathing because it all started for me with feeling the air enter my muscles as I was stretching through different poses in Pilates class. It was the awakening of relaxing into a workout that toned and stretched the muscles. It was the ability to release the excess and embrace stepping back at the same time.

When I began to understand how to balance the fast paced with slow breaths, it helped me learn how to maneuver. It taught me to recognize the strength of taking time to look and assess my situation. Finding the peace in times of disruption, and not only seek to move past mental and emotional obstacles, but to read the tension in my body and recognize my own physiological response. It gave me permission to learn how to heal.