BREATHE

The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. Just take a moment.
This will give your mind a steadiness and your breath a gracefulness....
There’s so much to let go of, isn’t there?
Your nostalgia and your regrets. Your fantasies and your fears.
What you think you want instead of what is happening right now. Breathe. ~Rodney Yee

It's been a winter. A looooong winter. And there have been many challenges to navigate and work with, so I'm using my breath. Literally. One inhale and exhale at a time. 
I recently realized that most of the stress, overwhelm, anxiety, resistance, and frustration I've been feeling, are about things that aren't happening. They are about what I'm afraid will happen. 

Wait a minute- what's that you say? I'm freaking out about what's not happening? Yes, yes indeed. 

And I can't talk myself out of it, the top down process simply isn't working for me right now.  At all. 
I need the direct message that I'm safe. That my body, my heart, my being is safe. 

By bringing all of my somatic and mental awareness to my breath, by slowing down my inhale and lengthening my exhale, I am able to return to right here, right now. Once I'm back, I can use all my senses to come back to regulation. But deep breaths are my way out of the spiral of worry and fear, into feeling grounded and present. 

This morning in dance we let our breath dance us. We rode the waves in and out, and used the breath as an anchor to the present moment of being alive and human in our body-beings. For me, dancing this way allows me to trust the moment. Trust my resources, trust my senses. 

This is important because the world is a chaotic, messy, hectic place. As the wealth divide continues, the planet's health decays, people feel more alienated from belonging, and racism, oppression and inequality thrive, we are needed. Our ability to come back to the moment and resource ourselves so we can hold our community is more needed than ever. we must be able to be an anchor and a steady hand to the people on the planet who need us most. 

So breathe, my loves, breathe. Every day, all day. Trust your breath, trust the moment. And see what happens!