Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out, I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment,

I know this is a wonderful moment.

• Thich Nhat Hanh

Life starts with a breath and life ends with a breath and so I always start my day end end my day with a breath and the recognition of the breath.  Just that.

So simple, yet this bookending of my days, especially days that don’t have the structures I used to rely upon, has helped me.  In a way, it has changed my life. Maybe it will help you, too.  Just that.

We all breathe 24/7/365, this year 366 (though it seems like even more) and yet unless we are having a problem breathing, we give it little or no thought.  And yet just by bringing our attention to the breath, not only does the breath change but so do our sensations, our feelings, our thoughts and sometimes our actions.  Just by bringing attention.

The ancient yogis found that each emotion had its own breath.  They found that when people’s emotions changed, so did their breath.  Becoming frightened, one might hold one’s breath or breathe quickly.  They also found that by changing the breath, bringing attention to it and changing its speed, its depth, its place in the body, the emotions changed.  By deepening and slowing the breath, calm feelings enter, even under stressful conditions.

The Sanskrit word for breathwork, breath exercises or breath attention is Pranayama.  Pranayama is an integral part of my yoga practice and has become an integral part of my life.  I have learned that bringing my attention to my breath and making even small adjustments to it, I can be more aware of my own sensations, my own feelings, thoughts and actions.  Note the word “can”.  I don’t always succeed but, hopefully with “practice” I improve.

The quote above is by Thich Nhat Hanh, a wonderful Vietnamese Buddhist monk and writer.  When we bring our attention to our breath as we inhale, we can feel the energy enter the body bringing a calmness, almost a knowing that this breath will get us the next step on our path.  When we smile as we exhale, we release whatever no longer serves us leaving space for whatever comes next.  It doesn’t matter what that is, we now have space for it.

Inhale.  Exhale.  Just that.