Living is as easy as breathing… as easy as choosing your breath in each and every moment. As easy as choosing to make that next breath gentle.
Our breath is our life, without it we die.
Yet we take our breath for granted; we breathe in and out mechanically without thought or awareness of our breath or how we are breathing.
How We Breathe
As a dentist I am very aware of how people breathe. I observe how my patients are breathing as it gives me clues to their health, how they are feeling or how they are coping with their treatment. From hyperventilating to breath holding, shallow breathing to deep sucking in lungfuls of oxygen, nose breathing, mouth breathing, wheezing, gasping… there are so many different ways of breathing and I feel I have seen them all.
We breathe on average 1700 to 2100 times a day. That is a lot of in and out, air passing through our nose and lungs and into our circulation. A lot of breathing muscles and chest walls expanding and contracting, rising and falling.
Studies show that the way we breathe affects our nervous system, hormone production, fight-flight response, stress levels, heart beat and rate, blood pressure and digestion.
There are times when situations or our emotions alter how we breathe, just like when we feel stressed or anxious, angry, upset, frustrated, afraid, excited, happy, calm, loved or when we sleep. In these circumstances what is happening to us is dictating how we react, our breathing, and ultimately our physiology and biochemistry.
Choosing How To Breathe
But what if we could choose to breathe in a way that would allow us to feel in control of life rather than life controlling us?
What if we could choose a breath that would allow us to connect to who we are, breathe for ourselves and remain unaffected by the world and what is happening outside of us?
What if we could use our breath to become aware of how we are feeling, what is happening in our body and to become more in touch with ourselves?
Well guess what? – we can, it is as easy as breathing… well, as easy as choosing how to breathe.
As easy as choosing to breathe for yourself. As easy as breathing gently in and out through your nose. As easy as watching and observing your breath as often as you can during the day. And as easy as stopping and bringing yourself back to that gentle breath.
Breathing Gently
Breathing gently in and out through the nose, as taught in the Gentle Breath Meditation™ by Serge Benhayon, has allowed thousands to be more at one with themselves, to be in charge of their breath and how their body feels.
For me it has allowed me to feel settled inside and at ease. I feel less rushed, pressured and dictated to by external events and other people. I feel healthier, less emotional, less stressed and as if I have more time in my day. I also notice, especially at work, how maintaining my rhythm and gentleness of breathing allows my patients and team members to also be more at ease. (Which as you can imagine is a blessing in a highly charged environment like the dental office!).
By taking that choice to breathe gently to a deeper place and choosing to breathe fully for me I have found that I know exactly what is needed and when; from knowing what to do or say to making big decisions and simple choices like when to rest, eat, exercise, work or sleep.
Breathing gently allows me to connect to me and from that connection make a choice rather than reacting to events, people or emotions. Breathing gently puts me back in charge of me.
When I breathe fully for me I become exquisitely aware of how I am feeling or reacting and also of how others feel, what they are projecting or needing. My breathing becomes like a fine tuning system allowing my sixth sense of feeling to kick in at a higher level. Living becomes clearer, richer and simpler. I feel like I am truly living, not just existing and being dictated to by life.
Living is as easy as breathing… as easy as choosing your breath in each and every moment. As easy as choosing to make that next breath gentle.
The Gentle Breath Meditation™, as taught by Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine – a meditation for health and vitality.
by Dr Rachel Hall, Holistic Dentist, Brisbane
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Focusing on the breath: such a simple technique that brings us back into our body, back into connection and out of the head-spin. The more I practice this, the more I appreciate the benefits that it brings to my whole body, sense of connection, and stillness.
It’s just unfathomably amazing our body knows how to breathe and it keeps breathing, just like our heart keeps beating, and all other cells in our body know where to be and what to do. Just unthinkable. And with the way we currently live our life, we seem to keep finding ways to interfere with its design and rhythm. We talk often about the quality of air we breathe, but seldom the way we breathe and its quality. Even just a physiological point of view it is quite obvious breathing is what sets our body up in movement. Choosing how we want to do it, and bringing our mind into the equation to become the conscious part of it is something definitely worth investigating and putting into practice.
When we connect to our breath we learn of the power that our every breath holds, as we feel the richness of our union to ourselves, our Soul, with the Divine, with God. We realise that this union can be lived through our every breath. It is through our every breath that we can discover and connect to who we are within, through which the Fiery-light of our Soul can be lived through our bodies bringing the lightness of Heaven to earth through our every move.
Becoming more aware of what it feels like to breathe gently totally changes how we are with ourselves. Our bodies feel more expansive, spacious and light, and there is more space between us and our thoughts, the shoulds and the ought tos.. we can start to see these things as additional layers that aren’t part of the core of who we are, and let them go. It’s actually quite amazing how something as simple as breathing gently can release a huge amount of pressure and expectations we put upon ourselves.
Love this blog Rachel as it is a gorgeous reminder to bring quality into everything we do – it’s the quality not the quantity that makes the real difference.
Beautiful to re-read your blog Rachel. “Living is as easy as breathing… as easy as choosing your breath in each and every moment. As easy as choosing to make that next breath gentle.” So true. I love sharing the gentle breath meditation and get that opportunity every week in my current volunteering role.
“Our breath is our life, without it we die.” And how we breathe affects how we live. The Gentle Breath Meditation as presented by Serge Benhayon is the key to breathing your own breath.
It is so true Rachel, our breathing is something that most of us don’t even think about, that is until something goes wrong causing our breathing to be compromised and finally becoming the focus of our attention. How wonderful to have such a simple technique as the Gentle Breath Meditation that helps to bring our awareness back to us, our body and how we are feeling in that moment, and committed to regularly can make such a huge difference in the overall quality of our lives.
Such a simple tool, to decide how we breathe, which brings profound change to our life if we give it attention and credit every now and then, and not just let it happen according to the situation we are in.
Thank you for the inspiration to acknowledge that I breathe today!
We really do take our breath for granted. I love how much you’ve exposed this here Rachael. If you use it as a tool for understanding where your patients are at, then there is absolutely no reason we can’t all be aware of our own breath to determine how we are feeling ourselves. It sounds so simple, in fact, I know that it is simple. The choice to want to know how we are doing, to get really real about what’s going on, that can be the challenging part.
‘Studies show that the way we breathe affects our nervous system, hormone production, fight-flight response, stress levels, heart beat and rate, blood pressure and digestion’ and yet we are not taught how to breathe. To be honest as an adult looking back on my school years I would of much rather been taught how to breath and take care of my human body, and be prepared how to live in the real world than of had the many lessons I had with the likes of algebra and trigonometry that I have never and will never use in my real everyday life and workplace today.
Thanks for the reminder that I can choose to breathe in a way that allows me to feel in control of life rather than life controlling me – by discerning my breathing as often as I can during the day. So simple, yet with profound benefits.
Thank you Rachel for expressing so powerfully the amazing effects that choosing to breathe gently has on our lives and those around us. As I have built a deeper connection with me I have a solidness within that is not swayed by what is going on around me (most of the time) and allows me to choose in the moment what is the next loving thing for me to do. This has totally transformed my life and the constant stress and anxiety that perpetually ran through my body is a thing of the past and my life is much more joyful and productive and it all started by becoming aware of how I breathe in and out.
When life feels complex bring it back to simplicity and what is more simple that connecting with the basic necessity of life, even more important than water. Our breath, thank you for the short introduction into the gentle breath Rachel.
Our breath – something so important and yet we take it for granted. And more important is HOW we breathe. Thank you Rachel for sharing that how we breathe can affect our health, our relationships, our perception, etc. as well as reveal our state of being.
Excuse the pun, but this blog is a breath of fresh air, I have never read something so dedicated to a subject that most of us take so much for granted. How important is breathing for without it we die and by learning to constantly do it in a gentle way through the nose can so greatly improve our health with alll the benefits it brings.
“Living is as easy as breathing… as easy as choosing your breath in each and every moment. As easy as choosing to make that next breath gentle.” Absolutely Rachel, life can become a very simple choice that we get in any moment of every day. What an opportunity, no matter where we find ourselves, to keep coming back to the simplicity of ‘I choose this now’.
Thank you Rachel,
I really enjoyed reading your article and the feeling of calm and stillness that comes from inside of me when I too choose to breath gently. I love how you say that by breathing gently you are putting you back in charge of your life. I had not thought of breathing gently as doing this specifically for myself, but it so does. I greatly appreciate this awareness.
Beautiful Rachel, on the power and simplicity of our breath. From trying the gentle breath meditation I have come much more aware of how I hold my body in tension. When I’m trying to control life and situations, I can feel a tightness and tension in my arms, back and shoulders, everywhere really, and always in the apprehension of ‘how is this going to go next’. Through breathing gently and staying with myself, I am able to let go of the control (which is a futile concept anyway) of the situation, and rather just stay myself, and not allow any any situation control me. It is easier to remain unaffected and clear to know what is needed next. This has been a revelation in the unfolding.
Beautifully Said Annie,
Today has been a day where I found that I could simply be me and when I found myself going into tension, to control, or to defend, it was felt immediately and the choice to drop and be still with myself was easy to choose. What a blessing of gigantic proportions. The feeling of claiming me, how I feel and my life was so very strong. There was an innate feeling of deep trust in myself and what I choose to do.
Rachel I too have found the Gentle Breath meditation, life changing as I was once so unaware of how I was holding my breath when nervous or lost in conversation with another, I became aware that I was not breathing in the rhythm of my own breath I was breathing in another’s breath therefore taking on their energy and completely disconnecting from my body. The way we breath has the potential to harm or heal and this became key to return back to my own gentle breath, so simple.
When so many are looking for solutions outside of themselves, it is awesome to know that something as simple as how we breathe can have such a profound influence over every part of our lives!
So true Carmin. It is awesome to realise that through our every breath we can know everything and more than anything that we seek in the world outside ourselves. For when we connect to our breath, our bodies and our essence within we are connected to an intelligence that is out of this world.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is an amazing tool that supports me to re-connect when I feel out of sorts. To breathe with awareness and gentleness is so simple yet very power-full.
An awesome reminder Helen of the power we have to stay with ourselves and how we can choose the quality of our being – unaffected by whatever is going on around us. truly empowering. Holding this quality allows us to stay more aware and observe situations rather than going into reaction. It is not always easy to remain unaffected by the world, but connecting to our breath and choosing the quality of how we breathe is a powerful tool to stay in the quality we choose to live and be in.
A brilliant and insightful blog. Thank for highlighting how essential our breath is to us all, equally, by bringing detail to the mechanics and effects that breathing has on us. And that the quality in which we breathe is reflective of the quality in which we live our lives. And even more empowering that we can choose how we want to breathe which in turn determines the quality in which we live our lives. Very inspiring Rachel – thank you.
Wow Rachel after I have read your awesome blog the only thing I wanted to do is to learn this gentle breathing. Thank you so much for such an inspirational sharing.
I loved your blog Rachael, most of my life I have breathed very quietly and would often hold my breath all because I did not want to be seen. Since being introduced to the gentle breath I have come to feel parts of me that I never knew were there, feeling my whole body and connecting to the love that I am. Amazing and truly powerful. Now and again when I am aware of holding my breath, I ask myself what is it that I don’t want to feel? and then come back to breathing me.
A beautiful blog that shows the importance of breathing- what amazing effects it can have are truly miraculous. When I am aware of my breath, I just can´t be emotional, it is not possible. Thank you for reminding me, being aware of it in every moment.
Thank you Rachel, a great reminder of the importance of choosing our own gentle breath, rather than for instance constantly breathing a situation that happened earlier on in the day, which keeps our body holding that frustration too. Simply returning to our own gentle breath helps to release the body, and by breathing our own breath we are not then held to ransom as to what is going on outside of us.
So true Sally ‘by breathing our own breath we are not then held to ransom as to what is going on outside of us.’ I always tended to be like a sponge absorbing every emotion around me and reacting to situations rather than coming from the steadiness of being centred that breathing gently has allowed me to experience. Even though I can still fall back into absorbing I am much more able to recognise it and know that I have a choice in any moment to cut this and gently return to breathing gently.
Well, this should be an article on every household fridge…a gentle reminder every day on how to breathe. I love how you emphasise that the way we breathe determines whether we feel in control of life or at the mercy of what seems to come our way, like life has control over us! This has been my experience with the Gentle Breath Meditation. Rather than feeling like I am scrambling trying to keep up with everything, I feel completely settled, in my body and ready for whatever is next…
Super aweseome and educational article. I loved what you wrote about breathing in a way that allows us to feel like you are truly living and in control of your life and not like life is controlling you. The latter seems the norm, yet the former so empowering and deeply inspiring, and such a simple choice.
What a fabulous blog! I really appreciated the exploration of breath and how it affects our health and ability to cope with life. As you point out, we breathe many times a day, so choosing how we breath has many implications across all facets of our life. I’ve found the Gentle Breath Meditation the only meditation that truly connects me to me. When I found the GBM, although it is a model of simplicity I could not instantly master the gentleness of breath because of how my patterns of breathing were – anything but gentle, probably very stressed and in reaction to life. Now it’s easy to breath gently and it is something I am remembering to do more throughout my day. I notice my breath in general is a marker for how I am truly feeling – stressed, scared, anxious etc and being conscious of this and choosing the gentle breath when I’m in reaction is very nurturing for the body. The gentle breath is the new rhythm for my lungs!
The gentle breathing is a wonderful tool to feel and delve into our innate beauty. It is a stop moment that allows us to reconnect and to experience our amazingness. Life ceases to be what it was.
Gorgeous thank you Rachel
“Breathing gently puts me back in charge of me”. Says it all really. This blog is a lovely reminder that it is a choice how we will breathe our next breath.
Simply beautiful Rachel.
Just by reading this blog I felt myself truly connect and the space it allows in our bodies by choosing that next gentle breath to be gentle. I also find by allowing gentle breathing I become so aware of my body and any areas of tension and can then let go of them. Sometimes I don’t allow myself time to do this but when I do it is beautiful and my day flows better. Thanks Rachel.
The Gentle Breath technique is quite magical really. Sometimes when I practice it in a quiet, still moment I feel quite connected ~ not only to myself but to my place in the macrocosm!
A deep truth spoken, thankyou Rachel (:
Rachel, I’m slowly learning this that who I am at any point in time is basically a reflection of the way in which I breathe. This is something I feel is a science in itself and perhaps from a philosophical point of view it might inspire us to ponder on why this is so but for me right now it’s more beneficial to practice this on a day to day basis. Universal Medicine has lots of these meditations on http://www.unimedliving.com/meditation and I can really recommend them, simple and down to earth.
I really enjoyed reading this practical and supportive blog. I particularly liked your description concerning how much you had picked up on how your patients breathe when they are being treated. I also appreciated how you bring life back to the breath and how supportive it is and how it can ‘settle’ us if we are feeling anxious or busy-headed, as you said it can have a big effect on how the body functions.
A great description of the benefits of the Gentle Breath Meditation which I have personally have found so beneficial By bringing it into my daily rhythm it has enabled me to stay much more focused and present with a calm steadiness in my daily living.
A great topic to address Rachel, thank you. It really is a profound thing, the changes that can be felt through being more aware of our breath, and how we choose it to be.
All those decisions we frantically think we have to make and all we really have to do is choose to breathe gently. How beautiful. Learning the ‘gentle breath’ has been life changing as I now have a way to deal with stressful situations, slow down, re-connect and the stress just becomes a choice to be made.
I absolutely love this blog!! It is profound in its simplicity and common sense. We do take breathing for granted and is often something we don’t think about. It was only until I took part in Universal Medicine presentations and learned the “gentle breath” mediation myself that I began to take notice of the quality of my breathing in any given moment. It has had such a profound effect on my life and has also given me the feeling of being settled in myself. When considering the internal angst and nervousness I was living in I consider it to be quite a miracle.
Rachel, I spent quiet a lot of my life not being able to breathe properly through my
nose as a result of some accident or knock as a child. It wasn’t until I had an operation
in my forties, that I could really appreciate that feeling of cool air through the nostrils
that seems to bring clarity to everything.
With breathing being an involuntary act it is easy to dismiss the powerful difference it can make to your health, so to make it a conscious act where we control how we breathe is something I have found to be very powerful. With so much stress and anxiety in our world the more tools we can use to support us the better, and what better way than supporting ourselves through gentle breath.
As I started to read this I paused to take notice of my own breathing and continued to while reading. Through breathing gently I find my mind has a focus that is with me right in that moment rather then off on tasks, futures or pasts. My eyes can tell me where I am in the world but my breath can tell me where my inner world is – How I feel at any moment. What I am learning currently is that I can breath gently anywhere, not just in my seat but at work, on the train etc.
Hi Rachel,
My experience of the Gentle Breath Meditation is very much similar to yours – it puts me back in my own driving seat. It’s an amazing opportunity to stop and pause. In doing that I find my body is able to speak to me very clearly. After the stop and pause – the gentle breath really helps me to deepen that “conversation” I’m able to have with my body – and it will speak in more and more detail.
Really cool stuff, thanks for sharing!
Cheryl
I love this Cheryl ‘the gentle breath really helps me to deepen that “conversation” I’m able to have with my body – and it will speak in more and more detail.’ The more I am open to breathing gently the more is revealed to me and this is so empowering after so long of feeling overwhelmed and that life is dictating to me, which is was until I made the conscious choice to breathe in and out gently and change everything.
The Gentle Breath Meditation stopped me in my tracks the first time I experienced it. It showed me how far from the real me I had been living. What’s beautiful now is I don’t have to always stop and meditate I simply can choose to breath gently and then everything that I do from cooking, cleaning, working, walking etc IS my meditation.
No need to retreat to a cave for 10 years – the opportunity to reconnect is there in everything we do, and the breath is such a simple access point. Thanks for the reminder Rachel.
That’s approximately 766,500 breaths per year that are either dictating to you or being chosen by you. This shows how important it is to be aware of the breath and the body. Knowing that you can choose how to breathe and that it indeed can make a profound difference to your state of being and state of mind is empowering. Breathing gently has allowed me and 1000’s of others to be more in charge of their body and their feelings.
Thank you Rachel, an awesome blog! I too have noticed the benefits from choosing to breathe gently by adding it to my morning and evening routine. What I love about your blog is that it has highlighted to me that we have this amazing opportunity throughout the day to choose to reconnect and it’s all at the tip of our noses! Thank you for the great reminder.
Until I was introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation by Serge Benhayon I thought breathing was part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and happened whether I thought about it or not. Most of us discover in childhood that the body eventually takes over if we try to hold our breath too long.
An item I found in a Google search said that Autonomic implies “independent” of the conscious mind and likened the breath to the lead horse that the team then follows….
People rarely realise that they are in charge of the quality of their breath and that we can choose which ‘lead’ we will follow. My life has changed so much for the better since I have chosen to check where my breath is. Is it gentle or am I breathing the emotions and/or situation I have let myself get caught up in? It has been so freeing to realise I am in charge and lead where my breath will go – which then decides the quality of life I enjoy.
This is an important note Judith – that we are in charge of the quality of our breath.
I truly enjoyed receiving what here has been shared. For Me this is the foundation for all that follows.
“Living is as easy as breathing… as easy as choosing your breath in each and every moment. As easy as choosing to make that next breath gentle.” Thank you Rachel for presenting the honest simplicity of how we are able to take responsibility for ourselves. This simple technique has revealed so much more to me and how I am, than anything I have encountered. Breathing is essential to life and observing how we are breathing and choosing to breath gently is key to how we express thereafter. Very empowering. “Breathing gently puts me back in charge of me.” Awesome blog Rachel.
So beautifully expressed, thank you Rachel. The Gentle Breath Meditation is such a simple and powerful tool and one that has supported me to make huge changes in my life and continues to do so, simply by enabling me to rediscover my gentle and calm nature again. How amazing to have that in a Dental practice, in a place traditionally regarded as a very stressful environment, WOW!
Thank you Rachel for a simple and wonderful post showing how we breathe can help us really ‘live’ our life in gentleness and harmony. I love the feeling of gentleness through my whole body when I breathe this way. It is just a matter of choice…a choice of love for me to be this way. It is interesting to notice that if I don’t consciously choose this then the breath can change to suit that which is happening around me but is not me.
Thanks for this simple sharing, that can inspire so many. I will be sharing this for sure!
Thank you Rosie, simple yet very powerful.
I Love this Blog Rachel. It explains how something as simple as choosing to breath gently can change your life, awesome.
It also shows how much command we can have over the body simply by choosing to be aware of our breath, how we are breathing and then choosing to make our breath what we want it to be.
Thank you Rachel for reminding us of how important, simple and precious it is to choose our own breath. I am reminded of all these sayings we have in our language such as “it took my breath away” – so we know this happens. Since you wrote your blog Unimed Living has launched and offers a whole library of free Gentle Breath Meditations and content that support and provide practical tools to implement what you and others have shared here.
Thank you Nicola, that was breathtaking! 🙂
Thank you Rachel for this reminder to be aware of my breathing in every moment. I will be choosing gentleness today in relation to how I breathe.
It’s a great reminder Sally, not only to breathe, but to be aware of the quality in which we breathe. The Gentle Breathe Meditation is a great tool to observe the quality of our breathe and the quality of how we are in life.
Very exquisite in simplicity and humbleness. I’ve been doing this meditation for years and years. And I can now honestly say – because I know when I’m connected to me and when not – that this has been the most amazing technique to find the real me. When I started I thought that I was close to me, now years later I can tell that I was in such an arrogance… Thank you for this amazing blog. That so many may be inspired.