Breathe Like You Mean It by Bill Wofford
Just breathe. That was breathtaking! The secret to life? Inhale, exhale & repeat. Feeling stressed? Take a few deep breaths.
Reminders abound about the power and importance of breath. I mean, duh - stop breathing and the game is over, right? Yes. Or at least we can agree that one level of the game ends. In any event, unlike humans, not all breaths are created equal. Yogis have known this for thousands of years, and thanks to them, we have the science of pranayama (literally “prana”- life force and “ayama” - control or extension). Yogis have developed a whole library of practices to shift energy, mood and awareness using the power of breath. [If you encounter some mental resistance to the notion that pranayama is a science, I invite you to google it or ask your favorite AI bot.]
Lexie and I had the great good fortune of extensive exposure to pranayama when we studied at Sattva Yoga Academy last year. I had tried a bit of pranayama during my prior years of yoga practice but I had never really bought into the idea that changing around how you breathe (breathe in one nostril and out the other or what have you) could have much effect on my state of mind or sense of well being. More to the point, I hadn’t felt and experienced meaningful shifts in awareness from simply breathing. Sure, taking a few deep breaths has saved me from saying and doing stupid or hurtful things countless times, but that’s a far cry from using breath to access an expanded state of consciousness. Right? So it was truly a revelation last year when I started to experience more awareness, clarity and bliss from intentional breath practices.
In recent decades, Western scientific researchers and devotees of performance optimization and wellness have explored, refined and spread the good word about breath practices, such as holotropic breathwork and the Wim Hof method. So it was easy for me to say Yes! when the opportunity arose recently to participate in a 2+ day Grof breathwork workshop.
In reviewing my notes from the workshop, this line stands out: “What we need in this time are effective technologies for transformation of consciousness.” I’m not sure if that is a quote from Stanislav Grof, MD, a line from one of the workshop facilitators or my distillation of a point made during the introduction. In any case, it is an apt description of my experience at the workshop, both as a “sitter” where I held space for my partner as he dove deep into his consciousness riding the breath and music or as a “breather” where I did the same as my partner kept me safe and well. Want to hear more about my experience as a “breather”? Ask me about dancing around the fire, sizzling hands or inhaling a dragon. Or the watchful gaze of the crone.
Having discovered and experienced first hand the power of breath practices to shift my experience and to provide avenues to new insights, I’m excited that we are expanding our pranayama and breathwork offerings at the studio. Brooksie’s Kundalini classes on Sundays include pranayama, as do the monthly Kriya journeys that Lexie and I offer. Carrie Brewer leads a monthly Elemental Breathwork session and our dear friend Miguel Amaru will be back in August to help us ride the breath to a deep journey of exploration.
So, on further reflection, don’t just breathe. Breathe with purpose and intention. Breathe like you mean it.
