We take approximately 21,600 breaths in a day. When we practice yoga, meditation, pranayama (breath work), we focus on the quality of our breathing. When we are stressed and overwhelmed, we can feel the shortness and tightness of our breath. When we are exercising, our breath changes. The breath is a powerful tool that brings us back to the present moment.
Breath is life. We take our inhales that inspire us to expand and our exhales that allows us to release physically, energetically, mentally and emotionally.
When we focus on the quality of our breathing, amazing energy happens. We find more focus, awareness, calmness, expansion and so much more. It’s not always about making the breath bigger and stronger, sometimes it’s about smoothing it out. Finding a rhythm within that aligns to the energy that we are looking to ride.
The energy we feed is the energy that grows. Energy is everywhere and in everything. Your words, thoughts, actions, desires, habits are energy. We receive energy from the outside - our home, job, family, community, hobbies, what we watch, eat, drink, hear and more.
In our world, there is a spectrum of energy that range from positive to negative. No one is immune to energy and energy is constantly changing.
Energy moves like waves in the ocean. Like the air on a windy day. Clouds passing in the sky. The time on the clock. Energy is always shifting. Life is full of energy. Even the coffee cup you held this morning, there is energy.
At Soul & Steady yoga, I always say the energy you feed is the energy that will grow. Just like we take 21,600 breaths in a day, we have 21,600 opportunities to be aware of the energy that we are feeding. Not everything in life is going to be positive but not everything is going to be negative either. If energy is always changing, and the energy you feed is the energy that grows, when you remember, take notice.
Are you putting yourself down? Or lifting yourself up?
What words are you using in the privacy of your mind?
What outside energy are you holding onto?
Just like your breath, energy moves. The more awareness we have to the process, the more opportunities we create to live a happy, joyful and expansive life.
Breath by breath, inch by inch.
