by Dr Rachel Hall, Holistic Dentist, Brisbane
No matter what I was doing, be it working, reading, walking, swimming, resting, chatting with friends or trying to get to sleep, my body always felt agitated or shaky and my mind would be in a whirl, spinning with constant chatter.
I never felt at rest, there was always a tension and a sense of having to get on with the next thing. That there was more to do, better things to achieve, one more hurdle, goal or milestone to hit and then I could rest, be at ease and achieve a sense of completion. But when I reached that goal there was another and another and another to strive for. My restlessness built and built until my body felt wired and my mind could hold several conversations simultaneously without my being even really involved in them.
I needed coffee to get me going in the morning and then several more to make it through the day. And then to help me sleep a couple of beers or a glass of wine or two or three… but usually the whole bottle. When this wasn’t enough I’d work harder and longer than my colleagues, cycle to work, run or swim at lunch time and go to the gym on my way home. I just could not stop – I was in perpetual motion, spinning out of control. I felt like a Newtonian flywheel; the faster I went the more momentum I gathered so I could just keep going. I was the woman who could defy Newton’s first law of motion: an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted on by an unbalanced force. How ironic, as looking back I was that unbalanced force driving myself faster and harder.
I viewed this way of life as my being ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’. At first it was a good thing; it got me through high school and University, from one job to a better one and even to opening my own dental practice. It spurred me to travel, meet new people, try different things and emigrate to start a new life. But I never felt at peace, rested or able to take a break. Nothing helped stem the feeling of being restless and going at a million miles an hour on the inside. I tried long soaks in a hot bath, walks on the beach, yoga, meditation, massage, visualisation techniques, Chi Qong, New Age Music, self-help books, the works… but nothing helped. In fact most of these things made me more uptight, on edge and wound up.
A friend of mine gave me a flyer about a Universal Medicine heart chakra workshop – a whole group was going and would I like to come. Now this wasn’t really my thing, I was cynical about hippy trippy new agey stuff – none of that crap worked in my opinion – but when my friend explained it might help me relax I relented and said I’d give it a go.
I listened to this guy Serge Benhayon talk about some stuff, most of which went over my head and decided when the tea break came I was out of there. I didn’t feel relaxed at all, I needed to bolt, the chatter in my head was full steam ahead and I couldn’t sit still.
I became very aware of how completely unsettled I was and realised that this was how I felt every moment of every day, but here in this room with 50-60 other people I had no way of avoiding what was going on in my body.
Serge explained we were going to do a simple meditation. I closed my eyes and breathed gently through my nose. As I did so, something in me changed, the chatter in my head faded away to a quiet whisper and for the first time since I was a little girl I felt settled.
Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”.
That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
When we allow our selves to be run into the ground by the way we live we have tended to look outside ourselves for the answers and as you have shared Rachel life begins from the Livingness from the recognition of what is within ❤️ and this starts True healing.
That constant chatter used to be there from the time I woke up to the time I used to go to bed. I can understand that agitation and restlessness now and while it is far from perfect, boy is it better than before.
Many of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine’s presentations bring forth from within, an eternal settlement. This settlement is within all, it is THE thing that is calling us home, hence the unsettlement because we have strayed so far from it.
Such a simple thing as breathing gently from your nose, and feeling it entering your nose, is actually honouring of what is entering your body. It is pure, clear and unpolluted. The simplicity of bringing you back home is right there in front of you.
I love how you have shared so honestly that you were that very same unbalanced force that was driving yourself faster and faster, harder and harder….We can feel like the biggest fool when we realise what we do to ourselves, but the greatest blessing in this realisation is that we get to know we hold the power to make true change by our everyday choices.
Our mind can certainly be a major chatter box – a constant talk and criticism and distraction from our body. I call this ‘Head noise’ – not a very scientific explanation but I know this comes from the overstimulation of the Nervous System as a result of a disconnection from our body and breath. Hence why it can be so powerful to breath gently and feel the body again.
The mind is useful in its right place. Whilst the body is the real boss, it’s the thing that knows exactly what to do, lovingly and honouring of it. The mind can be critical and can make you do extreme things at the expense of the body. Without the body, we are useless, without the mind, we could also be useless. With the two, we can bring harmony, with the body being the leading boss.
Rachel, this is so beautiful to read and is a deeply heartfelt sharing – and in so many ways I too can relate to what you have shared and experienced with the constant motion and chatter in the head, and then to finally (after eons of trying so many different things), to find the gentle breath and the beginnings of settlement within.
A great reminder to read this today. I know when I get anxious, racy or lost if I settle within it helps ground me once again.
Rachel, I can very much relate to the unsettlement you speak of at the beginning of your blog. For me it has been more a constant mental chatter that at times I fool myself is ‘normal’, and or a general feeling of needing to be more, sometimes unconsciously, but nevertheless it is there.
The opposite of this is when I feel completely settled in myself, it comes as a wash over me but from the inside out. Sometimes this may be from something I hear or read or see with my eyes that instigates this settlement, and other times it comes from an awareness or realisation within. Either way it is one of the most beautiful feelings and you feel untouchable by anything outside. I am learning to hold this settlement more consistently as I can also feel the impact it has on others, just as was your experience attending your first workshop.
Absoulutely😇 Anna, when we settle from within we do start to understand🦉 how others are feeling through the connection we have with everyone equally and thus can read what is happening around us.
A lovely read of what supported you to settle Rachel, I imagine that settlement is at a whole new level now.
What an amazing journey Rachel, and it is so amazing you have found your way back to that inner feeling and how simple it is to re-kindle the fiery energy that has always been within.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” We have disconnected from something so beautiful within ourselves and structured a whole way of human life to cope with the disconnection. Achievements, entertainment, goals, fitness, family, pretty much any part of human life can be approached to attain something because we feel so empty within and have lost our connection to our inner true selves.
We drive ourselves into exhaustion, with constant humming of nervous energy in the back ground – this is deliberate, we do not even want to imagine the fact that there really is much much more, that we are not our hurt, not our issues, not our profession, not our role, that we are actually pretty magnificent.
Yes, we push ourselves to do more and more, never feeling we have done enough, no surprise exhaustion is so rampant.
…’that we are not our hurt, not our issues, not our profession, not our role, that we are actually pretty magnificent’.
So wise and beautiful Fumiyo. We are magnificent and only need to connect to that inside ourselves.
The gentle breath meditation offered by Serge Benhayon allows the body to reconnect back to itself and to remember that we don’t have to live in our minds we can drop back down into our bodies which is where we feel the settlement.
It is a great trick of the world to keep us thinking that we need to live outside ourselves – always striving to be/get more, but in truth it all resides within us and the ‘trick’ is to connect to that and live it….and as you show it here Rachel, it is only a breath away.
So true Sarah, a breath that then opens up the ability to walk talk and move while staying connected.
I have found that even in the awareness that everything is within, we can still choose to remain on the outer. The key is that we have to want the settlement from every part of our being. We have to want to be in our magnificence. If we have an issue with magnificence, we will keep choosing the unsettlement of being thrown around by the outer demands and pressures of life.
We often favour the highs and lows of life until we realise how temporary they are, and how they always leave us feeling lacking and wanting more. Feeling settled within ourselves offers us a depth of contentment that is self sustaining and relies on nothing from the outside.
‘Feeling settled within ourselves offers us a depth of contentment that is self sustaining and relies on nothing from the outside’….
Beautiful Bryony.
We have a world epidemic the vast majority of us are avoiding our bodies, hence the need for coffee, sugar, alcohol, drugs, extreme sports, gaming etc. These are all designed to stop us from feeling what’s truly going on in our bodies. Our bodies only way of letting us know that there is something wrong is through illness and disease so to me it make complete sense that Illness and disease is also on epidemic levels in our society. What is it going to take for the vast majority of us to wake up and start to take notice?
This is so relatable Rachel as for so long nothing I tried would bring ease to the unsettlement that simmered constantly underneath the surface regardless of how much I achieved in life or tried to numb the feeling. The only thing that has stood the test of time and has offer true settlement has been my ongoing development with and deepening in my connection to my essence which began with my first ever introduction to Serge Benhayon & Universal Medicine presentations and the Gentle Breath Meditation. I have not looked back and this way of life and being is one that was instantly and strangely familiar but is now simply very natural and empowering.
I agree Carola I have lived with nervous tension always on the go and even when sitting I would rip something up like a tissue or a piece of paper into teeny tiny pieces it was a way of venting the tension I felt in my body but didn’t know what to do with. Since meeting Serge Benhayon a lot has changed and I feel far more settled in my self and this has supported me to sleep more deeply at night which means when I wake up in the morning I don’t feel tired. I used to wake up more tired than when I went to bed weird but true.
The feeling of being settled or contented is huge and supports the body enormously when it is achieved.
Once you feel settled, and can live with this settlement, then your body can finally surrender and rest.
So simple, wise and to the point Elizabeth.
We are able to stop, but don’t want to stop for we don’t want to feel the consequences of our choices and take responsibility for them. The actual No we are saying is to our soul and this addiction to motion fosters the control that our spirit wants so it can stay individual and in charge.
Our soul is true settlement, the moment we are in constant motion we are saying No to us. The greatest pain we choose to have: being disconnect to our universal connection that knows no time and drive but moments and settlements through expansion.
The way you described your way of living applies to so many people nowadays. Today at our supervision coach group we shared what we observe with our clients and we mentioned exactly this: the not being able to stop and constant being in motion without any settlement in the body. How important are tools like the Gentle Breath or Esoteric Yoga for us to find our way back to ourselves and the stillness that is inside of us.
The moment we stop we feel our choices, which we avoid at all costs, as they expose how much we have chosen to go against of who we truly are, which is the ultimate and grandest pain of all of us.
A connection to our breath is all that is needed.
Yes being settled is being totally with that place within. Who would think you do not have to go anywhere to settle .. breath gently feeling the cool breeze at the tip of the nose and feel that stillness within.
It is our choice to settle or not to settle.
We often think we have to do something outside of ourselves when we feel unsettled but that is actually contra to what we simply need to do and that is re-connect with ourselves. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a great way to do this as are gentle exercises and Esoteric Yoga.
We have tools that support us being able to settle. It feels lovely to be settled, why would we not choose to live this way?
We are always going to feel tension in life. That is a fact. Simply because we are not from this plane of life and are far far grander so we are always going to feel the tug of evolution. It is how we choose to react of respond that defines the consistency and settledness we can feel within.
‘Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”.That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.’ How many of mankind has lost their way choosing to be racy, creating complications and trying to solve them but with never a true answer and thus not allowing this settlement to occur.
Just listening to Serge Benhayon’s voice is enough to settle any raciness in my body. It makes me want to stop and surrender to that which is deep within me. Great blog Rachel.
Actually Anna what you have said is true, there is something in the tenor of Serge Benhayon’s voice that on a purely vibrational level can settle the body. There is nothing airy fairy in the workshops or presentations of Serge Benhayon, he is very much a down to earth practical man giving practical advice that actually works.
As my understanding of energy has increased over the years to now be learning and experiencing the world of ‘vibration’, I understand more why it is that Serge Benhayon’s voice is so settling. It is vibrational.
We are taught that everything that brings happiness is outside of ourselves, there couldn’t be a bigger lie as everything that brings a true feeling of settlement, joy and love is inside ourselves.
Yes well said Melinda. Once we realise the lie for what it is the unfolding path of empowerment and liberation begins. This has been the message to humanity throughout the ages from many world teachers, to turn within for all that we truly seek as it is here that the power of who we are is realised.
Gorgeous Carola. There is beautiful song you may know of that goes something like this…
‘just know that you can find…all the love you’re searching for, within your heart, yes you are it all. And all you ever have to do, is stop for a while and allow yourself to feel all your love’.
It is one of the most settling songs I’ve heard and supported me so much to go deeper with my own settlement.
Yes, inside ourselves, just waiting for us to choose it.
So wise Melinda. The more I connect to what is inside, the more settled and joyful I feel.
Unsettlement is a way of life that confirms itself in every way. If unsettlement is our choice, it becomes the only place where we settle in.
And it gets only seen and exposed, when we get the reflection from another that chooses settlement.
Great reminder that we have control over our breath and when we focus on how we breathe then so much changes in the way we conceive our thoughts.
And breathing is movement and when our movement is gentle its ripple effect on settling the nervous system is undeniable.
All the complications we choose are to avoid the settlement but once we re connect with our breath and our body it is all there waiting for us to come back.
Beautiful Annelies … even reading those words…’it is all there waiting for us to come back’ is a settlement in itself. We are a only few breaths away from it.
Settlement in us is nothing that is given it is a choice to connect to our body – the greatest anchor you can have in life.
Beautiful Stefanie … ‘ the greatest anchor you can have in life’… I love that, so true.
It is so simple to reconnect- sometimes too simple, so we avoid the simplicity at all costs. We love the feeling of working hard through issues, as it identifies us, when the body is ready all the time.
Well said Stefanie, the body is ready all the time, we just have to dive in and re-connect.
So much for spending lifetimes searching for settlement to a ceaseless unrest when it all comes back to your breath and the way you move through life.
So simple and attainable for any one of us – and yet we have been fooled for so long and continue to be fooled every time we forget about the gentle breath.
What a beautiful settlement and one of truth for you Rachel. Quoting you : ‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.’
I can imagine no other way. Hence, it is our connection that enriches life and more.. As we are part of the universe.
It shows how damaging the way we live life is, that it’s a norm to be on the go, driven to succeed, to be relentless in our pursuit of study, work or other goals, and the result is such a wound up mind and body to the point of not being able to relax or in some cases sleep. And the drive doesn’t stop with one goal reached as there is still the emptiness after we succeed so in comes the next goal. Great to read this again Rachel, its such a common theme in society and accepted by the majority as normal.
It’s ironic that the feeling of settlement is our natural way of being, one that our bodies love, yet if we feel that we’re not enough, or if we’re not still enough to feel and trust that connection to that settlement, then we can end up constantly searching for more. I can so relate to the drive, to the relentless motion of doing, of searching, seeking and trying new things – and the effect that this has had over the long term on my body. Realising that nothing can compare to that deep feeling of settlement and contentment means a surrender – a letting go of all the things I once thought I needed to do to be accepted, and a deeper acceptance of myself.
Thank you Bryony, your comment about settlement being our natural way of being brought me the realisation that many of the systems of life, beginning with education, teach us to strive towards something outside of ourselves and to focus on the mind, which leads us away from any settlement – which means we literally have to fight the body. Though such a thing might not be seen as an abuse it actually is, as not being settled in ourselves is incredibly uncomfortable and no doubt places a lot of stress on the body. Perhaps in the future as we expand our definitions of abuse we may see the urgency of changing the many systems we have in place in life, including the education system, that actively take us out of being settled within ourselves.
‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.’ So true Rachel, many have lost their way and knowing there is a way to connect back to our inner essence and wisdom brings a deep settlement to our body.
We are settled when we are with our true selves. It’s so simple.
This just reminded me of my first ever experience of having Esoteric Breast Massage. After the session, on my way home on the bus, all of a sudden I noticed how quiet everything was – so quiet I could hear myself. It’s not that I had been bothered by the noise or the busyness of everyday life, but that was the first time I was consciously aware of its absence, and it felt like the whole space just opened up for me. I felt home.
Unsettlement is the biggest propeller of constant movement without foundation and only returning to itself.
Feeling ‘settled’ in the body is a true coming home, and what a joy it is to feel this.
That is very true- it is an acceptance of your own power again. A power, that just is, by its presence.
Hmm the agitation of the tick box mentality to drive our success – clearly exhausting for our body and an eroding way to live for our well-being.
Something I can really appreciate now is that when I do go off in that crazy head chatter it feels awful. Whereas only a few years ago it was my normal and even more recently it was my safe haven – what would I do without the constant mental chatter!? It’s been a safety blanket for so long that now I am starting to smell how old it really is.
Settlement in the body and being is precious and rare today, in a world that is seemingly spinning faster and faster; the reality is that it is our raciness producing more of itself by us being continually in motion and losing our breath.
‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way’. A place we cover up so well sometimes we need a light to lead the way back, and Serge has been that light for many.
“the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” The magic of reconnecting to our inner stillness.
What a true blessing it is to feel this settlement and reconnection with the body and being. Ahh the memories of the many hours spent in unsettlement looking for settlement…. and to find that re- connection can be but a breath away.
I have had that unrest in my body on and off my whole life. I have struggled to allow myself the space to stop, almost like I am afraid if I fully settle, I won’t want to get back up. Since becoming a student of Universal Medicine I am healing this unrest. Your account is honest and fun, thank you for the reminder to appreciate how far I have come and to reflect on what still might need some more work.
Beautifully and tender written – the constant endless motion is what we are plagued with in society today, having disconnected from the one place that can give us true settlement, that all-powerful stop that reminds me of who we truly are – within.
It’s like this choice we have that’s always there but we ignore it because it almost seems too simple. Life is complicated right? Well, no, but that’s what we’re taught, so instead of choosing the obvious option, we go and complicate it but taking the biggest detour on offer.
It really is life changing when you realise that everything that we are striving to seek through what we do, through being driven to achieve, the recognition, the supposed success, the attention, amounts to nothing as the tension of discontent continues to unsettle us. When we discover that everything we already are is with us, within our bodies, simply awaiting to be connected to, we then come to understand the real meaning of success is living in connection to who we already are, where settlement in our body and being can be found.
There is something very beautiful about this word ‘settled’ – it holds a quality that echoes the very state it is. Like ‘contentment’, reaching a place of ‘settlement’ in body and mind feels deeply holding, nurturing and enriching. It’s there I want to stay, not in the tension, stress and overwhelm of constant doing and striving.
‘I viewed this way of life as my being ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’.’
I too spent years in a similar, frenzied momentum, thinking this was the key to getting on in life or at least coping with its demands. For me the turning point finally came 12 years ago, when I finally realised nothing I was doing to try and alleviate the constant tension I felt was working. I finally surrendered and started having sessions with a Universal Medicine-trained practitioner who I’d known for a few years personally but resisted seeing professionally. She seemed to me to be the only person I knew who was blossoming in life rather than struggling to get by. I’ve never looked back, although old habits die hard and I do still have to work consciously with the tendency to do too much. All I can say is thank God I did eventually get out of my own way, and thank God for Universal Medicine and my practitioner!
I loved the gentle breath, as I breathed through my nose I realised how simple it was to actually feel my body, and up until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I had been doing everything in order not to stop long enough to feel my true connection.
How lovely to finally being able to feel settled, and to bring that into your life, ‘a simple meditation. I closed my eyes and breathed gently through my nose. As I did so, something in me changed, the chatter in my head faded away to a quiet whisper and for the first time since I was a little girl I felt settled.’
This sounds like many people in our world today, and certainly was how I used to be, and I have to watch bits of this do not creep back in, ‘I never felt at rest, there was always a tension and a sense of having to get on with the next thing.’ Doing at the expense of just being true to ourselves is damaging to our health and well-being.
Rachel I can very much relate to always being onto the next thing and not stopping moving, however even more uncomfortable is the continual motion that goes on inside even after the physical activity has stopped. Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”. The beauty of being settled in oneself, particularly in ones own inner stillness, is that it can then be taken into everything we do each day.
Wow! That’s extra-ordinary Rachel! To lead a life in such motion and one simple meditation to truthfully find inner-harmony!
What is about Serge Benhayon that he can present a meditation and miraculously have that inner feeling of ‘Wow factor out of this world!’. Same thing happened to me too. I’ll never forget the wash feeling I felt in a very abused body. I have not looked back to my abusive life since. I must say it has taken me over 10 years to clear this abuse with a lot of healing to do so – miraculous on so many levels!
After feeling the incredible raciness in how you used to live your life Rachel, it felt so beautiful to feel how you settled into your body; it was like a long and full sigh. And as I read I could myself settle into mine, something that is becoming easier to do these days after living in a similar way to you and suffering the consequences in a myriad of ways. Being settled in my body feels like I have come home to a warm and very cosy house.
I used to view being on the go and driven as ambition. Looking back, it was very exhausting and if I had continued living that way, I would probably have done a lot of damage to myself by now. It’s been a journey to discover me and let go of my habit of wanting to keep achieving more. The idea that I am actually enough just for being me is relatively new, but when I fully embrace that fact, I do feel totally settled.
I can remember spending hours at this retreat I went on ‘meditating’. The whole room felt unsettled, not to mention how uncomfortable my legs would get sitting cross-legged on the floor. At several stages throughout this whole experience I would take a peak at the ‘teacher’ and they were on stage looking very much like they had fallen asleep, which unsettled me even more. Hence, I didn’t feel any true settlement from this mediation. And then when I was introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation I found within 5 minutes I would feel more connected and settled in my body than I had been for a long time.
It’s almost comical Vicky that we go to such lengths actually only creates more unsettlement, even though hours of meditation ticks the box. The common theme is that everyone is searching for that missing thing, but it’s simply ourselves and a true connection to who we are we are truly seeking. And, I love the simplicity of all Serge Benhayon offers, that the Gentle Breath Meditation delivers so much in such a short time.
Yes the whole mindset of never feeling enough, being constantly on the go and focusing on outer achievements, to the point of not being able to rest or even sleep at night – even though the whole world congratulates you for how your life looks. The beautiful thing is we can have that settled feeling and still achieve all that we genuinely feel to, by being connected to ourselves and making it about the true quality we do things in.
This place within us never leaves. It remains through life thick and thin and is there to always come back to no matter what is going on. HUGE … shows us we are far far more than what we do necessarily
WOW! the power of connection to our own breath. Revolutionary one might think – but so not really.
It’s quite revolutionary at the beginning and then what feels extraordinary can become our ordinary everyday – very cool really!
We get so used to ‘having it all going on’ that it is hard to work out at what point we can step-in to interrupt the motion as it feels unstoppable. As you have proved it took just one moment to choose to stop, sit and breath a gentle breath at the tip of you nose and a whole other world of stillness presented itself to you. The Gentle Breath Meditation as developed by Serge Benhayon is so simple yet brings the most beautiful ‘settlement’ in our body.
Such a simple, simple tool that offers the potential to powerfully and profoundly change one’s life. There are so many ‘meditations’ and techniques out there that promise this and that, but none in my experience even comes close to the pure simplicity and effectiveness of the Gentle Breath Meditation. It is as though it honours the exquisite gentleness of our very being and puts us instantly back in touch with that.
I can relate to the unsettlement you write of Rachel and that constant chatter in the mind – my nervous system used to be stretched like a taut wire, until being introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation by Serge Benhayon. Everything began to change from that moment. A tool for life.
Attending Universal Medicine whether it is a workshop, presentation, having a session with a practitioner or even reading a blog from Truth about Serge Benhayon can reveal and expose choices that up until that point have not been true to us. Those ill-choices are not to berate ourselves with but to appreciate the fact that we are willing to see them for what they are and then if we so choose re-imprint them with ones that do support us and our wellbeing. The exposure can be uncomfortable but it is through being exposed that we get to let go of that which is not true to live more of the love we naturally are.
Feeling settled has certainly been a game changer in my life it brings a simplicity and a natural flow that feels powerful and steady and when I disconnect from this feeling it is instantly felt in my body and my mind takes over and I begin to control and complicate life.
Absolutely agree Anna. Settlement has nothing to do with security or comfort, it allows us to express more fully who we are.
Our hunger for something will be unquenchable as long as we don’t find that something we miss – which in life is the connection with ourselves. If it is not there nothing ever feels enough.
I love reading this blog Rachel, just reading your words helps me too, to return to a state of ease in me. And isn’t that how the world works? We constantly put energy out that either confirms and builds the chaos we see, or like an anchor at sea helps support and assist people to be steady and persist. Great to consider what quality I have been putting out today.
I never connected to just how anxious I was, and how the anxiousness keeps ones mind in a constant state of thought about how to organise, control and manipulate life to try and have just a couple of moments of feeling at ease. But this is how my mind worked and drove my body for years. Feeling settled in the body is light years away from a moment of feeling at ease, so the question needs to be asked, how is it that we can live a lifetime and never feel settled, content and at home in our body, when that is the thing we constantly seek and accept instead occasional moments of feeling at ease?
This blog gave me chills (in a great way) I find myself feeling like a hamster on a wheel a lot of the time but you have reminded me how easy it is to stop and come back to myself. Thank you.
What you show is that we can be on the go all the time but the drive for more will never cease. So it is not the doing as such that satisfies us but the quality in which we move and how we move. Thus the doing comes second while the quality we choose to move in is always the first choice that determines everything after.
Beautiful Rachel.
We can totally exhaust ourselves even when we’re physically still, by running our minds at 100mph and doing several things at once – all in our heads. Techniques like the gentle breath meditation and esoteric yoga have helped slow me down and reconnect to that space within – a steady, still and quiet place, where the mind chatter isn’t so prominent. What I’ve also felt is how that space is always there – it just takes commitment to keep coming back to it.
Beautiful points Bryony, especially when it comes to racing around in our heads while sitting still (or even lying down). Our thoughts have a huge impact on us so it makes sense to be aware of them and esoteric updates and the gentle breath meditation have really helped me to be more discerning about the thoughts that come my way.
I can relate to living a life of perpetual motion and feeling that actually it was a good thing and demonstrated how hard working and ambition I was. During those years I never felt settled. When I did finally reconnect to that place within it was like coming home, and from that place of settlement, I naturally make more self loving choices and can no longer live like I use to.
This was so lovely to read Rachel and so easy to relate to having lived the unsettlement of a life on the go, searching for something seemingly just out of reach… only to come to find it within through the simplest of meditations… marking a powerful stop that allows you to then choose a different way and quality of moving from there in.
It is fascinating to observe how we think that we will get a sense of who we are by all the activities we pursue driven by our minds, without any consideration of our bodies, when all that while it is within our bodies that our Soul dwells through which we can feel all that we are in a single moment and know that this Soulful quality needs for nothing but to simply be embraced to be to be lived.
Incredible Rachel – what a way you have come and how deeply beautiful it is to be and feel settled after having felt unsettled your whole life.. I think that is almost like a miracle, yet not truly a miracle as we simply were re-united to our Way.. one that was always there.. Yet like you said, we had only lost our way.. Thank you for being so pure and real about how you feel.
Beautifully said Rachel. After a lifetime of living through my nervous system ever ready to fight or take flight, in a deeply unsettled state, I am now, thanks to the teachings of Universal Medicine, learning that true settlement comes from knowing how to be still (even whilst in motion) amongst the ceaseless movement we belong to. This means connecting deeply to who we truly are and the truth we feel within so that we cannot be swayed by the outer turbulence we have no control over. As you so perfectly say, our resting place is found within and we either we choose to live in connection with this or, we do not. True settlement leads to true movement.
Dear Rachel,
Thank you for sharing this evolutionary steps with us, and how it has changed your life. Incredible to know and see that you have settled finaly after all these years and that you had not find it somewere , but inside. A point of reflection were we all can learn from and now can trust that it is all inside.. Makes absolutely sense to why we had not found it before outside… Super true – we are the One.
“I viewed this way of life as my being ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’. At first it was a good thing; it got me through high school and University” it got me onto my job and then business, but like you i was unsettled, anxious most of the time, my body was search for more. It was only through connecting back to my body with the support from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine i started to change. The anxiousness started to fade and i started to feel more settled in myself.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” And to think that the whole time our connection to that feeling of stillness was simply one gentle breath away!
We get to feel the futility of the busyness when we settle and connect, and the deep questions then are exposed as to why we are so busy and for what reason do we think faster is better, what are we avoiding feeling?
Before we can settle we have to become honest about where our body is at and feel we are worth the settlement and the simplicity about and in the way we live. Otherwise we keep ourselves in this constant motion and our life becomes about surviving and competition every day.
Simply beautiful sharing Rachel thank you, so powerfully gentle is this meditation that Serge Benhayon has brought to us so we can connect to the love and stillness that forever lives inside of us.
I loved the way you shared your experience Rachel, so real and honest. What a blessing you got to experience The Gentle Breath Meditation and sharing how it supported you to reconnect to your stillness is very beautiful. To feel unsettled is not really our normal state of being, so I can understand why you were searching for answers and finding Universal Medicine has inspired you to reconnect to the stillness you never lost but just simply supported you to reignited, re-connect to something you had inside all along.
This blog offers an amazing reflection of what you described in your life experience. The first part is a whirr and a spin of movement and freneticism and then once you mention the Gentle Breath Meditation all becomes simple, still and quiet. I love it! That’s what it is in a nutshell and captured so palpably in this blog. Thank you.
Wow Rachel what a change you have made with simply breathing the Gentle Breath Meditation that is really inspiring. I love what you have found: “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
The gentle breath meditation was the first meditation ever that truly connected me with my body and my breath, and I no longer absorb but are able to observe life and people around me.’That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.’
Gosh I just realize how we can go on and on and on and on and the chatter does in our minds and the tension in our bodies gets higher and the pushing through the days become normal and so on and so on – while … the stillness we are all original come from is just a breath away. Just a choice away. What a blessing.
Wow, I love this, thank you Rachel. I love the way you express and use words. You are a true story teller, bringing that what is important to the fore, lighthearted and swift with both feet on the ground, then concluding with a simplicity that lets you go nowhere but stay with the truth.
“I viewed this way of life as my being ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’. ” I can relate to that, as I was running away from the deep hurt within, had lost my path, this was the only way to keep going, bury my self in my career, working hard, long days and socialising late nights.
“I closed my eyes and breathed gently through my nose. As I did so, something in me changed, the chatter in my head faded away to a quiet whisper and for the first time since I was a little girl I felt settled.” The true power of our own breath so beautiful Rachel.
The Gentle Breath Meditation brought me an ease, a settlement and a connection from the first time I did it. Even after years of dedicated time with other meditations, I had not felt this. But here I was after 10 short minutes feeling exactly as you described Rachel, finally at one with myself.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” I love this Rachel. Same here – so grateful to have found ( and continue to find and deepen ) my way back. In sharing the gentle breath meditation with more and more people the effect is profound.
For me the Gentle Breath Meditation has been the start of no longer taking on emotions from others and to not get lost in my own emotions. To reconnect to this place of stillness in myself has been the start of having simplicity in my life.
Rachel that is gold: “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” With your honest blog you showed us where to go – inside – more is not needed.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is a true gift to humanity. A simple way to reconnect to the stillness within.
So simple and yet so deeply profound. To stop and breath gently through our nose changes everything. Who knew!!
Coming back to this blog and the comments it feels like while there is a part of me that knows and has experienced the truth of the Gentle Breath Meditation and what bringing a focus to how our body is moving as apposed to what our mind is telling us what to do. There is a part of me that has given up on this truth even though there is clear evidence that this is the way to true health and vitality. To which I question, why has this occurred? what is the driving force behind the inactivity and is this even the real me that has given up but something I have falsely identified with and if so, what are the benefits of doing such? One comment from Serge Benhayon in one of the Way of the Livingness presentations that has always stuck with me is that ‘if we didn’t need it we wouldn’t do it’ like sleep or blinking etc – so then what need is being met by giving up on being settled in the body?
Dear Rachel, I too came to this place of rest through the gentle breath meditation. I lost my way too. My style was shutting down and very anxious and not trusting myself and others anymore. The gentle breath allowed a stop, reconnect to me and then my journey to health and healing transpired. Thank you for sharing your story Rachel.
Drive, motion, constant doing – it can all be something society encourages as it can be seen as ambitious and the “go getter” attitude is applauded. Yet it is intrinsically not sustainable and has a huge toll on the body. I have used it as a distraction away from myself and me as a being. Take away all the doing and I’m a bit lost (for now!).
I’m realising how consistent my mind is in thinking about what it will do next. Yesterday as I was walking to the bus stop to meet my son after school I caught myself planning what I would do next, and after that, and that and that…I stopped and decided to simply do what I was doing in that moment without thinking ahead and planning. I was walking to the bus stop. I had the choice to enjoy that moment. I’m realising how unsettled my body is when I am not only in constant motion and doing but in the planning of it.
What we are able to do, and how it effects others, when we come from a settled place in our bodies is so very different. Even the difference that we feel when we enter a room or office where the staff are settled or not can have a massive impact on our bodies so I guess my responsibility lays in what state am I in and how is that then effecting everyone I meet be it in the street or in the office.
It was lovely to re read your blog today Rachael, as I can relate to always having to do one more thing, and being busy and the feeling of that racyness running through my blood is something that I was never even aware of in the past as it was my normal. These days I know it because I also know what it feels like to be still so if I am not, it stands out loud and clear. What I do love and appreciate though, is these days I actually do more things than ever before and accomplish more, but without that same drive. The way that I do things has changed. I do them with me, in respect of my body rather than like a headless chicken running around, trying to do a million things at once so to speak.
Just thinking of the racyness and drive, the constant busy busy rush rush and I instantly remember the tension in my body and now with what I know and have experienced it is no wonder I couldn’t sleep well and then you see the cycle of needing more coffee and then the alcohol later to slow you down.
It is beautiful to be reminded of how extraordinary something as simple as the Gentle Breath Meditation has been able to have such a profound effect on thousands of people. I love that unimedliving.com website is providing easy access for the whole world to experience the power and effects of the Gentle Breath Meditation with many recordings of free meditations for all to enjoy.
What you share Rachel about being unsettled and your view of life as being ‘ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’, this is something most people look up to and celebrate this fast pace way of life, often associated with being ‘successful’. But it is really true ‘success’ if we are not able to truly stop, appreciate and enjoy what we do? And to have that continuous feeling of being unsettled is very common but not at all supportive for us in any way pushing ourselves to operate a hundred miles an hour. It is an inspiration to read that you have found this place of rest and feeling settled from within by doing the Gentle Breath Mediation. It is such a simple, powerful, supportive and loving tool. The difference from how you felt from when you first walked into to the group of people to how you felt when you left must have been an amazing, awesome experience.
The eternal pursuit of finding true settlement can be fraught with many twists and turns and spiritual quests as we search outside of ourselves for something to fix us. We tick box after box, achieve goal after goal but it is never enough for there is always more. Like you Rachel I too have found the gentle breath mediation supportive, in fact it is literally like coming home to yourself and gives you a true foundation of settlement to build your days upon.
The settlement that you felt once you did the gentle breath meditation brought tears to my eyes, as I remember when I first felt that again and in that moment I knew there was another way to be and live. I lived in that constant state of alert and nervousness all day everyday, from the moment I woke up to when my head hit the pillow it was there. I actually used nervous energy to get things done, and thought that it was good as I was able to stay very disorganized and then in minutes boost myself to get the job done. Now I am seeing more clearly little ways in which I complicate things, I can then choose a simple option and the difference in my body is worlds apart.
‘I was that unbalanced force driving myself faster and harder.’ Yep, no-one to blame but ourselves and our choices.
The gentle breath meditation along with a few other modalities have helped me connect to my stillness within
It is amazing that the gentle breath meditation works like this. I also had an enormous amount going on in my head and sometimes I thought if I could just scream and scream it would relieve the pressure. I didn’t do that but found with esoteric healings and the gentle breath meditation, I no longer have that pressure or those manic, too many thoughts, days. Not ever. Whenever I have any kind of pressure feeling in my body, I do not let it go on. I now have the tools to deal with anything that comes and I have so much support to call on if necessary, it is beautiful.
It is certainly a life changer to have that stop moment and to really feel into our bodies. Who would of thought that the very thing we are chasing in life was all the time inside of us just waiting to be felt and accepted, opening up a whole new stream of choices for us to make – self loving choices. Connecting to ourselves not, to something ‘out there’ which is so often the distraction that is presented in the form of many new age alternatives. I started to get hooked myself into that search for that ‘something’ and not one other practised group participation therapy touched the innate quality of the Gentle Breath Meditation which for myself and for so many others has been a life changing experience.
The Gentle Breath Meditation has completely changed my life, I use it to reconnect back to the stillness of my inner-heart, even at my desk at work. Marion I agree that it is a real life changing experience.
The way you describe the change when you did the Gentle Breath Meditation is similar to my experience Rachel Hall. I have done hours of meditation and plenty of Yogic breathing exercises so it is laughably ridiculous to be introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation and find within a few dedicated minutes it transformed how I felt by bringing me closer to my essence. It is difficult to describe how something so easy and simple could have such a different result compared to the other techniques I had tried yet at the same time it feel absolutely known and familiar- it makes sense as it is connecting me back to me. It also calls to question the agenda of the other techniques I had tried…..
The Gentle Breath Meditation is so simple, there is no sitting in a certain way, no need to sit for hours at a time, no need to imagine being somewhere, no need to stare at a lighted candle, and no need to try and make the mind go blank. It is simply to come back to focusing and connecting to your own breath, breathing gently to the best of your ability and allowing yourself to just be.
Love it Rachel the Gentle Breath Meditation also allowed me to stop the constant whirring of my mind and finally feel settled in myself and come to a place of exquisite stillness in my body. As others have shared this allows me to achieve much more than I ever did when I was running around in headless chicken mode.
Thank you Rachel for sharing your first experience with the Gentle Breath Meditation. Reading this I was reminded of how powerful learning this Meditation was for me as well, a practitioner taught me the Meditation and the feeling of love and spaciousness I felt inside inspired me to book a session with Serge Benhayon the following week. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a simple and truly profound technique that has changed people’s lives enormously.
It is beautiful to read, I know how my thoughts can run me for a long time, and it keeps running for a long time very often. But when I choose to listen to my body again, I can feel this stillness inside that is always there. Which I sometimes have to be reminded of by myself or someone else.
I loved reading your blog Rachel – the Gentle Breath Meditation alone has brought so many people back to themselves, just love it. Sounds like you really had it going on in all areas of your life, wow, what a complete beautiful re-imprint you have now as a constant in your life from mad rush to motion in connection.
In re-reading this awesome sharing again today. Reflecting with great appreciation for Serge Benhayon introducing the Gentle Breath Meditation. Until that point I’d used so many excuses, upon excuses to suppress that ever busy mind, hiding in more ‘doing’ was not the solution just a numbing of the truth of what I was allowing/choosing to go on in my life. It was like searching for complexity to solve the riddle of all that doing, who would of thought something so gentle as the Gentle Breath Meditation would bring about such an inner stillness, clarity and connection to the body, the results of which are life changing.
It has taken a while but I too can relate to feeling settled in my body, it doesn’t last long but I cannot deny that in order to feel rested and settled it requires nothing of us from the outside. Only a choice to surrender to ourselves and what is within can bring that sense of rest. Should my mind get chattery now I know to focus on my body rather than trying to do things in order to calm down the at times crazy intense chatter. A rushed, harsh and tense body supports the racy thoughts whereas gentle and loving movements in the body support a calmer mind.
I really enjoyed reading your comment Leigh and feel the simplicity of returning to our bodies when our minds seek to be dominant. Thank you.
This is a lovely comment Leigh and I can relate to the constant busyness and following exhaustion. It’s true that we have the choice as to which way we want to operate our bodies and that this has an impact on our minds. I really notice now when I am running myself in chaotic circles, thinking that I am getting things ‘done’. If I haven’t pulled myself up, my body will certainly remind me when I go to bed at night and find that I can’t fall asleep because of a racing mind!
‘I cannot deny that in order to feel rested and settled it requires nothing of us from the outside. Only a choice to surrender to ourselves and what is within can bring that sense of rest.’ The simplicity and truth of this is very profound. You also offer another awesome truth that ‘ A rushed, harsh and tense body supports the racy thoughts whereas gentle and loving movements in the body support a calmer mind.’ And this is something we can change for ourselves in an instant. Starting and ending the day by consciously allowing our body to be gentle and loving is a great way to start this practise.
I have done lots of different meditations in my life but none come close to the Gentle Breath Meditation in it’s simplicity and the qualitative changes it brings to the body and mind. Done over a period of time this meditation can change lives, and does.
I used to love completion, but never would take time to rest, so on to the next project always more to be done, this way of living left my nervous system very exhausted. There will always be more to do, but these days I pace myself, feeling not to push, but to feel how my body is feeling, stopping and doing my gentle breath brings me back from any raciness my body may be going into.
When I read your blog Rachel and then some of the many comments claiming similar I am in complete awe and a bit gobsmacked. Serge Benhayon is leading a quiet revolution here through something as simple (and free) as the Gentle Breath Meditation. He has provided a tool to support people to stop living in that 100 miles a minutes kinda way and to connect to themselves and a place of stillness that exists within us all. And for this foundation it is quite incredible what can be achieved. This needs to be the front page of all media outlets and online. The world needs to know about this for sure.
‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me’ The Gentle Breath Meditation is a true way to reconnect back to your ‘self’ and allow the raciness to fall away.
It is truly amazing what the Gentle Breath Meditation can accomplish, there is nothing quite like it.
I love the pace of this blog, Rachel and how it comes to a beautiful natural stillness at the end when you come to rest and rediscover that the place of stillness is inside you.
Yes I loved that too Cathy – I could feel the build up of how racy Rachel’s life was and then to come to this beautiful still ending was quite lovely. It supported me this morning to return to my gentle breath and my stillness.
I love your writing here Rachel – we have all spent so much time looking outside of ourselves for the answers to what we consider our issues when they all actually are within us. Thank you.
I was like you Rachel always on the go and thinking about the next thing before I had finished the first. I had also attended meditations before, but none of them gave me the feeling that I had when I did the Gentle Breath Meditation, there was a sense of stillness and clarity that I had never felt before. It felt very much like I had come home,and I had at last found what I was searching for. “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
Incredible sharing Rachel, deeply touching to hear about how you have finaly settled, and that this settlement was inside you, never outside of you. It is so deeply beautiful to hear you speak and to know that it was only that you had lost your way never your inner-most rest.
For me when I hear Serge Benhayon’s voice, there is something very settling in that. When he speaks there is a truth expressed that I trust and my body surrenders. The first time I heard an audio of him presenting I had a feeling of ‘I am home’ and there was a deep rest in my body.
Rachel what you have shared is a common experience for most, the feeling of constantly being on the go, needing the next thing and being ruled by the constant unruly chatter in our mind. This was me too, never content. This was something that the Gentle Breath Meditation introduced to me was that I could feel content with myself, not for anything I was doing, but for who I am.
So simple yet so beautiful. This IS what we all are searching for, that stillness that resides within and yet we resist it with fervour. Rachel, yours is an inspiring story of a woman who in the end chose herself.
Beautifully said Katechorley – the relentless seeking for something that is inside us all along is one of our greatest illusions. Mainstream religions, new age gumbo and spiritual journeying all have this in common, going or worshipping outside of ourselves, leading us further away from the truth or stillness that resides within. Thank God for Universal Medicine and Serge Benahyon for shining the light on truth and living the way that leads us back to where we have always been.
Cool blog Rachel….This part here that you shared “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me;” How gorgeous is that…knowing now that, that place never leaves you, it is always there. We just have to choose to re-connect to it. Every person on this planet has that place within them…how awesome is that. Gentle breath meditation is a powerful tool for us all.
Yes Rachael I can relate to everything you have said here. I know very well the racy way of life and for me anxiety was also present. My poor body having to keep up with my mind which was full of thoughts. No wonder I felt exhausted at the end of a day. All I really wanted was to feel relaxed and at ease with myself and this is what the Gentle Breath Meditation has done for me. At last a Meditation that actually works and is simple.
I can so relate to what you have shared Rachel. Living with a tick box mentality is so crippling. ‘I never felt at rest, there was always a tension and a sense of having to get on with the next thing’, the next box…. The perpetual motion of this tension only feeds overwhelm and exhaustion and as you have shared, can indeed spin your life out of control.
Also, could this overwhelm and exhaustion on every level of our being be a contributing factor as to why the rates of diagnosed mental health statistics such as anxiety and depression are escalating in our present day??
It took me a lot longer than you Rachel before I could fully appreciate the gentle breath and feel the harmony that it brings. It gets better all the time. The more I can feel the tendernes of my body, the more I can allow the gentle flow of the gentle breath through my whole body. The Gentle Breath meditation works wonders.
Great!, I had a chakrapuncture session yesterday and had exactly the same feeling, being settled, in myself, stopping the endless trying to figure things out, and settling inside myself. There was something bigger in my body, and it as my body feeling full and at rest.
I agree Brendan. I’m having a tough time of it at the moment and challenges never stop coming up… but having that feeling of myself being settled means I am much more capable of staying with it, working through it and not running at a thousand miles an hour in the different direction (which is usually to check out).
Simple, profound, gorgeous. Thanks Rachel for this. I know the flywheel well, the driver that pushes harder and harder until “my body felt wired and my mind could hold several conversations simultaneously without my being even really involved in them”. But also I have come to know a stillness, and gradually a spaciousness has opened up in my life… and that lets all the love back in.
There is nothing more true than being able to settle in your own body. It is the most pure homecoming that a person can experience. I took a little longer than you, in the sense that my first experiences with the gentle breath just revealed how very anxious I was. But boy did I know this technique was something special. Over time this meditation brought me to a place long forgotten in the rigours of life…
I find that I too have settled more deeply into myself than at any time. It is lovely in away that defies words, and as a result I am developing deep trust in myself in life, as never before.
Wow, all the things we think we should do in order to relax are blown away simply by connecting to the gentle breath through the Gentle Breath Meditation – A golden moment and a golden opportunity to go deeper. Simply beautiful Rachel.
It’s actually amazing that we can put so much pressure and demands on ourselves and our body and it will keep going! Albeit to a much lesser quality and for only so long. It is very revealing of how a vast majority of people live in the world today and have accepted it as their ‘normal’. There is no doubt that there is a direct correlation between the rising illness and disease rates, and the way we choose to live.
I can relate to so much of how you used to live and it is wonderful that you have written so honesty, so to give others an opportunity to feel how they choose to live themselves and that there is another way to be
Wow. This is a master piece. Brought me to a full-stop. There’s this undeniable stillness in the way you express, even when you are describing how busy your mind was. Gorgeous to feel, Rachel.
Rachel I love your blog, I too was a very motion person, trying to achieve the next thing, constantly in my head. I never sat down or took a break. My goals and aims just kept increasing. I became such a driven person not realising how hard I had become in my body. I was always trying to find a way to meditate to control the active mind. It was a struggle to find anything that supported me. As the traditional meditation required sitting for hours in crossed legged position. I tried it but it never lasted as it was very hard to get the mind to stop, also very uncomfortable on the body. When I came across Universal Medicine and their simple ‘Gentle Breath Meditation’, I was amazed that in my first go I was able to get my active mind to calm down, I felt so amazing in my body. I knew then I found something special, the mediation I was looking for. The most beautiful thing is that it does not have to be for long periods, 5 mins to 20 mins max works otherwise you are indulging, also you don’t need to sit crossed legged. I am able to support myself in a chair allowing my body to be completely relaxed so I can focus on my gentle breath.
I was also living the life of that hamster in the wheel for the last 50 years. In periods where a quiet spell came my way I would choose to create things that would cause the dance to continue. The simple gentle breath takes you not to a place of bliss but a place of inner stillness. It is not a place to dwell long; it is just a marker in your self to feel the stillness that is always been with in us.
Amazing Rachel. I love how relatable your story is and the simplicity of what it took to feel ‘settled’. Could it be as simple as connecting, or rather re-connecting to our breath? I feel that it might. We can try your list of experiments, but at the end of the day, we already have the answers, sitting there, in the one thing that keeps as alive in every second, our breath. Blows my mind. I just need to practice settling more!!
It is amazing Elodie that our breath can bring us back to the beautiful stillness that lies within and this can be lived everyday.
Love it Rachel, even as I read this I could relate to the raciness you described so clearly, we can be our own worst enemy when the nervous energy takes over and everything feel unsettled. The power and simplicity of the gentle breath cannot be denied. Through it many get to feel that it is possible to feel ‘Settled” and that this is our natural state of being.
That is very beautiful Rachel, I can feel the ease and settlement in your writing. I have felt the same once I came at my first Universal Medicine event, I found a very still place within myself I never actually knew about, I felt at ease and actually very good inside my body. I could feel my legs, arms, tummy, just everything. I actually settled in my body. This is how I learning to live my whole life, being within, connection with myself everywhere I walk, and deepen this connection – I feel settled, just like you Rachel, that is so beautiful.
This blog shows how it takes unrelating energy and drive to become unaware of our natural ability to come to a stop and rest.
I know I have a tendency to push the limits as this is what the world gives accolades to. Now I have learnt there is no greater treasure than the loved held in one’s heart.
The gentle breath meditation is so simple, yet so powerful. We tend to think that to stop the raciness and achieve a feeling of stillness within the body it must be an involved and complicated process e.g. flying to an island get away, a Buddhist retreat in some remote corner of the world, yoga at sweltering degrees Celsius. . .
I too have experienced the power of the very simple gentle breath meditation and its ability to reconnect you to that stillness. What does this say about that quality of stillness? Many feel it is something to be attained through dedication or only experienced with the help of outside influences (such as the island or the Buddhists) but Rachel’s experience proves that this quality actually already exists within us, it is just a matter of choosing to connect to it and removing the road blocks such as stimulants and constant motion.
I’ve heard about this yoga in the sweltering heat. How can that possibly bring us to a natural state of equilibrium or reconnect us with our bodies. Its like saying lets do some breathing classes at the top of Mount Everest.. it makes no sense. But to sit quietly and breathe gently for just a few minutes each day – that makes perfect sense, is completely achievable and feels awesome.
Rachel I feel lots of us can relate to being in never ending motion and agitation, a bit like a mouse spinning in a wheel. Like you I was able to get off this spinning wheel with the support of Serge Benhayon, the gentle breath meditation and the esoteric healing modalities. Today I am completely different and if I do start to speed up, I feel it straight away so I can ask myself what’s happened for me to be pushing myself and make a choice to slow down to be present in what I am doing.
Beautiful, Rachel. No wonder you needed coffee to get you through the day – both your activities and constant agitation must have been exhausting.
Rachel I loved reading your blog, it reminded me of myself, always looking for something else, never being satisfied when reaching a goal and having to find the next one, and never being able to sit still, I was always wanting to be on the move. The only time I did sit still was when I was too exhausted to do anything else. The Gentle Breath Meditation has made a huge difference to my life too. Now being able to stop and feel, rather than numbingly running around.
‘my body felt wired and my mind could hold several conversations simultaneously without my being even really involved in them.’ ….. I can so relate to this one! What’s really interesting is that now, after discovering Universal Medicine, I have a complete inability to do more than one thing at once. I find it hard to conceive how it was ever possible for me to multi-task. As you say, it would have been at the expense of being ‘present’ in any of the things I was doing.
Brilliant Rachel, this is incredible. To come to a place of rest, and to be able to return to that place whenever we choose to go there, after not doing so for so long is greater than any achievement we could possibly ever strive for.
Rachel, I’m also all too familiar with ‘perpetual motion’ and incessant ‘self chatter’, like you, for so long they were my constant companions day and night. I’m so grateful to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for leading me to find the still and quiet place where true companionship lies.
Wow! Awesome Rachel. Thank you for your very honest account of how things were for you. How wonderful you gave yourself the opportunity to give that gentle breath meditation a go. I have no doubt that mixed things up a bit for your life going forward.
When reading about all of your activities I could feel the excessive motion – it’s not surprising that the gentle breath meditation had such a profound affect on you and gave you the opportunity to just stop and feel you again. Lovely sharing Rachel.
Absolutely love what you have shared Rachel – And this was the perfect article for me to read this morning as a reminder of bringing myself back to my breath and allowing myself to settle again, to be with me and not be ahead or behind myself nor anywhere else for that matter.
I can relate with my morning Henrietta – In the midst of processing some things and feeling slightly overwhelmed by life, coming back to the techniques that support and bring back a sense of stillness is all I need to do. Gentle breath is such an invaluable tool and I love how Rachel has spoken of being settled through this practice. Thank you Serge Benhayon for bringing this through for all.
That is so beautiful Rachel Hall. That feeling you had again – feeling settled – like you felt when you were a girl. That definitely tells us something about the true benefit and absolute support the Gentle Breath Meditation, by Serge Benhayon is giving. That is an incredible shift, and that would not occur, if it wasn’t really working, as you had already tried everything!
I can relate to the go-getter mentality ever striving for the next goal, the next thing to achieve or attain and it’s thoroughly exhausting and takes us further away from ourselves when all we have to do is sit quietly and breathe the gentle breath and everything we’ve been searching for is right there within each and every one of us when we choose to reconnect.
This is beautiful Rachel and shows the power of connection. As you said, you simply lost your way, but your way was always there, just a breath and moment of connection away.
Rachel, this is simply gold what you have written… “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way” That simple meditation – The Gentle Breath Meditation – totally bring you back, reconnecting to stillness that’s always within your body. Following this, i discovered how Esoteric Yoga supports learning to stay with this stillness, integrating it as we go about our day, and absolutely, counters any creeping in of motion and anxiety.
I totally agree with you Jo, beautifully expressed.
That’s beautiful Jo. Because of knowing what stillness feels like in my body, it then stands out a mile when I am not that way and in anxiousness or tension for example. It doesn’t mean that I am perfect, but it always gives me the opportunity to make a new choice in the moment that I am feeling anxious etc. This in itself is huge!!
I relate to this story completely Rachel. The chatter, the edginess, the business and the perpetual motion, not wanting to sit or settle…really not wanting to feel. I also found the gentle breath meditation a key to building a new relationship with myself.
Thank you Racheal, I can relate to the constant doing, doing, I have been running on nervous energy most of my long life. My nervous system was so frazzled that when I would lay down to sleep at night my mind would feel like a very wobbly jelly. All this has settled down and I feel much more easefullness within my body since doing meditation which is so beautifull and so simple and brings me back into harmony with myself. Thank you Serge and Unimed.
I can really relate Rachel, just yesterday I was the passenger in a car on a long journey, and so I sat back and closed my eyes to doze, and realised my mind was still thinking about everything and anything – how exhausting! However, thanks to Universal Medicine, I have an understanding of my anxiousness and techniques to help me come back to me, so that I get real rest.
I can so relate to what you share here Rachel…from a very young age my mind was constantly on the go, an anxiousness driving me to keep moving, to keep doing, making sure everything and everyone outside of me was ok – then I could rest, but there was always the next thing that needed attention and the only rest was the relief of falling into bed every night.
Through attending Universal Medicine presentations my life is slowing turning around…today my reason to move comes more from what I feel is next, rather than my mind – there is a rhythm, an ease and a flow that comes with this, and I lay down at night to sleep a restful sleep.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” So true Rachel.
I am appreciating how much less racy I am than I used to be but also can feel that at times I still push myself and avoid stopping to come back to me. This is a work in progress for me. The gentle breath meditation is a beautiful gift for us in our daily living.
Anne this is the same for me, I have really come far and have been appreciating of how less racy I am but I still find I can be hard on my self, as I find I still push myself and forget to stop and come back to my body. Still a work in progress with the support of the gentle breath I can turn to daily.
I am too was so racy Rachel before I met Serge Benhayon. Therefore I love your blog because it reminded me at that time. Gosh it was so stressful to be like that and I am still so thankful that I had and have Serge as such a true inspiration that life can be different.
Rachel, the written word is powerful and the way you have written this piece can be felt strongly. I remember those moments when I felt like a train out of control, the force of the thoughts in my head, the speed at which they were moving. For nearly 50 years I have suffered from headaches continually. They escalated eventually to migraines. Now after hearing the presentations from Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine workshop and the Gentle Breath Meditation, I no longer get headaches – a miracle. i loved your reading of yourself after your ‘Gentle Breath Mediation’ experience – Settled’ and what you shared – ‘Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”. This too, has been my experience. Thank you for sharing.
I see an entire world out there of unsettled people Rachel. But as you have found, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Great honest sharing Rachel. I can relate to having been driven in motion for most of my life also. I too tried yoga, meditation, Qigong, Reiki, crystal healing, read self help books, all which kept me disconnected from my body more. It was only until I went to the heart Chakra retreat and met Serge Benhayon that I felt the real me, with the introduction of the gentle breathe meditation.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
Glorious sharing Rachel – and even though I too have come to rediscover that settled place is the still place inside of me – I can often fall back into behaviours where I spin-out to be in too much motion. This is a beautiful reminder to come back to my stillness and stop chasing my tail. Thank you.
I love how you write and share your experiences Rachel – thank you. It certainly is a powerful feeling when you connect to the stillness within. A place where we feel the undeniable truth of who we are and realise that this always with us, that this is us.
When I read this blog I appreciated how I felt reading it and what it reflected to me was that I felt settled, it is a beautiful word “Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”. I am not restless, anxious, busy or racy, I am settled and feel good in my own skin. Great appreciation is required for this fact, thank you for reflecting this and offering this as something to ponder.
So well said Rachel, I know exactly what you mean. When I learned the gentle breath meditation it showed me I can stop my mind racing in two seconds flat… and it showed me all the rest of the time my head was running a million miles an hour. What I love about the gentle breath meditation is that it can be integrated into the way I breathe normally, all day every day. I can do it anywhere, anytime and it certainly helps if I have anxious thoughts.
Rachel I think many people live in a state of anxiousness and I wonder if they even realise there is another way, a more settled way to be. l love how you realised “that place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” I used to run my life on anxiousness too, but the Gentle Breath Meditation I learned from Serge Benhayon has been the most fantastic support for helping me ‘settle’ in to a new rhythm in my body, a more settled one. It is a great tool to use to reconnect to my inner stillness when I find my old nemesis anxiousness has taken charge.
“and for the first time since I was a little girl I felt settled.
Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”.
…and *melt*. Thank you Rachel for sharing with us the moment your life changed forever. It wasn’t in success, and it never was, it was about a connection with yourself, feeling yourself and knowing that you don’t need success, you only need connection with yourself…and that in itself is the greatest success you could ever have.
Beautiful Rachel. Its amazing when we have that relationship, with a truth we’ve always know inside and then through the way of the livingness, we have been able to get back to that feeling, like you said you felt “Settled”. I know this familiar feeling. And When I sit at workshops by Universal Medicine I also feel this and its wonderful because it reflects a natural way that I used to know when I was younger. Everyday I feel I allow a little more of that to come back, I’m wondering why I ever left it in the first place!
Thanks Rachel, from 10 cups of coffee a day – man I was wired! To caffeine free (significant withdrawal headaches!) – A Vietnam retreat 2 years ago with Serge and Natalie Benhayon was like switching on that inner light that was always there, but hidden by the ‘newtonian flywheel’ of caffeine.
I love your honesty Rachel and that we can all achieve our own stillness by returning to our gentle breath. Thank you.
Your honest and very relatable sharing Rachel, is spot on for so many of us in how we choose to run our lives. And the gentle breath meditation is a true tool that I use to bring me back from constant head chatter or nervous tension that I have allowed in to run me. It never fails to bring me back to that natural loving and still place within me.
Rachel this is a real testament to the power of the gentle breath meditation. I love to feel the stop moment as you describe it.
Rachel, I love your honesty and down to earth approach to how you were living your life, before Universal Medicine. You have shown the power of the Gentle Breathe Meditation, taught by Serge Benhayon. I too, have found it an amazing tool to stop, and reconnect to who I truly am, when I feel out of sorts.
Rachel , this is a great testimony to the power of the gentle breath meditation, such a simple technique that brings profound changes. I love how you describe it as a settled feeling.
Rachel when I read the title of your article ‘Settled’ I really felt the glorious feeling of the word, ‘settled’. It is a feeling that I too feel much more of these days. I used to literally feel that I was spinning, both physically and mentally. That intense motion has long since dropped away but what I do still feel are threads of anxiety to do with ‘getting things done’. These threads are also dissipating and I have a sense that one day even the word settled with have too much motion in it.
Rachel I loved to re-visit this blog, it is so profound. Like you and many people I have lived unsettled, and restless. Taking 10 minutes to breathe gently helps me be in a busy world without losing myself.
Isn’t that amazing… All the seeking on the outside suddenly gets silent and there is nothing wanting, rushing, forcing, willing trying to go somewhere… It is the simple and perfect beauty of joy being with self in stillness.. That’s far beyond the jump taste of “chocolat fin”. There is absolutely nothing – NOTHING – that is comparable to the beauty of surrender back to who I truly am….
So beautiful Rachel – “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
I can relate so much to the whirl of the mind and the never ending distractions- it is amazing what simply breathing through your nose can do.
Isn’t it interesting that to be in the kind of constant motion and activity that you have described is usually actually considered part of a healthy lifestyle and what many of us strive for? It can take such a leap of faith to step outside of this way of thinking, so I am so grateful to you Rachel for sharing your experiences.
To live with a constant stream of thoughts in my head was exhausting and not very joyful because these thought were not really uplifting. Starting the Gentle Breath Meditation was a challenge in the beginning to focus all my attention on my breath but I could feel it was something that offered me the choice to connect with me and stay with my breath. This supported me to go deeper and to feel who I really was (am) inside.
I too have seen the desire to achieve a sense of completion completely control my life keeping me forever moving chasing the next end point for the momentary satisfaction it provides. But when you stop… and get to feel being truly settled within yourself… there is just no comparison.
I enjoyed reading your blog Rachel, just sitting for a short period of time every day breathing gently through my nose, has been life changing for me.
Any feeling of anxiousness is such a powerful reminder that we are not ourselves. You are right Rachel, the body shudders and feels completely unsettled. It is powerful because the moment we recognize we are anxious we can choose to come back to that place inside of us that is quiet and still and knows without a shadow of a doubt that stillness is our most natural way of being.
Beautiful sharing Rachel, this restless behaviour is something I too have sometimes, but indeed,as you say, when I come back to my body and be with me, I stop and feel the beautiful man that I am.
It really is an amazing feeling when the chatter quiets down and you can just sit with your body, feel gentle and feel still and enjoy it. I tend to get into busy busy busy mode also, and then I love coming back to that gentle breath, which reminds me that all along it never left; the stillness inside me I can choose to be with.
A refreshingly real sharing Rachel, and one that brings such absolute relevance to the simplicity and true support offered by the Gentle Breath Meditation, as presented by Serge Benhayon.
I cracked up when you shared about how all the new age meditations, self-help, etc left you more wound up and uptight. I did my darnedest with a load of that stuff, ‘thinking’ I was getting somewhere, when nothing underlying ever truly changed… I just removed myself from life somewhat in the process (not good for me at all).
That despite all the ‘whirl’, that you gave the Gentle Breath Meditation a go is awesome. And wow – to feel the ‘stop’, such a powerful experience, knowing that you had this ability to naturally connect with yourself in there all along.
Absolute gold. Thank-you.
Settling down with yourself, in your body and breathing gently. We can make life so complex and full of motion, always on the search, while in fact it is so simple, literally right under the tip of our nose….
“Only after years of unravelling why I have been feeling so consistently unsettled have I been able to allow myself the feeling of settledness within. And it all came down to not allowing myself to feel the power that resides deep within me, therefore making room for a feeling that something wasn’t quite right – feeling unsettled.” – Yes, Robyn, if we allow ourselves to feel the power deep within we can accept feeling settled.
I love what you’ve written here Rachel. The busyness with which your life was, feels full on but ‘Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place” ‘ feels like home.
The power of reconnecting to my own body is huge, it allows me to tap into that stillness where tensions, drive and stress just seem to disappear allowing me to access the wisdom and clarity within me.
To develop the connection with what is within me (which is love) through the Gentle Breath Meditation gives me the opportunity to stay with me whatever happens around me. Just like you describe Rachel it is a simple meditation amazingly powerful.
I can relate to this “Serge explained we were going to do a simple meditation. I closed my eyes and breathed gently through my nose. As I did so, something in me changed, the chatter in my head faded away to a quiet whisper and for the first time since I was a little girl I felt settled.” I had a similar experience, when I heard Serge Benhayon speak of something that felt very true to me, the whirl stopped for a moment, I stopped resisting life and being defensive and felt my body ‘settle’, something I had not felt for a long time. This became a maker in my life, a truth I had felt that I reflected on and moved on from, it has supported me to come back to that place and know that I can feel life and live life in another way.
Amazing how we can connect from a spinning wheel inside to the stillness in us in seconds if we want. It is all there, all the time…just waiting…
I love the reference to a ‘Newtonian flywheel’ I too had a life that was ‘full on’ and was fuelled by alcohol, and coffee – I mean serious tremors from caffeine madness. Only since attending Serge Benhayon have I realised the exhaustion I had put myself in and that there was the ‘inner me’ available to bring me back, if only I’d give it room away from all the ‘newtonian flywheel’ activity. Great Blog thanks Rachel.
Thank you for this blog Rachel. I recognize myself in it as I used to be so much like you, a spinning ball moving around, on and on. Totally lost, but now on the way back to myself.
Love this, so true…
That place of rest, the place where I feel settled, was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.
The power of presence and re-connecting via the simple Gentle Breath Meditation. This is an awesome testimony Rachel.
I agree Victoria honest testimonials of someone’s lived experience are very powerful indeed.
Feeling settled. This is an interesting concept to many, including me, as we live in a fast paced world and always on the go. Since I was a little girl I have felt unsettled and it is only recently that I finally feel settled. The Gentle Breath Meditation was an integral part of this. It has really supported me to stop regularly and check in with myself. Only after years of unravelling why I have been feeling so consistently unsettled have I been able to allow myself the feeling of settledness within. And it all came down to not allowing myself to feel the power that resides deep within me, therefore making room for a feeling that something wasn’t quite right – feeling unsettled.
Thank you Rachel for sharing about the power of the Gentle Breath Meditation – such a simple tool that can work such profound miracles, such as your own experience of feeling settled after a life long feeling of unrest. Who would have thought that it can be so easy?
That constant drive to do more, achieve more is fuelled by anxiousness, and it’s so exhausting on the body! I too found that when I listened to a presentation by Serge Benhayon, I became deeply settled inside (complete stillness), like I was a child again. And it wasn’t that it was numbing or I was going into bliss, I was coming very into my body and felt a sense of being with me as I breathed.
This is an awesome blog. You describe the ‘busyness’ so well and it feels so full on, the drive that you were constantly doing life in. I’v recently realised that I’v been going into this full on motion within myself to get things done… So therefore when it was done I could ‘relax’ or as you say ‘feel settled’, but this never really comes. There is always the next thing to do and the next thing to do, constant motion as you say. I’v also been to Serge Benhayon’s workshops and retreat and learnt about connecting with myself ~ but even then I still absolutely go into the busyness. But now I have the tool of coming back to my breath to help me out, and help me break the cycle of running full steam ahead.
I can see the point: why bother to be still if being in motion helped you move through life? This is a question people relying upon their nervous system to drive their lives ask all the time. They even seem to enjoy the physical feeling of accelerating the body. It is all about avoiding stopping and feeling what is there to be felt. I was there too. Not any more though.
Its amazing how far and fast we can all runaway and around from the stillness we hold inside all the time. I love what you have shared of your 360 degree turn around Rachel, thank you.
True Giselle. If we don’t surrender to the stillness we hold inside of us, we just have to keep coming up with more and more ways to avoid it. How crazy is that.
Great how just one opportunity of stillness, to truly feel it resides within us, can bring the change and offer the choice to reconnect again. Thanks for sharing!
The gentle breath meditation is such a simple meditation that calls us to a full stop, to pause and arrest the momentum that we have been living in. It is only once that we put a stop to the momentum that we can begin to see that there is a possibility of another way.
Wow, Rachel, just gorgeous to read your blog and how the Gentle Breath Meditation brought a stop to the years of inner motion and feeling so unsettled. And, amazing it happened at the first one! I could really relate to the out of control mind, it’s astonishing for me too to now look back across my own life, and see the incredible changes since receiving the support of Universal Medicine, to feel how calm and still I am. I don’t know where I would be now if I had of stayed in that stressed out state without their help.
I like the honesty in your writing Rachel.
Me too Joe, me too.
Awesome blog Rachel, whilst reading your blog it reminded me that I used to also live with this raciness in my body and not ever feeling settled. It is amazing that with the support of Serge Benhayon and the gentle breath meditation you could feel the stillness within you that had always been there waiting for you.
For me this was also a big reminder of how I used to be, racing from one place to another, constantly busy, doing and yes, never settled. That has changed so much just by connecting my body and yes, my breath, so close, yet for many years not my favorite hang out. Now it is the one and only hang out 🙂
I love this blog Rachel. The gentle breath meditation is such a support to come back to ourselves, to settle.
Brilliant blog Rachel, so awesome to read about your experience. I can relate to the constant mind chatter and not really connected to what I am doing but thinking about what I have to do next. Inspiring to know that we can find that stillness and like you said it has always been inside us. I am learning to connect to everything I am doing and to fully connect when someone is talking to me without my mind wandering. The gentle breathe meditation is a great way to connect to our stillness, it is truly amazing.
As I read this blog I recognised those elements of anxiousness and motion which I lived and still choose sometimes. The final line was truly beautiful as it brought me to my own inner stillness. ‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time’
Settled is such a beautiful feeling isn’t it Rachel? Thank you for sharing this experience. The gentle breath meditation really is an amazing tool. ✨
I love how you realised that you settled into yourself and that what you’d been searching for was there all along. This is truly beautiful.
Woao, such a beautiful descriptive sharing – I could really feel the silence coming in towards the end when you started the breathing… it feels like I was there.
Your blog has been an eye opener for me Rachel. I had exactly the same raciness inside me as you described but instead of it making me do all the things that you did I did the opposite and used it to underachieve, stay contracted and play small. The raciness was used to keep myself down, to stay in struggle and to stay small.
Like you when I was introduced to the Gentle breath meditation it quite literally changed my life. I got to stop that raciness going on inside of me and felt the enormous power in stillness. That changed everything.
Gorgeous Rachael. I too can relate to much of what you have written here. I remember finishing university and going into a panic as for the first time in my life, I didn’t know what next. I remember clearly feeling “what do I do now?”. It was not long until I was in the push and drive to get a job, but I clearly remember the unsettledness of having the space to “just be with me”. Today I love being with me in every moment, no matter what I am doing. The Gentle Breath was what also supported me to be able to do this. It is a life changer and still used today when I lose my connection with myself.
Great ending to the blog, is a sequel coming ;).
I can relate to your blog in the sense, there is always something else to do and achieve because of the pressure we put on ourselves to be better. Which is really just to be ‘identified’ as we are ahead of the pack.
I love how you have written this Rachel and your final sentence is so simple yet so profound, “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
Simple and profound Rachel and proves that we really are not that far away from connection. The simple act of stopping and breathing gently is super powerful – I too know this from experience.
Just beautiful Rachel. I got a strong sense of that rest and coming to yourself as I came to the end of your blog. It felt so solid, and still.
At first the Gentle Breath Meditation seemed too simple and unsophisticated to be effective, that is compared to the plethora of New Age meditations out there that I’ve tried. But like so many of Serge Benhayon’s teachings it helped me find and be settled in that deep place of rest inside myself faster and more effectively than the countless methods I’d tried in the 15 years prior.
“That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
This simple but profound wisdom you have here, Rachel is just exquisite, thank you.
I love that fact that we are not defined by what we do, for me now I am able to stop having to prove I am worth something by what I have achieved. It is an exhausting way to live and for me the Gentle Breath Meditation is a way to re-connect to the stillness in me.
It is amazing how such a simple exercise like the Gentle Breath Meditation (GBM) can break down the complexity and out of control momentum of our disharmonious inner and outer life – and let us drop right into our very center. I have seen that work in hundreds of people, that is quite some evidence of the GBM´s effectiveness.
Thanks for your article Rachel, I can really relate to your wanting to run away when you first came into contact with Universal Medicine. I suppose we don’t want to confront how far we have separated from our true selves.
Thanks for sharing Rachel. We can so often get caught up in the doing, doing, doing and think that it’s a good thing whilst our bodies suffer. I know I still get caught up in this doing sometimes and then feel totally knackered at the end of the day! The gentle breath meditation sure is an amazing tool to help us stop and reconnect with ourselves.
Rachel, many of us know all too well that life controlling incessant chatter in our minds. In a few breaths you made it fade away to a quiet whisper, which was a life changing moment for you. I bet now you would not trade that settled feeling for anything.
The thing that stands out for me in this blog is how after a lifetime of motion it was the gentle-breath meditation that brought in the stillness. This so illustrates the amazing power of this technique, possibly underestimated by many, myself included. Thanks for sharing this simple yet powerful story Rachel.
That’s amazing Rachel, to recognise you were the deciding force in Newton’s first law of motion! I can also recognise this push and I certainly remember the extreme way it would propel me through life. Rushing towards somewhere – but a million miles from that one place of rest. Finding this place within ourselves feels like coming home and when I feel myself getting carried away again, I can turn around and come back with a gentle breath and conscious presence.
This is a well written introduction to that crossover point in life, when something more is sought and then found. I love the way you have described being so busy and unsettled, because this is a normal everyday way for most of us to live in modern life. But what I also love is how you describe finding yourself, and it did not require you to stop working, or to leave your family, or change towns – because just to be you was, and is always, more than enough.
Thank you Rachel, It was so beautiful to read how the Gentle Breath Meditation, presented by Serge Benhayon brought you back to that place of stillness: and feeling settled. “Settled”- what a beautiful word/feeling…and that this place is inside you, not in what you do.
I agree here Arianne I thought the same thing. What a grace is the Gentle Breath Meditation for us all.
Wow Rachel, you have made such a change in your life. You would have to be one of the most still people I have met and such an inspiration for me daily.
My drive was different to yours Rachel in that I gave up on achievement and made a lifestyle of checking out into bliss, making a success of helping people relax but not doing it from feeling at ease within myself and my life. In fact it was the opposite as I was checking out to avoid feeling what I was running away from. The patterns of overriding my body are very ingrained but bit by bit, I am remaining more connected to my body and allowing myself the gift of feeling settled. Thank you for your candid and fun way of writing, I enjoyed reading it.
Phew, I am exhausted just reading about raciness, and it surely is unpleasant to feel in the body. Isn’t it crazy that we look high and low for a ‘settled’ place, a stillness that is naturally there within us…simply a breath away? The gentle breath meditation is uncomplicated in practice, yet as you have shared Rachel is very powerful.
What a great relatable post Rachel and your words so well expose the belief that so many of us have including myself once upon a time, in that being in motion/busy means “being ambitious, driven, productive and a bit of a ‘go getter’”. There is nothing quite like feeling truly settled in the body after such buzz of motion to see that that is where the true success is. This place is a home coming and something to be cherished.
I love it Rachel, especially your last paragraph “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.” – so beautiful.
Even as I read this Rachel I could feel the raciness you described so clearly, and I can see how the world runs on this cranked nervous energy. Thank goodness you didn’t bolt that day and took the time to just follow the gentle breath meditation! And there it was. And we are so glad you stayed.
Rachel, I love this blog and can relate to what you share, not to the same extent though I still get caught in doing lots of stuff, planning ahead and at times find it difficult to allow my body to let go and deeply rest. The Gentle Breath meditation is an amazing tool to support with this.
Love it Rachel. The power and simplicity of the Gentle Breath Meditation cannot be denied. Through it many get to feel that it is possible to feel ‘settled’ and that this is actually our natural state of being.
That is how most people live, especially these days with everything being quick, quick, quick, on the “Newtonian Flywheel”, and then attempting to find rest and relaxation through various accepted means that do not work for longer than they are being carried out. But the Gentle Breath meditation is the first step to unraveling this way of life, and finding how living in its gentle consistent rhythm every day means that we can enjoy those things rather than reaching for them in a desperate need to relieve the tension.
Wow Rachael – I would never had known that was the life you led before Universal Medicine- what an amazing transformation- but in saying that, I too am confirming that for myself.
This feeling “settled” is such a stunning contrast to a “normal” life that is aligned to our hectic times. It feels special and yet the word that comes to me when feeling settled is simplicity. A simplicity that does not ask to do anything and just allows to be.
I love this line Michael: ‘A simplicity that does not ask to do anything and just allows to be’. So true.
I have felt the same way through buying into the unsavoury pace and speed of the world we live in and created energetically, and now through the Gentle Breath Meditation and many teachings from Universal Medicine that the choice is always ours and we only need to call it out and choose to come back in to recreate the harmony and centred self.
Thanks for Sharing Rachel
Thanks Rachel. Like you, I have lived my life at a frantic pace. I still am developing ways to slow down and be more mindful of exactly what is happening behind this ‘doing’ and ‘busyness’. The steady and unwavering support along the way of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has been a cornerstone for me in learning how to hit the pause button and re-learn that the key is stillness before the motion.
I love the final phrase, “I had simply lost my way”.
Realising that motion is fine as long as it is not out of and control, as in constantly stimulated by caffeine, sugar, nervous energy and adrenaline, but most importantly and presented to humanity by Serge Benhayon, is that motion is meant to be balanced by stillness.
Reconnecting to the stillness within is one of the many true gifts Universal Medicine has brought back for me. Perhaps a big part of ‘losing our way’ is forgetting that half of our being is stillness.
Thank you Rachel for sharing how we can find rest within ourselves. It’s the only place where we can really find rest and a true harmony.
Rachel this is beautifully shared – knowing that our place of deep rest is within us. “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.”
I loved these words too Lee. Being another, who had “simply lost my way’, the opportunity that the gentle breath meditation offered me to stop and to return to me, was taken without any hesitation.
Great parallel between Newton’s unbalanced force and human restlessness, we are definitely our own worst enemies.
It is stunning to feel what different choices bring to my life.
Rachel, what you have shared here “I became very aware of how completely unsettled I was and realised that this was how I felt every moment of every day, but here in this room with 50-60 other people I had no way of avoiding what was going on in my body.” – is how the majority of humanity are walking around, I have certainly been one of them myself. Like a ticking bomb of tension, ‘repairing’ it with whatever would be appropriate depending on the situation, food, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, TV, shopping, you name it. Today I know the repair is not outside of me, but all on the inside, for me to choose to connect to.
Awesome sharing Rachel and rings so many bells – the gentle breath has been a game changer for me as well and connecting to the still and gentle quality that was inside of me I had forgotten was there. From this point things that I was choosing that didn’t support this quality started to stick out like a sore thumb and I started to let go of some of these choices.
How I have known the constant chatter and motion in my life too rachel! I used to speed walk through my work and could never ever settle. As like you, I have found that in this constant motion I was just trying to avoid myself and at the same time looking for it in all the wrong places (being outside of me). I share the Gentle Breath Meditation whenever I can as it has offered me the most simple and yet most powerful and direct way back to myself and to feeling (I love this word) settled!
So familiar that feeling of perpetually moving was – I dared not stop for what I might find out about myself if I did. The Gentle Breath Meditation was a HUGE support in realising that there was nothing to fear about the space that opened up in being still, in just being me.
Many of us live in the way that you describe – thinking we are doing well, and what is expected of us socially – but really ignoring how we feel inside.
This is true, often “should’s” get in the way of what really feels true for us. So many times we ignore how we are feeling to ‘get on with it” or “do what is needed”. This can cause an in balance in our lives. Unfortunately it sometimes takes an accident or illness to stop us.
the way we view success so rarely takes into account our well being as we value financial gain above and beyond all else.
great blog – something I relate to – especially using coffee and alcohol as alternatives to prescription uppers and downers.
Yes me too Marianna…..starting the day pepping myself up and then coming down. I am so glad to be removing myself from that cycle and learning to reconnect to my stillness.
I totally agree Sarah, I spent many years using all sorts of uppers and downers to get me through the day. What a joy to be coming free from these shackles.
This blog brought me to a place that was my life – the constant chattering, the living in the future and constantly re-living the past, it was exhausing. I remember the day I first asked myself ‘who am I?’ and I didn’t have a clue as I was so caught up in trying to meet every criteria out there that stated what a ‘successful,hardworking, caring’ person was, I had not stopped to feel the existence of ‘Me’. The Gentle meditation is so simple and so subtle in supporting a person to connect to a stillness that is just there inside the living, breathing, you – amazing and unforgettable
Thank you Rachel for sharing the amazing changes you have made.
Isn’t it funny that we are always looking outside instead of searching within?
I have been constantly in motion for many, many years out of different investments and there never seemed to be enough time to do what I thought was needed. I never considered that the stillness I was underneath longing for might be inside myself. There was no need for searching for it, it was just about making loving steps towards myself again and to be me. From there on, magical moments of stillness and joy have started to slowly grow and make such a difference :o)
Those of us who are blessed to know you Rachel, know how true this is. You have settled and come to rest in one place – yourself.
As an ex-spinning wheel I smiled with recognition throughout this blog. Ah yes, I experienced all of those feelings myself.
Thank God for Serge Benhayon. I too have come to settle, in me.
I love your explanation of settled and how coming back to you was all that was needed.
I loved re-reading your blog Rachel and can relate to so much of it. I too have found the Gentle Breath meditation as taught by Serge Benhayon to be a beautiful, simple and practical tool to stop the busyness that I can feel during my day. Breathing gently brings me back to me and my natural settled way of being.
How beautifully this is written and I can so relate to what you have written Rachel, but in my case the word is NOISE. I always felt this noise everywhere, in my head, in my body like a constant bombardment. Noise, Rush, Busy, Busy…. ouch. Since meeting Serge Benhayon it has been like turning down the volume and the noise has become less and less and my body has started to feel harmonious and gorgeous rather than agitated. The fun thing I have noticed is that the quieter I become in myself the MORE I actually do and achieve and the more energy I naturally have!
Beautifull to read. I can so relate to this “New Age Music, self-help books, the works… but nothing helped. In fact most of these things made me more uptight, on edge and wound up” .. it is so true. Que .. Serge Benhayon and then I noticed a change in me also, I re-connected back to myself and as you say, settled.
Thank you Rachel, I could really feel that drive and perpetual motion from reading your writing and I remember how horrible it felt to be like this. A pretty crazy way to live. The Gentle Breath Meditation has helped me a lot too. It is so simple. And accepting that the quality that I am in while doing something is the key to a successful and enjoyable day.
Great blog Rachel. I can certainly relate to that feeling of being in constant motion and existing on caffeine and sugar. I was so caught up in the constant motion that I doubt I would have ever worked it out and that it took someone, Serge Benhayon, to come along, and show me I needed to stop. I love your last paragraph, it sums us ‘humans’ up very well.
Thank you Rachel I really enjoyed reading your article. The power of the gentle breath meditation clearly shown. I too have found it has helped me immensely in finding my own way back to the settled place within. As I build and when I am with this place there is flow to what I do, and I get more done without effort.
It felt like your blog was written for me, I am very familiar with pushing and driving and it feels such a relief to ‘come to rest in one place’ as you beautifully describe.
A great example of how powerful and simple the tools that Universal Medicine present are. That reconnection within, to our place of rest is priceless.
Rachel, I got chills at the end where you find that with gentle breath mediation, you could feel settled…after all that going and spinning!
All the “successes” you had created couldn’t feel like true success without a sense of peace, nor could it be sustainable as the body breaks down under that kind of stress.
You have found true success and I just know that the effect you have on everyone around you now is a positive one. Beautiful.
Hi Rachel, I felt how you described at the beginning of your article this morning. Reading your article has brought some clarity and I am now feeling more “settled”. Thank you.
People used to ask me “when are you going to settle down “alluding to my frequent house moves and not being in a relationship.
Since hearing Serge Benhayon’s words “honouring my inner-most loving essence” and regularly practising ‘gentle breath meditation’, I have found that still place within me that “was there all the time”.
I feel ‘settled’ with me, house moves/relationships do not affect that love.
It is inspiring that such a still and gentle act can be so transforming.
Like you Rachel – there was a time when I saw Universal Medicine as ‘new age for the old age’ – after watching my parents seek for something more in life.
But since attending the workshops, and doing something as simple as the gentle breath exercise, I can honestly say that it has been the one thing that has really annoyed my mind.
And that’s because I had become used to giving my mind so much dominance over my body.
More and more I feel a balance in my mind and body as I listen to my body more and more.
It is a totally different way of living than before, but at the same time, so wonderfully familiar.
Hi Rachel, I have just re-read your blog – and it was beautiful to feel the sense of how “That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way”. That place is there all the time, if I choose to stop and feel it.
I have found the gentle breath meditation taught by Serge Benhayon a great tool to use. It helps me to first physically stop and then it start to reduce and often bring to a halt the anxiousness buzzing around inside of me.
Hi Rachel I felt completely exhausted reading about your earlier life of motion! So to come from that to a still place inside is quite something. I love your ending ‘That place of rest, the place where I felt settled was inside me; it had been there all the time, I had simply lost my way.’ The feeling of stillness in this line is palpable.
It is a amazing the power our own breath has to slow us down. It is easy to get put off meditation by all the “hippy trippy new agey” stuff you talk about. But in truth it is very simple to breathe gently in and out of our nose and what a difference it can make to how we feel.
Yes, Stephen, I was feeling quite anxious this morning but after reading this article and breathing gently, I feel much more “settled”.
This blog really resonates deeply in me as I realise that I have been living in anxiety and nervous energy most of my life at school, university and then work wanting to be perfect all the time. It drains you, takes the Joy out of life and leaves you exhausted. Thank you Rachel.
Thank you Rachel, your blog really resonates with me. Being in a sort of perpetual motion and getting nowhere or really feeling satisfied is very familiar, along with
the unresolved and inescapable restlessness.
How wonderful that your express-train life-style, finally arrived at the terminus.
Reading your blog made me settle Rachel, thank you for this honest sharing. Profound. I remember the first time I attended a presentation by Serge Benhayon I was amazed how I was not looking at the watch, not thinking about what I had to do next – looking back now I was simply settled in myself, being so rushed and non-stop in my mind.
Absolutely love the ending.
What a wonderful recounting of your first experience of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, from continuous to chatter to a whisper. To find this place of stillness and return to it is a powerful and healing experience. Thank you for sharing your experience in such a frank and simple way, building awareness of how simple changes can have the potential to change your life.
After a somewhat racy day, this has been such a joy to read to remind me to stop for myself and take some ‘me time’ to breath.
Thanks Rachel, I love your blogs, I can really feel every word! Gentle breath is beautifully still… I know how perfect it is yet so many things crop up to distract me from doing it!
An awesome sharing Rachel of the power of the Gentle Breath Meditation as presented by Serge Benhayon. I remember the first time I was introduced to The Gentle Breath Meditation, and I was amazed at how I (who was usually stressed and rushed) could actually stop and feel a gentle stillness inside and then come realise that it is always there just waiting to be connected to. Super awesome.
Thank you for sharing this Rachel. I can relate to this very much and thankfully through the support of Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and the Gentle Breath Meditation I have found it is possible to become more aware of when I have disconnected from that settled place inside of me. The gentle breath meditation I find it a great simple way to re-connect to that still place inside.
It seems so easy to lose parts of yourself in different jobs, leaving segments of your attention in all different places, even when you’re resting or sleeping. It was great to read how all those little parts came back to you in that one moment. Thank you Rachel for sharing – I found it very fun reading your blog and as Bina has said above, we definitely need more healthcare professionals who speak simple.
I was feeling a bit racy and rushed, but after reading this article I feel more “settled”. thank you Rachel.
Ahhhh… a gorgeous article Rachel, I felt just the same after my first healing session, I will never forget it. And how do I feel now? Now, I feel like this more of the time, much more of the time – not all of the time, not yet, I’m working on that but I certainly feel a whole lot better most of the time. Thank you Universal Medicine.
Love this Rachel; the gentle breath meditation is such an amazing way of connecting back to ourselves, even after – as you have experienced – living with a lot of tension and motion for many years… Sometimes when I am at school and have allowed myself to become caught up in drama or become too invested in doing well in a test, when I have the chance I go to a quite space and just bring my focus back to how my breath feels through my nostrils, I find that this helps me regain clarity and go back to the place of ‘true rest’ as you have beautifully described in your blog.
I love this Rachel.”I became very aware of how completely unsettled I was and realised that this was how I felt every moment of every day, but here in this room with 50-60 other people I had no way of avoiding what was going on in my body” just goes to show that the first step is awareness and recognition of where we are at. From there the expansion of a choice is before us. Wonderful.
So true Ariana the key is simplicity. The simplicity of catching a moment and choosing to feel. I too complicate things but am building a marker of simplicity which is gradually becoming the more familiar.
Yes I agree Anne-Marie without awareness and recognition for where we are at, we are at the mercy of all the other distractions that will make sure we don’t stop and feel what is really going on. I know when I loose that awareness I start to disregard my body and everything around me. The gentle breath meditation gets me to stop and feel what I have been doing and how my body is feeling, and from there it then becomes a choice to bring deeper awareness to everything around me.
So true Alison. The Gentle Breath Meditation is an amazing support in that we choose to stop and feel as you describe. Building this stillness in my body has greatly increased my sensitivity and awareness of myself and others. The Gentle Breath Mediation is a beautiful gift to humanity.
This is beautiful Rachel, it is amazing how powerful the gentle breath is.
Hi Rachel, I love your blog as it is very easy to read and down to earth, so to speak. I love the gentle breath, it feels like life and the chaos is all happening out there but no longer in my body. Awesome.
I can really relate to the constant babble in my head and the lack of rest even when I do stop, that you describe. But what your last very powerful sentence presents Rachel, is that the place of true rest is within me, always. Thank you.
It’s amazing how powerful the gentle breath meditation is!
Rachel thank you. When Serge Benhayon first presented the concept of gentle breath to me I didn’t quite understand it. However very quickly I felt the amazing support it provides and it is an amazing tool to feel “settled” each day!
I agree Ariana, although the Gentle Breath Meditation was a new experience it felt as if it was something I had known all along and my body was remembering it and saying Thank You.
Settled: “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place” I love this, Rachel, and this is how I felt after reading this article. Thank you for sharing so simply:)
Hello Rachel Hall
I absolutely Love the style in which you write and I have been laughing out loud as I really can relate to what you are saying — the hippy trippy new agey stuff and everything else you tried, I also had a go with and Nothing worked.
I also done a runner from Serge Benhayon and it took me 6 months to come back because I did not want to admit and accept that I had lost my way.
I was like a spinning top. Physically stopping had no affect on the internal spinning – I just kept going.
I have also read other blogs you have written and find all of them deeply inspiring. Thank you from my heart Rachel, we need more doctors like you sharing and talking with simple language.
‘I was like a spinning top. Physically stopping had no affect on the internal spinning – I just kept going.’ Apt description Bina it was the constant motion of my mind that was so draining – never allowing me to relax however hard I tried. For me one of the beauty’s of the Gentle Breath Meditation is it takes the trying away and supports me to access the true beauty of stillness.
A billion percent agree – the feeling of being settled from the gentle breath mediation is like coming home.
Hi Rachel, thank you for this post. I can definitely relate to living with high levels of anxiety, raciness and the mind chatter, to the point I would lie in bed and feel a rocking motion inside my whole body. This went on for years and I got used to it, as it was there every night when I would try to sleep – I just didn’t know why it was happening.
Then like you, I attended a Serge Benhayon workshop and was taught the gentle breath meditation, which has transformed how my body feels at rest. These days I have a new marker and even the slightest motion in my body tells me how I have been living during the day.
Thank you Rachael, its reminded me of how I can get caught up in things and that there is a beauty-full and simple way to re connect back to me. You are right the stillness is always there waiting for the choice to choose it, and once that choice is made it creates a space, a space that I was not aware of before.
Reblogged this on Dr Rachel Hall and commented:
I wanted to share a recent blog I wrote about how I overcame feeling anxious in my life.
Thank you Rachel. I enjoyed reading your comment. What I also notice is not only am I more productive but I get less drained and have more energy.
A great point you make here Dr Rachel Hall about being more productive and getting lessed drained. I agree with this and today I have more energy than in my 20’s and 30’s.
This new way of living inpired by the teachings of Serge Benhayon has had a huge effect on my well-being and those that I now help through my work.
It’s an interesting one isn’t it. The more we push and rush the less we achieve. When we bring our own rhythm and go with the flow it seems so easy, more gets done and it takes less effort.
Magnificently beautiful to feel the stop. I can feel the stop you took in that very instance and it is still here alive and reverberating in your writing. It just also made me stop and feel just me in this very moment. No where to go – just breathing tenderly.
That’s beautiful Desiree. It also goes to show how our state of being affects those around us. If I’m tense, nervous or agitated people pick up on it and can start to feel that way too. If I’m settled it gives others the choice to be that.
I love this Rachel. We are determining the quality of our outer reality based on the quality in our inner reality. If that is chaotic and anxious, that is what life will be like and what the people around us will respond to, even if they are not consciously aware of it. It has taken me way too long to accept the level of responsibility this proves we all have, each and every moment, but it is beautiful also because people respond to love in the same way and this is the opportunity that is ever present with everyone we meet.
Simply love it.
Thank you Sue.
Great piece Rachel. I felt racy and on the go yesterday, driving a little too fast, walking from A to B quicker than normal, distracted, rushing my work on the computer, not really listening when people talked with me – thinking of things I needed to get to re tasks at work etc. I do not always have days like this and I felt like I was tumbling about the day like clothes being tossed about in a clothes dryer. The craziest thing is that I know how settling it is to stop and breathe gently through my nose but I didn’t think to stop yesterday. I have however reflected on my day and it feels like I am being asked to settle a little deeper into my own body. In deepening what I know is there, that is no talking mind, no restlessness, the body deeply resting and becoming still. So if I am to become more familiar with this feeling then more of the restlessness, raciness and chatter in the head needs to come out. So being inside of ourselves, re-connecting to this place is like a deep well. We are continually developing this connection so that it becomes deeper and deeper.
When I get out of pace with myself I become racy and agitated, I can’t think clearly and I doubt myself. The moment I stop and bring myself back into my natural rhythm a sense of ease fills my body and I know exactly what needs to be done and how. Time seems to slow down and things fall into place. Stopping allows me to be in charge of myself instead of the world or circumstances controlling me. Thank you for sharing your experiences Sally
I can totally relate to what you have written Rachel. Even with the increased awareness I now have, the second I get ahead of myself the raciness sneaks in. But as you wrote so beautifully, when you stop and come back to you, “Time seems to slow down and things fall into place”. I love those moments; moments when I realise that there is plenty of time and space to do all that needs to be done, it’s simply about doing it with me.
Rachel your last sentence is very power-full, I too have discovered all that I sought outside of myself actually lives within me and is forever waiting to be ignited and expanded by me.
By stopping I get to feel and know who I am. When I allow myself a moment to close my eyes, breathe gently the answers I was looking for come – because they were there the whole time.
I agree Toni, I too have been looking outside for decades for what I had inside me all along. Deep revelation.
Thank you for expressing this Ariana. I am on holiday at the moment and I am realising that I don’t have to be at home to feel settled.