As your breath grows roots
Grounding breathwork into a rooted embodiment practice for deepening your meditation and breathwork experience
Each morning I wake up, and the first thing I do is connect with my breath.
When I am out on the trails, running or hiking or sitting in stillness under a ponderosa? Yea, there too - I settle in and the first thing I do is connect my breath.
Every moment of every day! Well, at least until I am taken out of presence and swept away into the chaos of the world. But then I am reminded, and once more I connect with my breath.
Connecting with my breath, the portals to my felt connection to my body and my being open up, and I am now able to be present to what is here and now:
To listen.
To receive.
To discern.
To heal.
To ground.
Oh, and the list goes on!
My breath is my greatest guide and companion into presence: that is, into felt connection in my body in this moment in time.
It's the most powerful and faithful companion, always here with me whenever I need to focus, release the chaos off the world, tune into what is right here, and move forward with greater connection.
I am talking about my relationship to my breath all week long over on IG in a 4-part video series. I invite you to listen to Part 1 today.
A little bit more context for my readers:
I started working with my breath in focused practice and guided meditation nearly a decade ago.
As a biomedical researcher turning corporate engineer; and, as a runner and rock climber; and, starting out on my blogging and entrepreneurial adventure...
I had my hands full.
And, I experienced constant overwhelm in my head and body.
The way I worked with my breath served me for a few years. I took the practices that others had extracted from ancient wisdom traditions and I used them to help me support my modern lifestyle.
It worked for a while. I kept my head on my shoulders and stayed focused doing all the things I thought I should be doing.
You all know what happened next?
When I broke, I broke deep. All the breathwork and meditation in the world couldn't help me to put myself back together in a way that resembled any shred of my old life!
Today, I actually hold infinite gratitude for the shattering, because it's through this deep descent that I was able to root down into a way of being: in my own body and in my life in this wild world we live in.
It’s only in the shattering that I was able to shake the way of being that this modern world taught me and programmed deep within me!
Although, you know… ideally, things shouldn’t have to get as bad as they did for me for each of us to be able to become present to what is:
To what is real.
To what is true.
To the highest path forward from this moment.
This is why, this week, I am talking about the breath as my favorite guide and companion in embodiment practice.
I am talking about how you can take all that trendy breathwork and meditation conversation and ground it into a deeper embodiment practice that truly serves your body, your nervous system, your life, and all those important aspects of self!
You can watch that first video here: Watch on Instagram