In a previous post we talked about how to love every situation, even the bad ones. In this post I’ll dig into one important step we can take when our immediate, strong reaction is to turn away and ignore these tough situations.
For the times when we want to straight run away and ignore certain emotions such as anger, hurt, sadness, jealousy, etc., we need to deploy one thing – our breath.
Using our breath to “digest” these emotions will help us from turning away, to turning IN.
It’s said in indigenous Peruvian shamanic/spiritual culture that elders would guide people to push the emotion down to the stomach and breath through it in order to digest and work through tough emotions.
I discovered this Peruvian practice after implementing this breath work for myself and wasn’t surprised at all to find out! Especially with deeply similar practices from other traditions such as those from Yoga, Buddhism, and even the Whim Hoff method of breath work!
Clearly there’s a reason why breath is such a powerful tool to bringing us back to our essence. Our true “self” amidst the harshest of emotions.
The next time you find yourself wanting to turn away take a moment, wherever you are, to BREATHE.
Breathe as heavy, fast, and as loudly as you need to and focus on turning inward. Really look at what you are digesting and allow the breath to do the work. Be with every breath as you discover and unfold the workings of the emotion.
Toward the end of the session (anywhere from 5-15 minutes) you’ll discover that you allowed the emotion to pass, or at least lessen a significant degree, and likely have uncovered a new finding about yourself. Whether that’s more mindfulness, awareness of true self, a deeper capacity to forgive, more love, etc., there will be an empowering shift within you.
So here’s to the first thing we ever did as humans – breathe, and to give thanks toward this life giving practice of breath work.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash