A simple, powerful breath- related healing practice for 2003

[Guest guest]

Dear Alternative Answers members:

 

As we enter this new year amidst great uncertainty, stress, and

suffering, my hope is that each one of us will be able to rediscover

and renew those things that can help heal us both individually and

collectively: friendship, love, intelligence, self-awareness, global

awareness, wisdom, and all the other heart-felt qualities that bring

people together--not divide them and tear them apart.

 

At the core of each one of us--no matter what our political and

social and spiritual beliefs--is a longing for real relationship,

with ourselves, others, and the universe itself. It is clear that

real relationship requires both giving and receiving. What is not

so clear to many of us is that giving usually comes first. Imagine

trying to take a full free breath without having exhaled fully.

It's not possible. And yet that is how many of us live. We wish

to fill ourselves with the physical, emotional, mental, and

spiritual objects of our desire--without first emptying ourselves

by letting go and giving.

 

I wish now to offer a simple but profound practice for these

stressful times, a practice that may help you open to yourselves

and others in a new way. Each time you catch yourself about to

be caught up in a negative judgment, thought, or emotion toward

yourself or anyone else, you simply sense yourself breathing

through your heart, exhaling (slowly and gently through pursed

lips) appreciation, love, and compassion from the whole of

yourself out into the world, and letting your inhalation take

place effortlessly through your nose, receiving and appreciating

the air and energy that comes to you without any kind of grasping

or trying. If you are in conditions that allow it, it may be

helpful to put one or both hands on your heart as you experiment

with this practice. Work in this way for at least nine complete

breaths at a time. You can undertake this practice as many times

as you wish each day.

 

To gain free access to and receive other breathing-oriented healing

practices, be sure to sign up for my free newsletter:

Authentic Breathing News. Just visist my website listed under my name

to or send a message to

 

authentic-breathing-news-

 

With my warmest wishes for this New Year,

 

Dennis Lewis

http://www.authentic-breathing.com

 

PS: For those of you who live in the San Francisco Bay area, please

note that I will be giving a one-day workshop on Jan 11 at East West

Bookshop in Mountain View CA: " Awakening the Breath of the Heart: A

Journey into the Miracle of the Present Moment. "