“Breathe in. Breathe out. You’re here. Not in your memories, not in your plans. You’re a living, breathing being, right here and now.”
This is something I remind myself of when I find overwhelming thoughts running through my mind, or when I realize I can’t remember a single detail of my day because I’ve been so frantically busy. When I’ve been interacting with the external world relentlessly, coming back to myself, to the constant, steady rhythm of my breath works magic.
Very often, I go through life as if it’s a task to check off my list. I do my work and get it done but wish I was doing something else. I hang out with my friends, chat and move on, not thinking much about it. I sacrifice sleep to satisfy my need for an instant reward by scrolling on social media. This has become my routine these days, and I know it has for many others as well. It consumes me, but I gain nothing at all from just doing, doing, doing. At a certain point, my emotional and physical health is affected. I feel hopeless, weighed down and my chest contracts as if my heart is begging for a breather.
Then I remember, I don’t have to feel this way. No, I don’t have to pay for an app that will “solve my anxiety” or book a therapy appointment. There’s nothing wrong with those methods. However, there is an incredible tool I always have with me, as everyone else does: the power of my breath.
We tend to take the act of breathing for granted. This flawless bodily mechanism occurs without requiring our attention, concentration or even awareness. Humans breathe roughly 20,000 times a day, and we often don’t notice. In doing so, we ignore all the benefits that awareness of breathing, especially deep breathing offers. From stress relief and mood elevation to decreasing blood pressure and heart rate.
Not only can we receive these health benefits from noticing and slowing down our breathing, but we’re also able to be immersed in our immediate surroundings. When we notice our breathing, our senses automatically come alive. We can feel all the tingling, prickling, warm and cold sensations occurring throughout our bodies. We can hear the tapestry of sounds outside our window. We can look around and notice small details we would have ignored completely otherwise. A veil lifts from over our minds and the majesty of the world just as it is right now becomes apparent.
When we open to this present moment, even if life isn’t going the way we want it to, we realize that under no circumstances will life go perfectly. Nonetheless, we are still here, breathing and wonderfully alive in this world. We acknowledge the past as it occurred and recognize the future as a wealth of possibilities that come as they may.
In both our happiest and toughest days, our breath can bring us a moment of acceptance and peace. It’s a reminder of our simultaneous vulnerability and strength. It’s a reminder of our calling to be. For we’re not human doings, we’re just human beings.