Ithaca NY, where we live, is a town for bumper stickers. (Let's call them BS for short.) All self-respecting Ithacans have a bevy of BS, mostly political. Reading BS passes the time when you are in a traffic jam. If you're lucky, you will be behind a Subaru wagon with more than a dozen. (It used to be a Volvo 240, but they don't make them anymore.) Besides being a political, activist sort of town, Ithaca is also a spiritual, new-agey kind of place. It's eclectic. It suits us.
One of my favorite BS is "Breathe." Of course, there is more than a grain of truth in many BS. In other words, not all BS is BS, so to speak.
"Breathe" is profoundly true.
Jesus, on the night of resurrection said so. "He breathed on the disciples and said 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" To breathe is to live. Breath is life. God comes to us as breath.
I have been learning to breathe. That sounds a bit silly. If we don't breathe we die.
Quickly.
I don't mean that. I mean breathe consciously, breathe deeply. Breathe like a baby breathes, from the abdomen. Next time you have the joy of seeing a baby, watch how it breathes. You will see its little belly goes in and out and not its chest. As we get older we begin to breathe inefficiently. We breather from the chest. We fill only the top part of our lungs. To breathe from the abdomen, sensing the rise and fall of the diaphragm, allows the lungs to fully expand and contract. For a baby, it all comes naturally. After years of breathing shallowly, it is not natural at all.
Belly breathing takes time and much practice. But, it is worth it. There are many physiological benefits. Healthier lungs. Improved oxygen circulation. Better blood flow. Lower blood pressure. More energy. (These have all been medically documented.)
There are deeply spiritual benefits too. Breath connects us with the divine. It is no accident that Hebrew ruach means breath and spirit, as does Greek pneuma, as does Chinese qi and Japanese ki. The ancients knew the mysterious connection of life, breath, spirit, God and all things.
Conscious breathing is mindfulness. Mindfulness is attention. Attention is being present. Being present is to touch eternity.
Breathe.
Ab. Andy
"Breathe" is profoundly true.
Jesus, on the night of resurrection said so. "He breathed on the disciples and said 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" To breathe is to live. Breath is life. God comes to us as breath.
I have been learning to breathe. That sounds a bit silly. If we don't breathe we die.
Quickly.
I don't mean that. I mean breathe consciously, breathe deeply. Breathe like a baby breathes, from the abdomen. Next time you have the joy of seeing a baby, watch how it breathes. You will see its little belly goes in and out and not its chest. As we get older we begin to breathe inefficiently. We breather from the chest. We fill only the top part of our lungs. To breathe from the abdomen, sensing the rise and fall of the diaphragm, allows the lungs to fully expand and contract. For a baby, it all comes naturally. After years of breathing shallowly, it is not natural at all.
Belly breathing takes time and much practice. But, it is worth it. There are many physiological benefits. Healthier lungs. Improved oxygen circulation. Better blood flow. Lower blood pressure. More energy. (These have all been medically documented.)
There are deeply spiritual benefits too. Breath connects us with the divine. It is no accident that Hebrew ruach means breath and spirit, as does Greek pneuma, as does Chinese qi and Japanese ki. The ancients knew the mysterious connection of life, breath, spirit, God and all things.
Conscious breathing is mindfulness. Mindfulness is attention. Attention is being present. Being present is to touch eternity.
Breathe.
Ab. Andy