B is for Breathe! 26 Days to Practice Peace A to Z Challenge! by Conlee

Is For Breathe

Take a deep breath.  Fill your belly.  If you can’t feel your stomach expand then you have to lie back down in bed.  On your back you can’t help but fill your diaphragm.

Hold it. Hold it for maybe 3 or 4 “Mississippi’s.”             Let it out slowly.

Repeat.           Breathe in and fill that belly.         Hold it.           Let it out slowly.

Now you are allowed to get out of bed, or move from the couch, office chair, or room.

My chest and belly can get so tight sometimes that there are moments where I catch myself actually holding my breath!  Let the air flow through you today, hold on to none of it in a nervous anxious way.

When you breathe like this you are giving yourself a moment of power in a world where so many things leave you feeling powerless!  Controlling your breath in a world, or day, or moment when you feel nothing is under control can grant you a peaceful moment.  Permit yourself that peaceful powerful moment.

As you move throughout your day natural transitions will occur: rising from the table/desk, heading off to a meeting, heading off to the bathroom, turning off the T.V. before heading to bed, preparing your child for a nap, preparing to take your child to the library, on and on and on.  Before you transition from one event to the next take a moment and breathe in and out two times while you pay attention to those two breaths.  I don’t ask that you clear your mind and try to not think, go ahead think about what it is you are transitioning to or from, but see if you can fill your belly two times before heading into the next thing.

If you miss a transition moment, so what? If you get in four deep breathing transitions today that is probably four more than yesterday, so Rock On!

Try saying this at your next transition: “I will take these breaths.  They are mine to enjoy.”

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