Breathe & Choose
I woke up this morning…
I woke up this morning with the words “breathe” and “choose” in my mind along with a tightness in my chest and an awareness that I was barely breathing. I took a breath ……… and chose to be grateful. Grateful for these simple and powerful words that came into my life when I noticed that being a kind and positive person was becoming increasingly difficult with every passing day.
This idea to cue myself reminded me of my days as a competitive Ice skater. I would spend years perfecting one jump so it would be consistent enough to put in my skating routine. There was time in my practice to move through the jump slowly (aka a walk-through), placing my body where it needed to be and imagining how I wanted to do the jump. Then, I would take flight (yes it feels like flying) with full speed, no reservations, and commit to the jump as if it were an integral part of every cell in my body.
With jumps that were still in that transition between effort and effortlessness, I would need to cue myself with one or two words to stay focused and give myself direction. If there was any lengthy internal dialogue of doubt, the jump was a mess.
Like in ice skating, there are times in my life when I can slow down, observe, and walk through the moments of living. And then, there are times when life feels as if it was moving at full speed, chaos deciding to visit, and I start reacting out of habit.
Chaos + reactions = a mess.
Yes, creating messes are a part of life. I know, I live with my two boys. And messes are necessary as we clear out all the garbage that is holding us back.
Introducing Breathe And Choose
This simple tool of mentally saying “Breathe and Choose” comes into play before a judgement manifest, before any complaint comes out of my mouth, when I worry, and for times when I simply react out of fear. I breathe and then with practice, move towards creating something that is positive in that moment. I am letting go of reactions, self-sabotage, and addictive habits. Sometimes we fail but we are in the moment, aware, and through this awareness, we rise out of our reactions.
Why does this matter? Why is it important to be aware of our breath, our attitude, how we think, speak, feel, or act?
It matters because, with every awareness, we take one step closer to taking responsibility for our life and truly witnessing our creative power as a human being. Are you aware of this power within you?
Our life can be no different than the words, thoughts, feelings, actions, and attitude that come from inside us. We create what happens in our future right now, with every word, thought, feeling, action and attitude.
Look at your thoughts, words, feelings, actions, and attitude as powerful living creative forces. These 5 living creative forces within you, either uplift, enliven, and nourish you, or they are forces that can destroy, deplete, and deprive you of health and joy. If you use these forces with anger, hurt, and negativity then that is what you create. If you use these forces for love, trust, and positivity then that is what you create.
Observe and Notice
Through my journey with Naam and by observing myself and others, I see how it is not only what we do and our past perceptions that create the narrative of our lives, but the real power is in all five of those creative forces that are generated from us right NOW. These five creative components are the causes, and your future (the physical reality) will feel their effects.
Be gentle with yourself as you become more aware of yourself and with others as you become more aware of how you create with your attitude, thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. Feel gratitude that you are seeing life and seeing yourself in a new way. Where there is awareness there is light. Turn on the light of awareness so you stop bumping into things. A lot of times through our darkness we come into the light.
The change does not always need to be so serious. Relax. When we relax, we open ourselves up to healing, and then the joy will follow. This joy will raise you up! And if it all becomes too difficult, laugh anyways. Smile anyways. And love anyways. Do not wait for the change.
It is okay not to be perfect or have everything figured out. It takes practice and awareness to be in the grace and flow of life.
We have this saying in Naam, “The mind follows the breath.” When you choose your breath, you choose your state of being. Let the breath support you as you move into this awareness.
We have the breath of life that moves through us. Every day is a gift and an opportunity to “breathe and choose.”
What do you choose?
Breathe & Listen
Breathe & Love
Breathe & Forgive
Breathe & Wait
Breathe & Smile
Breathe & Let Go
Breathe &………
Live in your practice. Live in the power of choice. You are powerfully creative!
With Love,
Leana
Deepen Your Practice: Watch the video to learn about Sitali breath and the calming effect it has on relieving stress. Use this breath as a tool to create positive shifts internally and externally in your environment. This breath will help you to “breathe and choose” with ease and respond from an intuitive positive state of being.
Or, you can simply take a full deep breath, suspend your breath as long as you can, then exhale. This will help calm you, strengthen your lungs, and strengthen your Nervous System. (Do not hold the breath if you are pregnant or have a heart condition.) ,
Leana Randol is a 300+ hour Certified Naam Yoga teacher, Harmonyum Healing practitioner, & Reflexology therapist. Her life experiences as a professional ice skater, coach, and mother of two boys has inspired her and led her to this path of healing and Naam. Leana is dedicated to sharing the wisdom and methods of Naam as a path to radiant health. She believes, “Every day is a gift to create a life you love with joy & purpose!”