Finding your breath

Your change this week will be done in conjunction with your 15 minutes of silence from Week 1, which you are going to continue this week (and hopefully every week!), so there will be no additional time involved. While you are sitting in silence for 15 minutes this week, you are also going to learn to breathe and to "watch" your breathing. Ok, you already know how to breathe, but few of us breathe correctly. Do you know how to take deep cleansing breaths? Do you know the physical and mental benefits of taking 10 deep breaths once or twice a day? And when you are sitting in silence, do you know how to watch your breath? If not, you are soon going to learn.

Your routine from last week may have to change a little this week if you have been doing anything like petting the cat or lathering your skin with a perfumed lotion during your 15 minutes of sitting in silence.

At least for this first week, you should try to do this exercise in a comfortable seated position, or even lay down if you can do so without going to sleep. Place your hands across our abdomen. Inhale through your nose and feel your abdomen rise and your belly fill with air until you don’t think you can take in another molecule of air. Then hold that breath for a count of 7. Exhale by blowing your breath slowly and steadily out of your mouth, while at the same time pushing the air out of your stomach until your belly button feels like it will touch your backbone.

At the end of your exhale, you will notice that there is a natural pause of breath before the next inhale begins. This is a quiet space that some religions consider almost holy. Focus on this quiet space for the split second or two that it lasts. Then begin your next inhale.

After you have completed the 10 deep breaths, continue your 15 minutes of sitting in silence by just watching your breath. There's nothing mystical about this. It just means to be aware of your breath as it goes into and out of your body. Focus your attention on your breath.

At the end of this week, again take some time to make a few notes in a journal about the changes you have noticed by adding this deep breathing exercise to your daily life.

Thanks for being here and now.
MM