Like most of you, I’ve spent the past two years tending to the urgent and uncertain. It’s felt chaotic. Like I’m racing around breathless trying to get somewhere other than here. Because let’s face it, here can be hard. These days can feel extremely uncomfortable, unsettling, scary, even infuriating. The hostility in the world that always felt like it was “out there” now feels like it’s right here. Like a dispute between neighbors or a mishap between drivers could easily escalate. It’s like there isn’t much room to be human these days. Do you feel that? When I need her the most, my sacred center, my spiritual source, feels like she’s suffocating underneath the weight, the noise, the too-muchness of this moment.
Yet I know when I’m able to take the time to commune with my sacred self, I feel a little more space, grace and perspective. Like she’s able to tilt my head just so, pointing me back to my internal north star.
How then do we reconnect with our sacred self? With that unshakeable place in each of us that is compassionate and curious, calm and clear? Maybe you call that place Soul, Higher Self, Universe, Energy Source, Intuition, Wise Woman, Divine Dude, or God. I've got a new name for mine: spiritualicious Self (check out my new website content to learn more)! It’s that place in us that always has our back and never leads us astray.
Reconnecting with our sacred selves is exactly the work we do in spiritual coaching. One way we can awaken to our spiritual source is with our breath, and so I begin our coaching sessions with a guided breath meditation. I'm offering it now as gift for you! Download the 10-minute breath meditation below. Keep it close. Use it to start your day, or listen to it before transitioning from work to home, or let it lullaby you to sleep.
The breath is magical! Any time someone says, “Take a deep breath,” and I do, I instantly feel this reconnection with my body and the moment. No longer am I in my head, somewhere in the past or future, but right here and now where my spiritual power and wisdom resides. I feel more calm, grounded, and expansive. Take a deep breath! Do you get that feeling?
Of course, the breath is also ancient. Here in the very beginning. From dirt and stardust we were created, but it was Spirit’s breath that gave us Life. Our bodies can live without food for weeks, and without water for days, but without breath, life ends in a matter of moments.
In many faith traditions and cultures, the word for breath is synonymous with spirit:
In Sanskrit, it’s called prana;
In Hebrew, ruah means spirit and breath;
In Greek it is pneuma, and in Latin spiritus;
In English, to inhale means to inspire—that is, to take in the spirit, and to exhale is to expire—to release the spirit;
The word conspire literally means to breathe together, in unison, in one spirit.
To connect with your breath, is to connect with your spiritual power.
The gift of breath is that we don’t have to do anything—it moves through us on our own behalf. However, the more attention and intention we give to it, the more we can access its full life-giving power. When we consciously deepen our breathing, things start to shift. Our body begins to relax. Our mind starts to calm. Our emotions can be held. We create space to slow down, and tune in. The breath leads us back to our spiritual source, in the here and now, where the conspiring can commence...
DOWNLOAD BREATH MEDITATION NOW!