Being well starts with breathing well. Today, I share a brief reflection on the power of breathing to help us regroup and tackle today.
It was a hot spring day. My fellow track teammates and I had just run 200m sprint drills for a half-hour--that is, after a 2-mile warmup run. Sweat poured down our faces. Our breathing was labored, bodies limp, and coach kept pushing with another drill. A cramp was seizing my abdomen and, too tired to keep my cool, I stepped on the grass and gripped my stomach. The group ran on without me. To my embarrassment, Coach Hicks headed towards me, but when she arrived, her words surprised me: "Put your hands on your head, and breathe deep into your belly. Walk this final leg. No matter what, keep breathing." Only because she was watching, I did as I was told. And slowly, my stressed muscles relaxed. I fed them oxygen and rest, and they communicated their gratitude by finding their natural place in my body's ecosystem again. Thank you, Coach Hicks, for teaching me something much bigger than how to get rid of a running cramp.
How we breathe matters. Not only is our breath the conduit of oxygen to all of our cells, literally keeping us alive, but it directs our mind, our posture, and our attitude.
Funnily enough, while my running cramp worsened, it wasn't as if I wasn't breathing, right? Coach didn't just say, "breathe," though. That addition of "deep" seems to make a difference. Somehow, our commitment to breathing, our attention to it, changes its impact. It provides our bodies with life and rest. Deeply breathing gives us the margin that this ever-increasingly fast-paced world critically threatens.
For me, a few long, consecutive deep breaths help me zoom out, rethink, let go, and refocus. They may be small, but they are mighty. Reorientation is one of life's greatest gifts! We have the freedom to reassess and change course. Reframe. We do not have to keep doing the same things or thinking the same things that do not help us to be well. Coach Hicks reminded me that each of our bodies is an ecosystem that begins with breath. When I practice consistently taking in big gulps of air, I feel my whole body work together better. My gut, my spine, my mind, and my attention all seem to realign so I can refocus them where I need my energy to be. Now, I can work with my body (I am a body, after all). As my system coheres, I feel equipped to respond to this moment in the best way I am able, regardless of how I used to respond or thought I was supposed to.
We do not have to keep doing the same things or thinking the same things that do not help us to be well.
Today, I am reminded of this more than ever before. For those suffering from COVID-19, air is threatened, breath is restricted. For most of us, though, it is not the virus, but fear, that steals our air. As you tackle totally unknown territory this week, allow your body's natural rhythm of inhaling and exhaling to ground you, realign you, and empower you to choose whatever is needed in this next moment.
What is threatening your air today? Your air is your life source. For those of you who share with me in the Christian faith, I think it is no small coincidence that often the word used to describe the Holy Spirit is the Hebrew word for breath. What a perfect metaphor for our dependence on God for life (the kind that feels like wellness). As we face the harsh realities of this difficult time, I echo the words of Coach Hicks, that for as long as we're given the choice, "Don't stop breathing." I would build on that to say,“Never stop breathing deep.”
Be well, my friends.