7 Steps to breathe more consciously

Breathing fully and consciously implies normalizing our breathing pattern. Mindful breathing enables us to be more aware and connected to core vibration and natural behaviours.  How do we know whether we are over-breathing or underbreathing? How can we breathe for maximum oxygen cell content? If exploring any new meditation or breathing technique, if it doesn’t feel right, stop doing it.  Trust your intuition. Consider these 7 steps to breathe more consciously;

1. Know our goals

Before embarking on any breathwork, it is wise to know our goals; is it to ease chronic illness? to promote  rehabilitation? to achieve peak athletic or public (stage/vocal) performance? to reduce stress? to manage grief, anxiety, depression? to identify and release emotional trauma? to maintain or restore homeostais? to enrich quality of life? to extend life span? When our intention is clear, the path presents.  By taking initiatives, we have the power to shift our life experience.  We may choose to taste greater confidence, deeper peace or, feel revitalized in unexpected ways. 

2. Invite revelations

Eureka moments change everything. Although the respiratory system of the body is itself involuntary, we actually have control over the rhythm of our breath.  We breath on average, 25,000-30,000 times per day. Yet, many people are fortunate if they breathe up to 70% of their capacity. The other 30% is wasted. How we breathe determines how we feel. What we put in, we get out. If we breathe deeply, we live deeply. If we are shallow breathers, we live a shallow life. Rest assured, we can change our oxygenation efficiency through breath training. This requires growing conscious of our thoughts and feelings and realizing we can change them.

3. Get comfortable

Before engaging in breathing techniques,  it is important to relax and get comfortable, preferably be sitting or laying down.  Silence is important (no speaking) to focus attention. Listening to soft music or mantras are assumed to be soothing yet can also be distracting. It is not advisable to be standing, operating a moving vehicle, machinery or engaging in any activity that requires your full attention. Many breathing techniques are best performed on an empty stomach but we also want to be well-hydrated. Be in a place where fresh air is abundant and the body is at normal temperture (not too hot or cold). Different breathing techniques benefit from different postures during the breathing session.

4.  Make connections

Every moment we inhale a breath, that air is translated into life energy. Its called Chi (China/Japan) and Prana (India). Most people know how it feels to breath freely although some of us only dream about that.    How people breathe around us affects us when we allow it.  When we do not breathe properly, the body breaks down. This affects us energetically, even if we do not see it, we feel it.  It may affect us emotionally, physically, mentally, or on many levels simultaneously. We can even connect our changing breathing rhythm to our emotions and issues arising. In the ancient Indian system, the length of life was measured in number of breaths. Conscious breathing has long been linked to longevity and a mroe fulfilling existence.

5. Choose the technique

If we already have knowledge of a pool of techniques we can draw from, then the next step is to intuitively use the technique best suited to the situation at hand and practice consistently.  If active in a group, we may choose to share what is going on in our life with peers, ask for guidance  from someone we trust about which breathing techniques best suited to help us.  How can we narrow our focus? grow aware of the muscles we use when we breathe,  Are you eager to extend your breath retention? Are you concerned with recurrent shortness of breath? Perhaps Buteyko breathing, with the aim of breathing slower and less, if for you?  pursed lip breathing and diaphramatic breathing would be worth exploring.

6. Repeat 

The key is to follow what feels right and just breathe. For some techniques, it doesn’t matter whether you breathe in and out through the nose or out through the mouth.  In those cases. it’s what works for you.  In other cases, such as rebirthing, cathartic breathing, nasal and mouth breathing are more or less dynamic, have different purposes and effects.  When we practice multiple rounds of the breathing techniques, the effect can be more noticable. It can be very powerful to breathe in a group.  One can move beyond counting the breaths, to completely get out of the head and enter a deep meditative state.

7. Rescan

We can also rescan the body to see the effects of the breathing technique. We can be more aware of how we breathe. We do not wish to waste another breath.  We all have the power to heal ourselves in a more effective way, to perform better, to move our body with more ease. There are so many diseases related to stress. We each have the power to shift the focus when we breathe. Inhalation through the nose tends to be most effective. (Cathartic breathing through the mouth for  is one exception). We take up nitrogen oxide through our nose which is a secret benefit to nose breathing.

 With mindfulness-the practice of peace-we can begin by working to transform the wars within ourselves.  Conscious breathing helps us to do this. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Interview with Doug Wilson

On the Path to uncover and heal my own trauma and addictions, it feels natural to encourage others to take steps to gain new insight into themselves.

Inspirational stories shake us up to wake us up. They invite each of us to recognize what we admire in, and what triggers about others, is dormant in us. When it feels right, we see through separation to all we have in common, change how we perceive and respond to life.

Recently, in facing big challenges, synchronicity led me to the book Kundalini Running (2018). Intuition guided me to interview the author, Doug Wilson. I share share a glimpse of his remarkable story.  It invites each of us to reflect on our own lives, and to trust in what is blossoming.

Thanks Doug, for being here.

My pleasure.

My life calling guides me to people who have experienced deep trauma (or guides them to me).  We gain something from each other. Your story offers insight into moving beyond addictions, including; psychoactive and other drugs, alcohol and an unconscious pattern of repressing emotional trauma.  Please comment.

In my book, I share that earlier in my life, I craved the freedom and release that drugs and alcohol brought me.  It was the only way I could escape the loneliness and tedious life routine I had unconsciously fallen into.  I was afraid of facing the truth: I didn’t know how to be at ease with life and experience it as a beautiful happening, as an opportunity to learn, grow and evolve.  

You are certainly not alone. Everyone is in recovery from something. Many people are lonely and unconsciously driven by fear in job and environments they dislike. Your drug experiences, including recreational and medical cannabis, reflect widespread social phenomena.

This said, it is often overlooked that caffeine, alcohol and sugar are the three most accessible and widely-consumed legal drugs in the world.  And people wonder why they swing between feeling over-stimulated and depressed? Luckily, growing aware of our habits prompts shifts. Your food choices, for instance, have really changed! 

They definitely have. I became vegan. You can read more in my interview for vegan of the week with Melanie Eager.

Thanks! My life has also guided me and many others into a vegan lifestyle. Love how your book shares 'why' and invites us all to ask more often. Your story shows us physical challenges are also mental, so we uncover what we are made of.  

When life brings us full circle, its a wake up call...

And we can ignore the signs or listen. Your story echoes we cannot run away from ourselves forever. So, how did early ideas of success influence your addictions?

A well-paid career, world travel and achievements in global endurance running, made me believe that I ticked all the boxes laid out by a society I was lost in. Of course, that view of success has changed...

Brain tumor surgery and rehab changes a lot! What's inspiring is your will to live to the fullest, despite unexpected challenges.  Although we may falter, your story invites us to face fears, relax more, go beyond comfort zones and find strength.

Yes. What we resist, persists...

Love that the same lesson can take shape in our lives in different ways until we get it. Sometimes we get a similar situation arise again as we are ready to grow conscious of a deeper message. Its like every moment is an oportunity to see differently.

Share with us your view of your ‘Dark night of the Soul.’

A self-inflicted period of complete emptiness with no sense of trust within myself or the world around me. 

It feels like your book also reveals ‘the dark night of the soul’ is like a confronting initiation. The book echoes that each of us reaches points in life where our core beliefs are challenged, where we face uneasiness, where our familiar illusions are stripped away, and we feel we stand alone in the presence of the divine.  

Yes. This process is both liberating and discomforting.

How does this validate you were imbalanced, living an inauthentic life?

I lived between states of extreme highs and lows, of uncertainty and certainty. I don’t see this as an inauthentic state of being, but rather a period of time to establish the foundations for what I needed to learn about myself and ultimately work to overcome. The darkness is still a part of my life’s journey that I am grateful for. 

I really resonate with this.  In your book, you draw attention to the healing that can occur when we stop ignoring deeper dimensions of life. You notice shared stories of mental, emotional, physical or other abuse from a young age, disconnection or abandonnment issues, feelings of hurt, hopelessness and disconnection. Your take on things offers hope and encouragement for those who read your book.

Awesome!

Share an example where you relapsed into old addictions, while attempting overcome one of your weaknesses on the path to living true to yourself? 

Right now! I'm struggling to maintain trust that the choices I’ve made over the past few years have been in line with my life’s purpose. The lingering sense of fear and uncertainty remain around where my life is heading… I want reassurance that everything is going to work out the way I imagined it would - but that’s not the truth. It’s hard to trust in the process of the unknown and I often find myself thinking about heading back to the more familiar. 

Your honesty reminds us that self-acceptance is about noticing where we are and how we feel in the present moment without judgement. So often, we are conditioned to time travel between the ears, to shift between past and future.

Western society conditions us that way.

It reminds me of this: "If we are living in the past, we are depressed.  If we are anxious, we are living in the future.  If we are at peace, we are fully present." (quote credited to Lao Tzu, yet anxiety and depression strike me as modern ills...)  

Anyway, what do facing recurrent challenges teach you about yourself?

That life presents challenges for us so we can learn of our capabilities. It’s a choice to shy away or confront them.  

Indeed. As Joseph Campbell suggests, we are each on a hero's journey, embarking on an adventure, encountering a decisive crisis, working through it to a victory, and as the result, feel changed or transformed.

Good analogy.

During the process of rebuilding your life, at which stage did healing cellular memories/ emotional trauma come into it? 

6 months after undergoing a life-saving brain surgery I was wondering how to take care of myself on a fundamental level of health & wellbeing. I was constantly asking myself what I needed to do to ensure I wouldn’t end up back in hospital…? A twist of fate led me to energy healing. My first session exposed the roots of cellular memories and significance of emotional trauma.  The session was the catalyst for changing the direction of my life.  

I can definitely attest to the life -changing impact of breathwork. Like Kundalini, breathwork is a clearing process on all levels (spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, ect.) It brings up cellular memories of self of evolutionary mind and as a collective to be felt and dealt with. 

Agreed. All conditionings come up to be cleared.

How did spiritual practices become part of your life? 

To me life itself is a spiritual practice. I’ve always known the nature of spirit that lies within but have had varying states of awareness/connection to it. Everything has roots in spirituality.  

Which ones did you explore? (i.e. yoga, breathwork, ect). 

I explored various energy healing modalities and Kundalini Yoga & Meditation.

Why lean toward kundalini yoga?

Kundalini Yoga leaned towards me. The power of the practice suited my nature. It's been incredibly rapid in developing my self-awareness. I continue to be blown away by its ability to scientifically and therapeutically transform my body, mind and soul.   

In your book, you point out Kundalini isn’t synonymous with Kundalini Yoga…

That’s right.  Kundalini is the potential energy of a human organism, a creative force that’s described extensively across many historical traditions and cultures. Kundalini is a natural phenomenon of energy. It powers creativity and can be individuals in infinite ways.  We can increase the voltage and change how the energy moves through the central nervous system.

From my point of view, kundalini energy rising is different for each who experience it. Yet I also resonate with how you present it and can certainly relate. Every stage is not always comfortable yet, stretching out of the coccoon is part of life. Just ask a butterfly...

Now, of all the sports you could have chosen to motivate your rehab, why running?

I’d been into adventure marathon running prior to my diagnosis of the brain tumor. My rehabilitation was focused around being able to run a marathon as soon as possible after surgery. I felt that if I could do that I would be fully recovered and back to the life I knew prior to being sick. 

Although I have not yet run marathons, I can relate to lots of good reasons to run shorter distances. But tell us, why run so many races? 

My nature is to do things in excess. 

Why choose to run in such unique and remote places?  

I enjoy the challenge of travelling to a remote corner of the world to race in an extreme environment. It’s something that suits my personality and a way for me to channel some addictive energy in a positive direction.    

Is winning important to your current sense of success? 

No - but competing at my best is. I use racing as a measure of my potential. 

I love how your book echoes running allows you to compete against yourself, that you find satisfaction pushing yourself at every stage of training or a race, from beginning to end. Its a measure of your personal best.  It echoes focusing inward.  

What advice would you offer for anyone going through a shift from fearing authority to developing and becoming an authority?

Give it time and patience. Avoid the trap of thinking the works is done. The process of developing ourselves is long and happens in stages. 

Indeed. A great reminder that everything unfolds with perfect timing. An invitation to surrender and love what is unfolding.  We can always find blessings.

Share some pivotal moments that affected your heart opening.

I’ve had a number of life experiences that go beyond my normal, familiar realms of perception. Two very specific encounters where the centre of my awareness was set free by a flash of light with such immense power and beauty that it opened my heart and shone truth behind my eyes. It exposed me to the timeless, unconditional and undying love that radiates within everything and connected me with that truth. 

Thank you for feeling at ease to share such intimate experiences. This invites each of us to appreciate everything that arises as part of the wider process.  To follow and resoante with your example:  simplifying life is the road of mindfulness, increased self-awareness and much more.  

You have recently written a book, Kundalini Running.  Without giving too much away, why share this story and why now? 

Our technologic revolution is exposing us to an unprecedented level of information. The excess of information is overloading the internal structures of our bodies. My story is an example of what this overload leads to - poor health and wellbeing. A common story, but the way I overcame it has a unique twist. It offers a powerful message of hope and shows that change is possible despite the challenges we face in life.    

In the book, I love that you point out we cannot be happy all the time and truly live.  This is a lesson I have learned along my own journey.  When we attempt to be positive all the time, this is often hiding pain we are denying or repressing.  Only by uncovering our emotional trauma and feeling all emotions do we truly live. There is also a saying that unless where are giving from the heart, we are half dead and may not even know it.

Some people assume kundalini awakening is a synonym for Self-realisation. What is your view and experience?

I think they are two separate aspects of life. 

Kundalini awakening is a function of human anatomy. We can do very specific work to prepare ourselves for this in order to raise the energy safely. 

Self-realisation is a process. Everyone goes through varying degrees of it throughout their lifetimes. 

Share some life-changing revelations you have about voices and visions often symptoms of kundalini awakening.

The times where I have had immense releases of kundalini energy have resulted in clear and concise information forming at the centre of my awareness. I’ve seen very precise, colourful geometric patterns that relay information along with sounds that reinforce the experience, but not heard any voices so to speak. 

Love that the processes and experiences arising are, intended, among other things, to show us that all is created and sustained by the mind, that the transient is transparent and empty in nature.  The problem arises if we cling and want to make 'sense' within, 'normal life.' 

Whatever happens invites us to see through the identifications, shows us what we are not. 

Exactly. Please comment about the fear of losing a sense of self.

For me the fear is of the unknown. 

Tell us your current life focus, where we can learn more about you, upcoming events.

My current focus is getting my story out to a wider audience. My aim is to share life experience through my book, classes and workshops. I believe we've entered a period of change where traditional medical practices will merge with modern ones. I want to be at the forefront of this.  

www.kundalinirunning.com

IG @kundalini_running

FB https://www.facebook.com/kundalinirunning/events/

Great to see that your book is making it into library systems and other local venues. Clearly, your story is perfectly positioned to spark dialogue in a variety of spheres. 

Share any lasting message you wish to leave with our readers.

Stop buying into the concept that life is only about love and positivity. While these a great aspects of humanity they ignore the full spectrum of what it is to be a human being. Pain, suffering and emotions like anger are part of being human. We need to acknowledge this within and spend time understanding our pain and suffering in the same way we understand self-love.  

Appreciate very much that youtake time to for this dialogue.  I highly recommend your book and will spread the word. It invites us to awaken and trust ourselves more. Also invite visitors to explore yoga and especially kundalini yoga if it resonates. Doug Wilson may be the teacher you are looking for! Ultimately, we are each on a path to deepen self-love.  This involves exploring the gamut of emotions.

7 Tips to promote wellness

The ideal vision of relationship harmony and optimum wellness appeals to many. Still, this is not everyone's reality.  We may work toward it, but sometimes obstacles seem to get in the way.

Consider this: we all encounter stress.  This is part of being human.  Whether we deny, recognize or deal with it, and the approaches we take, simply differ.  Stress isn’t just a feeling or a mental state; if we do not address it, it affects every area of our lives.  Beyond physical symptoms, stress can also have a huge impact on our emotions and general mood. (www.Stress.org describes some mental or emotional symptoms of mounting stress)

On a deeper level, its about energy flow or blockages. When we notice symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, we have different options to decipher and cope, depending on the severity of the condition.  Different approaches can be complementary.

Consider 7 Tips to promote wellness; 

1. Participate in emotional release workshops

2. Join a mindfulness stress reduction program

3. Book breathwork Sessions

4. Engage in meditation

5. Stretch into yoga & holistic spiritual practices

6. Learn new things everyday (challenge the mind)

7. Commit to coaching involving relationship & soulwork 

5 Tips to live whole-heartedly

Many people tell themselves they wish to change something about their external conditions, or change something about the external world.  Its also common to desire to change something about the behaviour or attitude of others. Who or what is really ever getting out-of-hand? What is the role of control and surrender in your life? Reflect on five tips to live whole-heartedly;

1. Live more joyfully

Wherever you are, whatever you do, allow yourself to feel and express more joy.  So often, a distinction is made between work and play, time to be serious and relax time to be light-hearted. What if you could laugh and play your way through life? What would this look and feel like? 

2. Model the behaviour you wish to see in others

The external world is a mirror.  As Gandi says, Be the change you wish to see. Imagine life experience is less about doing than being.  Thus, its not what you do or accomplish that matters, but rather, the vibration you send out with behaviour. How often are you fully present?

3. Nurture a loving and compasionate attitude

Regardless of what you encounter, reach deep within for forgiveness and understanding. The temptation exists to allow other emotions to hijack your attention and influence your behaviour.  Know you control how you respond to everything.  Growing mindful naturally shifts your focus, empowers you to reclaim inner power. you had unconsciously given away

4. Recognize every relationship is an opportunity

What if every relationship invites you to see the best in everyone? Only one relationship exists. How you feel about yourself is mirrored.  Be a living example love and acceptance. Do you choose to see and recall the best in everyone, even during moments emotions or illness take over?

5. Demonstrate and create the highest version of Who You Are

Some people feel they exist to learn lessons, climb a hierarchy, meet challenges, realize dreams. Come what may, rediscover what integrity or being true to yourself feels like.  

6 Reasons you exist

This is the moment to review your life purpose, to recall different ways to understand why you are where you are, and not doing something else somewhere else.  This may strike you as a changing motivation at different life stages or, a hidden driving force. 

 

What would you say to discover deeper reasons for being are not limited to goals your mind creates during this lifetime? Revitalize yourself as you ponder 6 reasons why you exist:

1. to learn

What you learn is less important that the process you go through to see yourself and this world differently. You choose to exist to generate and give meaning to mental, emotional, physical and other experience, to process the lessons and relay the vibrational information back to Source.  You opt to know what it is like to explore different forms of expression as well as to recall what is necessary to assist you to learn and move beyond lessons in this lifetime.

2.  to expand perception 

Every moment, you are inviting yourself to grow aware that your reality and what is possible for you is only limited by your own mind.  What you can do, become, how you can build on or develop your self-knowledge and physical experience and qualifications is allowed or denied by you alone.  The deepest intelligence arises as illusions of separation (perceived gaps in time) fall away between who you think you are and what is rel and possible.  As perception expands, something greater than your body connects, you register new stimuli, and you grow aware you are in the midst of an increasingly conscious light body activation.

3. to know the mind is all powerful

This is a power that is in the process of coming abck to humans through time. We have allowed timeless insights to lay dormant inside ourselves and now is the moment to access them. This involves insight into how to self-heal and transcend all sense of fear which is the most limiting vibration inthis world.

4. to realize divine being

TAccepting divine being is about taking responsibility for all your thoughts, perceptions, and behaviours. This implies you begin to understand uncertainty is a gift you give yourself to grow.  We can choose to realize we are divine and experience life through love or imagine we are less than we are and make choices out of fear.  Whenever we act out of fear, we are reactive and judgemental instead of pro-active and loving.  Acting out of fear is an unconscious way of protecting ourselves from being hurt. This hurt is a vital lesson in the awareness of soul's power. We are each a generator, orchestrator and destroyer  (g.o.d.) of every aspect of our own reality. Owning all of it is empowering as it enables us to shift focal point from a whole new level.

5. to be aware you are creating new universes

As the truth hits and you know you are not the physical body, you exist beyond time and space and you are actually spirit or light energy (choosing to have a physcial experience), the way you view your expeirence on the holographic Earth changes dramatically. Consider when you send email or phone, the energy signal is received immediately.  You communicate regularly beyond time and space yet people you dialogue with are present with you in this moment (on the phone/ skype).  From the moment, you grow aware the past, present and future happen simultaneously, you feel it is all here now.  The life you are living is because you have lessons you still feel you need to learn.  Every choice you make and do not make creates parallel universes.

6. To feel everything is a call for love

Peace, security, acceptance arise spontaneously from simply knowing this.  Being awake or expanding consciousness is not something you accomplish or earn as a reward for effort as ego has you believe.  This moment is complete in and of itself.  Everything you sense and feel is offering a message about love or invites loving yourself more. View everything as a mirror.  Notice whatever you do not like or resist around you is a reflection of what you resist loving about yourself.  Every life circumstance is a learning situation.  This is an opportunity to retrain your thinking into compassionate mindful living. Recognize and release your inner conflict and know you create everything in your life for a reson you can decode for yourself.