Breathing Yourself Back Into Life

I live in a 1914 cottage nestled under a 152 year old maple. Most mornings, I sit in my garden oasis under her enormous outstretched arms for a few moments to just be. As I listen to the birds and the sound of the waterfall in the pond that is nestled in this magical garden, I am full of gratitude for living a life of awakening – a life where I can not only be fully here for the magnificence of this day, but also for the challenges of my life.

As I breathe in the fresh Pacific Northwest air, I am deeply grateful that Life invited me into an intimate and healing relationship with my breath. Breath has been an invaluable friend on this journey back into a trust-filled relationship with myself and with Life. It calms my mind when I feel agitated; opens my body when it is tight; and it soothes my heart when it is hurting. With its ancient and healing rhythm, it is constantly inviting me to let go of the struggling self and come back here, reminding me that I am part of a much greater and trustable process.  

We are all hungry for the kind of connection with ourselves and with Life that conscious breathing can bring. We want to be vibrantly alive, and right here under our very noses is one of the most powerful healing tools and accessible doorways into vibrant living that there is! So the invitation in this moment is to breathe a couple of long slow deep breaths and simply feel them, feel this gift of breath. Now, I invite you to notice the circle of your breath. Experience the opening and spaciousness of your in-breath, then the turning and the letting go of your out-breath. And then, after a short pause, there is the gift of another in-breath. Celebrate the deliciousness of the in-breath as it makes space inside you and the relaxing of the out-breath as it allows you again to melt into Life. 

Doesn’t that feel enlivening? Breath is the most healing gift I know of, so I created a 2-CD set of the concepts and techniques I have been practicing and sharing for years. I call it Breathe Fully~Live Fully. I usually don’t talk about ‘products’ in this blog but to rediscover the phenomenal healing power of your breath is one of the most important things you can do for not only your own healing but also the healing of our planet. In the first CD, I explore how the amazing healer of breath works and what a natural breath looks and feel like. I also teach you techniques that can bring clarity when you are confused, calmness when you are agitated, and energy when you are tired. The second CD contains guided meditations on the breath. Here is a link if this calls to you:  https://maryomalley.com/cdsdvds/

I encourage you to gift yourself with a few precious minutes each day to pause and simply ride the waves of your breath. It is also very empowering to look for those moments when you are ‘waiting’ – at the doctor’s office, in line at the post office, waiting for the traffic light to change. And instead of staying caught in your mind, thinking about what you are going to do next, or what you should have done, use these moments to breathe yourself back into Life, back into the only moment that matters, now. It is the most incredible gift you can give yourself. Each time you pause to breathe yourself back into Life, you are waking up from the dream of struggle and separation, back into a full connection with Life. 

Image of Transcendence by Cathy Hillegas  http://cathyhillegas.com/