11/08/2023
The more that is going on around you, and in the world at large pressing upon us (and there is a lot going on, right?!), the more necessary it is for us to consciously self-regulate, so that we are not literally pulled apart by forces outside of ourselves.
Fortunately we have some very effective leverage-points for auto-regulating the state of our nervous system that are available to us 24/7. Breath, for instance, is a direct access whereby you can consciously interact with the unconscious autonomic processes of our habitual states. These states can easily and inadvertently become entrained to external forces rather than our highest intentions for ourselves. If you notice you are feeling "off," that is half the battle!
Before laying blame for that feeling on what someone else said or did, or on the larger and very real issues facing the world in any given moment, believe for an instant that in spite of all those that, you are capable of feeling better, and are more capacitated to deal with all those things, when you have directly addressed your own internal state of affairs. Then pay attention to your breath. Feel the way that at the "bottom" of your exhale, there is a quiet moment where nothing is going on at all.
That's a brief nourishing vacation from it all during which your nervous system can adjust. Then notice that with no effort at all on your part, your lungs suddenly begin to fill with no effort at all on your part as the air, that nourishing spirit, rushes in and reshapes you and moves you. Observe that flashing pause at the top of that free-fill-up when, like at the peak of a roller coaster, you are neither going up nor down, but just taking in the expansive view afforded from that place. Then feel the air rush from you, again without effort, a model for "letting go," freed from constraints internal or otherwise. This is not a "breath exercise" but rather a process of intentional self awareness in the space of the unconscious.
When we choose to walk between the worlds like that, even for just a few cycles of breath, we can shift our state.
