Hello humanity, we need to talk about your breath. I know it’s a touchy subject and I’m not trying to embarrass you, in fact, I wouldn’t mention it at all unless I felt it was super important. This is the type of thing that only a true friend would bring up, so here goes.
For a long while now I have noticed how you breathe. At times it’s heavy, at times racy, at times calm, but the majority of the time it changes in reaction to what is going on around you. You watch a scary movie and it races, you push yourself on the sports field and it gets heavy, you sit with a mantra and it changes again.
Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm. This is super significant because it is usually something that goes unnoticed for much of the day but has a dramatic effect on how you experience that day.
Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first? Try it – think of something joyful and notice your breath, then think of something sad and feel if it changes.
People seem to be affected by the world in different ways but the impact on our breath appears to be similar. Most people breathe in reaction to the world.
But it stands to reason that if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world. Crazy concept I know, but it’s something worth exploring.
The word meditation comes up a lot at the moment, with people looking for another way of being with themselves and life. Yet there are so many meditation techniques around that don’t return the breath to you but rather continue the model of changing your breath based on what is around you… You can listen to tinkling music or do a guided journey to help calm you. These ‘seem’ to work and you may feel better compared to how you felt before you sat down to meditate, but aren’t they simply following the model of getting you to respond to a different external stimulus?
I know you’ve grown pretty attached to a few of those techniques, but is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you?
The secret is to start as you intend to finish. If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you. It is that inner focus where the most significant distinction lives. We can try to still the mind by focussing on the mind, or we can still the mind by bringing its focus in line with the movement of the body. If we are focussing solely on our mind, we are not truly bringing more presence to our lives. The mind is fed information from the body, so the true source of awareness and point of presence is the body.
Your breath is precious and how you choose to breathe can have a huge effect on your inner quality, so this is not trying to discourage you in any way: I am just checking in to see if what you are trying is really working.
In my experience of meditation, it doesn’t need to take that long to be meaningful. It simply needs to come from you and connect you to you. The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.
Connecting you back to you needs to start with something that connects you back to you.
The Gentle Breath Meditation™ has been something that I have found supports my connection to me. It looks and sounds like other meditations but the reality is that it is vastly different.
We can talk later about why it might be different, if you want to know more, but for now, listen to these free Gentle Breath Meditation™ audios and see how you go.
5 – 10 minutes a day is all you need. I would suggest trying it for a week to see what you notice.
By Joel Levin
Related Reading:
Gentle Breath Meditation in Daily Life
Our Breath as a Tool of Connection
Living is as Easy as Breathing
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
“ Most people breathe in reaction to the world” a simple and wonderful statement that, when really understood, cannot help but change our relationship with life.
As always as soon as I read the first sentence of this blog I knew who had written it… Our wonderful scribe from the West. My first reaction was… Yes humanity especially when you eat too much garlic… But then I went deeper ☺, and for me this is one of the most wonderful relationships that we can develop… There is so much we can learn feel and appreciate about our breath, its rhythm its flow its stillness and its radiance within our body.
Pretty cool subject, how each breath we take has an effect, not to mention, if we “read” our breath, we can feel if we are breathing for us or responding to the world around us. This certainly makes your ears prick up and although I have deeply appreciated the meditations, I have never committed to a little breathe program like what you are suggesting in this blog, I think I might just take up the challenge.
I’m feeling a little anxious this morning about a conversation I need to have. I’m bringing it back to my breath. Thanks Joel.
What I so love about the Gentle Breath Meditation is that it is simply about coming back to who we are. And then taking this out and living this in the world. I often hear about people who meditate for hours or imagining they are somewhere else, but as is shared here, is that not just taking us away from humanity and ourselves in a different way?
I had this yesterday Alison, something unsettled me a bit and I could feel I was out of kilter, a short walk focussing on my breath and balance restored. The Gentle Breath Meditation is such a great tool for life, for living me, staying with me, settled in my body, breathing my own breath.
“If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.”
Totally on point here Joel. I have tried so many tips and tricks to bring in more mindfulness, stillness, peace etc…and none of them lasting because I was looking for the trigger outside of me and when I had it worked, when I didn’t, it didn’t.
But connecting to what lies naturally within, then yes that is 24/7 and the power remains within you
It is so much easier to observe life when we feel in rhythm with our breath.
How I’m breathing makes a notable difference to how my body feels. My body can be light and fluid when I am connected to my own gentle breath or tight and restricting when I’m taking in and breathing what is around me.
‘Connecting you back to you needs to start with something that connects you back to you.’ yes Joel and in my experience the Gentle Breath Meditation does this. What a great place to start, something so simple.
Thank you Joel, for sharing the power of true meditation and the way it allows us to connect to that which lives within us all equally and is a reflection of the divinity around us, it is in the simplicity of the gentle breath meditation that we can return to what is true in us all.
A beautiful marker for us all (humanity) to start breathing our own breath and start to make way for a love to be lived that starts with breathing it first. Love it !
Breathing is a movement we’re making 24/7 and so the quality or rhythm of our breath has to be having a big impact on the whole of our body and being. The Gentle Breath Meditation gives us a very simple way of re-connecting with the way we are breathing and bringing it back to our true rhythm rather than breathing our emotional issues/ reactions or upsets…
The danger of the plethora of meditations out there now is the fact they promote calmness but not true gentleness. Whilst it feels great does it feel true? We have to make sure we are not settling for less.
One of the loveliest things to feel is the way our breath feels throughout our whole body, when we stop to breath and to feel. I know I have ignored or forgotten it a lot of the time and when I am in this space, I can ignore or override how I am being affected by my every day. Observing my breath is one of the best ways I know to check in with myself during my day, to see how I am travelling and if I am being affect by life or whether I remain connected to a quality that is holding steady during my day.
After breath comes water and then food all of which are necessary to maintain life. So much focus has been placed on our breath, which is at this plain of existence is something that needs our attention. Could it be that we are moving away from the truth of who we are so distractions and the way we breath and what we drink or eat keep us in the illusion that we can make this a better life?
Finding a place that shares so much about our whole body intelligence and who we are and where we are going lifts the lid of the pot so it becomes easier to see through the illusion and find our way back to our most divine connection. Finding the balance between how we breath, the fluids we consume and what we eat has never been a dictation but we need to simply listen to our body so “if the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” Then no matter what we are doing as you have shared Joel – “Connecting you back to you needs to start with something that connects you back to you.” So every movement especially when it comes to our breath, drinking and food play an important roll in us remaining connected so “the power remains with you.”
It is important not to take our breath for granted – to keep our awareness of how our breath feels in our body and how that connects us.
Of your many articles Joel, this is extremely beautiful, and is a letter that humanity really must read at some stage… Thank you again.
One of the most simple and basic movements, breathing our own breath and to not connect to the power that this holds is very common. Once I was introduced to The Gentle Breath Meditation I realised how I had lived my life up to that point by breathing in what is going on around me and totally disconnected to my own breath. Being aware of the quality of breath we are taking and how essential this is I have found super Empowering.
I provided a space at work the other day for my team to do the Gentle Breath Meditation. They embraced it and welcomed it. The whole team became really still, and the quality in the room changed. They took stillness and gentleness into their day. It makes such a difference to the whole day when we start in this way.
‘The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.’ Before I experienced the gentle breath meditation I had no idea that meditation could support you to connect to your body and to live this connection in life. All the previous meditation techniques I had explored were focused on how long you could sit and how much you could still your mind, there was no focus on being in the body. The gentle breath meditation changed my life dramatically within a short space of time whereas nothing really changed in the twenty or so years with all the other meditation techniques.
There (is) a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you?” This is so true. When we want to feel better it is often about wanting to have relief from a situation whereas when we feel ourselves everything feels great, irrespective of the situation.
The question is who are we if we are not breathing our own breath? I feel we are either breathing our own breath and moving in our own rhythm or we are or breathing in the world and moving to the dictates of the energy around us.
The beauty of honouring our breath its importance with our connection to ourselves, expansiveness and depth of honouring and quality is second to none in its vitality and stillness it allows us to feel and live.
The understanding of how important the quality of my breath is in how I experience life to be is one of the many gifts I have received through the work of Serge Benhayon.
Inspired by this blog, I went all the way back to the audio that was “An Introduction to the Gentle Breath Meditation”. 20 minutes of the most simple, yet the most powerful game-changing gold for all of humanity. I have decided to gently work my way through all these audios. Over and over.
“but is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you?” Is it possible that because of the extremely low base level of the world’s true health and vitality, it is therefore very easy for us to sell ourselves to something that makes us feel better. The desire for relief and the short term feeling of relief, can very easily fool us. It is vital that we discern when we come across something that appears ‘better’.
It is a beautiful opportunity, when we are given the space to consider the quality of our breath. Thank you Joel.
When you were young, did you listen to your parent? When they said it’s time to pack up, did you do so? Or did you play up and carry on? So many of us it seems, just ignored them and pushed the boundaries until trouble came. And so it seems that we still live the same way today. When we are shown that stillness, grace, power and health all flow from the gentleness and beauty of our breath, do we heed this call? Or do we ignore and push on acting just as before? You’d think that we would want a truly rich life and adjust our behaviour to match. But as you show Joel it doesn’t usually work out this way. To return to the true riches we have inside requires some discipline and loving dedication but wow what can come if it is done.
So super important and super lovely to be reminded to ‘breathe our own breath’ and stay connected the truth of who we are.
The gentle breath is the first encounter we can have into a way of life that is simple, reaction-free and truly loving. Perhaps it is too simple for some to accept but it is totally worth it. It’s basically a free, easy and simple way of beating anxiety.
The gentle breath meditation is the only meditation that allowed me to feel the level of exhaustion I was living with and in the early days it would make me nod off to sleep.
I had this too Fiona, but the more I did The Gentle Breath Meditation consistently the more my breath changed and became gentle consistently over time the exhaustion disappeared and then I began to feel more and more energised. It is powerful in it’s simplicity.
Registering the fact of my breath, connecting to it… and coming back to it with a focus on its gentle quality has breathed new life and vitality into me.
Simple and life changing. All my life I’ve tried to control the world around me in my attempt to have a world that feels still so I could feel that sense of stillness within that I knew was possible. But in trying to control I triggered great reactions in others, great force in trying to make things happen and I got exhausted and frustrated and checked out form life being too difficult. So, there is still a little bit of me that is incredulous that it is possible, but I am finding it is very possible to be in all sorts of situations where connection with my breath and my body first allows me to stay connected and still and do what is there to be done, but it’s in this quality that is me.
‘The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.’ and that is what is so beneficial from the Gentle Breath Meditation as it supports the building and holding of this connection.
Simply reading the title of your article Joel brings an awareness to the breath, an nourishing inward movement.
I notice when someone is angry, their breath is short, sharp and fast. By shifting our breath to be gentle, we can reconnect back to ourselves where we don’t give our power away to anger or other emotions.
Especially in exams and tightly timed activities, focusing on our breathing helps to create a rhythm in our movements and is a great reminder that we are not defined by what’s on the exam paper, or that we need to stress.
It is so empowering to really appreciate the power of our breath, to choose to breathe for yourself and not be manipulated by emotions and circumstances.
The quality of our breath sets the foundation to bring our body and being into union.
I love how the word inspire is related to breath. What are we inspiring – inhaling – when we breath. Are we breathing our own connected breath .. or the breath of worldly dilemmas.
I love how you bring it back to the fundamental truth that our breath is precious. When we do reconnect back to our own breath it is something we can call on at any time to reconnect back to ourselves. Being with the tender ebb and flow or our lungs breathing in and out in our own rhythm is deeply settling – and we realise that deep settlement comes from going inwards to knowing ourselves again, and not from seeing something outside of us to quell the unease we otherwise feel.
‘Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm.’ It truly is amazing that when I focus on my breath and make it a gentle tender quality… the onslaught of the world cannot dictate because my body won’t allow it so. The key is to make my breath a consistent choice so that the world does not come in and dictate its pace and rhythm, rather allowing my breath to dictate my rhythm and pace for me.
And this article is a sweet invitation to check in regularly with our breath, until such time that it is totally natural for us to breath with our bodies rather than with external stimuli.
There is such respect and tenderness in the way you invite us to consider our relationship with our breath… thank you, Joel.
A beautiful offering Joel, and so profound in its delivery. As when we connect with our breath we connect to the universe by the air we breath and that fact makes us to realign to the rhythm and order we belong to but have chosen to walk away from long long time ago.
Our breath and movements makes a way of living that supports our expression of the divine being we all are, and all this when we put into practice the Gentle Breath Meditation for 5 to 10 minutes a day as you have shared Joel. This level of truth that is presented in this blog should never be suppressed but brought out and discussed openly or put to an open forum so that we can all see this level of connection, which is so easily available.
Such a simple presentation but so powerful Joel – if we can be in an emotional response to something that changes our breathing response, then also we can change how we feel through taking control of how we breathe. And more than that, saying no to being in reaction to life but allowing our breath to stay unaffected and actually build strength in us. Not always easy but certainly something we can build and grow.
I agree Joel the gentle breath (GB) meditation is vastly different to other meditations. From my experience other meditations take loads longer, for a start, and lets face it who has the time to sit and meditate for an hour, and on top of that they do not support connection with your body in fact quite the opposite, they take you into your mind. Whereas the GB meditation is max 3-5 minutes and it supports you to re-connect to your body and take this connection into your day.
‘Most people breathe in reaction to the world.’ – This is indeed the norm and so it goes without saying that there are not many role models to reflect to us a true way of breathing.
It is incredible to register how much we don’t connect to our breath and take it for granted that it is happening. How then what ever is going on around is we start to breath in also. When choice to breath our own breath gently so then we are connecting to who we truly are and can simply observe what is going on around us. That is what I simply adore about The Gentle Breath Meditation as taught by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
The effect of the Gentle Breath Meditation is profound – the feedback from countless of clients is that they can feel the deeply stilling effect and how in turn this affects anything from sleep issues to the way they relate to the world around them.
Until I first tried the gentle breath meditation I really paid very little attention to my breath. The most striking thing about this meditation is its powerful simplicity. To have given myself the permission to breathe my own breath has been the starting point of profound healing and awareness.
I am amazed and how subtle the change in our breath can be. We can be only breathing with a slight element of push or force in our breath and already the state of being in the body can be vastly different from when we are with ourselves.
Most of us take breathing for granted, unless we have respiratory issues. It is the first thing we do upon coming into the world and the last thing we do before leaving. Paying attention to our breath, and appreciating its quality has a profound effect on living life.
I agree – our breath is not something that anyone should take for granted.
‘Connecting you back to you needs to start with something that connects you back to you.’ Sounds obvious but ‘trying’ to connect without this hasn’t worked in my experience. The Gentle Breath Meditation is such a beautiful tool to use to reestablish a deep connection with oneself.
I don’t think we stop enough or ever to really appreciate our breath, and how without it, we can’t survive…. I used to suffer from asthma and its not a nice feeling to not be able to breathe… but the rest of the time, I think it is taken for granted and not appreciated enough. Without breath, we don’t live.
“You can listen to tinkling music or do a guided journey to help calm you,” and all this bravado to disconnect us from our true breath as you say Joel, “aren’t they simply following the model of getting you to respond to a different external stimulus?” ” The Gentle Breath Meditation™ has been something that I have found supports my connection to me.” This is a Dramatic Effect that has been affective in everything I do, and is the most surprisingly-simple-way because what could be more simple than breathing our own breath? “Yet there are so many meditation techniques around that don’t return the breath to you but rather continue the model of changing your breath based on what is around you…”
It appears to me to simply Breathe our own breath as is presented by the Gentle Breath Meditation is a key that brings in the honesty so we do not hold back our true expression. The movement of our breath is the way to bring a focus to all our movements so our appearance and stature are felt as one who is connected to there inner-heart. So how do we stay in connection with our inner-most or inner-heart? Maybe it is our will and breath that hold this connection? So as life flows we show respect and decency towards our self and others through our breath and this never stops!
What a great blog Joel, there is so much depth and reality to all you have shared!
I realised the other day how breathing my own breath allowed me to not go into reaction in a very angry situation. It is our tool of connection to who we truly are.
‘The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.’ – Brilliantly said, what matters is the quality of connection to yourself and your own body and the ability to remain connected in and amongst the stresses of everyday life.
For many many years I did not notice at all how I was breathing, maybe when I was playing sports and my breath quickened I would notice but that was normal. I think not many people generally consider their breath at all only when we get old and get breathing problems we might consider that we are breathing and how important the quality is. But the quality of our breath is always important as it totally governs how we feel. I also practised the Gentle Breath Meditation and since then my life has become much more calm and harmonious, just because I am not (most of the time) breathing the world, but breathing my own present breath.
“…we can still the mind by bringing its focus in line with the movement of the body.” – Sounds simple and it is but is also none the less powerful and very supportive to re-gather ourselves and develop the kind of quality we truly want to live with.
Beginning to appreciate the value of what our breath offers us has been a huge revelation – I took my breath for granted for so long and now can feel how it allows a beautiful connection both within and beyond as it vibrates in unison with the Universe. Being gentle with the breath is a beautiful introduction and way to connect to that same inner gentleness that we all have within.
We can all feel when someone’s movements are imposing or not of a quality of love (because we can feel the pressure this places on our bodies) and because breathing is a movement, we can actually feel when someone is not breathing love – it actually stinks!… or in other words it does not correspond to the love or vibration that we are all in essence.
The quality of our daily movements and activities start with our breath and breathing and so it is super important to observe and understand the quality of our breath and how much this influences our daily movements and awareness.
How true, our breath is crucial to the quality of our body and being, I find it strange that there is not more focus and awareness around the quality of breath.
When I first heard Serge Benhayon present breath your own breathe I thought well of course thats what happens naturally all the time. Then in that moment I realised that was not what I had been choosing my whole life up until that point. When I started to connect and practice The Gentle Breath Meditation I started to truly feel my breath and make it an important aspect I feel in my life.
This is an invitation that would be foolish to turn down. A week long experiment to see if the Gentle Breath Meditation does offer us a simple and profound opportunity to come back to main office (being connected to ourselves) and live our lives from us first, rather than be lived by life.
Today in an esoteric yoga session I felt the exquisiteness of my in and out breath that took me to a whole new level of delicacy and connection. When we dismiss our breath and take it for granted we are denying something truly fundamental, foundational and precious- why wouldn’t we choose to cherish it?
Where would we be without our breath? Dead!
The more connected we are to our true breath the more alive we are.
“Hello humanity, we need to talk about your breath” – so true because it really stinks when we lose connection to our breath!
‘Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm. ‘ Those things we can easily take for granted also have the most profound effect on our quality of life – breath and movement.
A powerful sharing on the importance of breath and the connection to our bodies Joel – my experience is that the Gentle Breath Meditation is a ground breaking tool, if we choose to apply it in our daily lives.
“but is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you?” Awesome question.
“But it stands to reason that if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world.” This makes a lot of sense, not crazy at all. On the contrary, I would say life changing.
And definitely something to explore and experiment with. I look forward to the moment when we make this shift for ourselves knowing the impact will be huge.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is one of the simplest and most powerful tools to support re-connecting I have ever come across. Today it is so normal for me to breath gently that when I don’t, I can feel it instantly in the quality of my breath. That’s the most amazing marker I now have for when I am off-centre and not myself anymore. And that’s the result of applying the meditation morning and night over a number of years… till I discovered that it had become my normal breath. Now that’s a powerful life-changing tool!
So true Jenny, our Gentle Breath and how it has become a normal way of breathing has also unfolded for me over the years. So as Joel shares, “5 – 10 minutes a day is all you need. I would suggest trying it for a week to see what you notice.”
Yes exactly Greg, it only takes a short time and the difference is noticeable pretty immediately. What I love about it is it costs nothing, it’s yours to use anytime you choose once you learn it, and you can apply it anywhere, anytime, minus the eye-closing part – which isn’t recommended while driving, amongst other things!
Love the humour Jenny, and I agree looking while driving and meditating is simply a matter of practice.
Great blog, thank you Joel. In my experience there is a huge difference between something that makes me feel better, and something that makes me feel more like me. I might not always want to feel how I actually feel, for example if I’ve been feeling anxious or stressed, but it’s only by connecting to those feelings, and allowing myself to acknowledge and feel them, that they end up dissipating and clearing. And then I feel more like me again – far greater and more expansive than feeling temporarily better by distracting myself with something outside of me.
Indeed the quality of every breath matters; the Gentle Breath Mediation re-connects us to our own breath and rhythm, which supports us in the flow of life.
“The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.” This is hugely significant. It shows the error that many of us have been making thinking it is great to sit in meditation for hours on end. It also states very clearly that meditation is a tool, it can be a powerful support, however at the end of the day it will not make any difference if we do not choose to live that quality in life.
‘But it stands to reason that if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world. Crazy concept I know, but it’s something worth exploring.’ absolutely true Joel. This can work in both directions. We can be affected by the world and it change our breath and then we take that changed less stable version of ourselves to the world OR we can take responsibility for our breath and let that quality lead how we are in the world and how we experience life from being in connection with ourselves. Well worth exploring.
Just about every thing around us is trying to pull us into a completely different rhythm then our own, so coming back to the rhythm of our own breath supports us to remain in our own rhythm through out the day.
A constant consistent and balanced quality that we can then bring to the everything we are part of.
The difference between being buffeted around by life or responsibly steering steadily though it. And it is all in the quality and presence of our breath.
True, it is very easy to get caught up in others emotions, whirlwinds and lose our own rhythm. But aren’t we just so divinely designed, that we can reconnect to our own breath and create our own rhythm.. we just have to remember this is an option, and up to us to choose.
”The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.’ Your statement is spot on Joel. Meditation not as a tool to relieve yourself or withdraw from life but mediate to connect to yourself and bring yourself to life. Completely different approaches.
Yes. Meditation in movement. Esoteric Yoga is also fabulous for feeling this marker and the depth we can bring in movement in the body.
Very true, Esoteric Yoga reconnects us within, with our body and the quality of our movements.
Stunning blog as usual Joel. Love your writings.
Me too. Your blogs, Joel, would make a beautiful book of allegories… they are so playful, accessible and inspiring.
Understanding the power of our breath is the true medicine for it is only through our awareness to it that we can connect with our soul.
And this is the real game of life. Is it from Soul or from everything else on offer which is directly fed to us from the astral plane. By us taking the responsibility to be aware we are absolutely living true medicine as we can support ourselves in every way to come from our Soul, leaving no in for anything else. Then love and Soul gets brought to every aspect of human life. Over the past ten years I have been reimprinting many areas and it has not been a walk in the park at times to see and feel the level of disconnect I’ve had from my own breath and what I’ve then chosen but it is a journey that I would not trade for anything. Breathing my own breath means I bring all of me to life. My breath is the marker that tells me when I am truly with myself or not.
‘Your breath is precious and how you choose to breathe can have a huge effect on your inner quality’ and that effects every which way you move and think – our expression in life.
And this is something that when we surrender to it is naturally there. It’s not something we need to gain or achieve but simply let go of all that has been getting in the way of.
The quality and pace of my breath is something I have found to be a real gift since meeting Serge Benhayon and all he presents to us. It is my marker to feel where I am and what is going on in me and what I have taken on as it changes from the stillness and gentle flow I now know is me. This is an amazing marker to return to me if I stop and feel and reconnect and move differently and allow my breathe to return again. It is a real support to living life and medicine for my body.
There is so much misinformation about meditation it is great to find that it is actually far more simple than is often portrayed ‘In my experience of meditation, it doesn’t need to take that long to be meaningful. It simply needs to come from you and connect you to you.’
So I have made a focus of my breath since reading your blog, in fact not only mine but everyone I see and meet and there is so much to see and learn! I find that when I get caught up in anything, that could be an emotional conversation between two people, something dangerous, a movie – anything really, when I get caught up my breath changes! Yet I am still me and I am not moving so my breath should really be the same. Science in the making 🙂
It fascinating to observe isn’t it…our body knows and reacts or responds to the energy around us and the breath is an instant register of this.
Fascinating yes and not studied enough because really it is the most important thing…
Love this Lucy, the science of our breath plus those around us. As we can all notice what happens in our day, so we simply make notes. Then what evolves from how our breath and that of others changes? This would make an amazing book and Joel has written the title and first chapter!
Then could it be possible that a chapter on health would start with something like Liane has share on the 3rd September.
“True health is only a breath away in the sense that we need only realign ourselves to our true breath in order to begin the process of nominating all that we ‘breathe in’ (absorb) that is not true to the love that we are so that we can renounce it and begin to reimprint it with more loving ways to be. It really is this simple but the thing is, we have become so addicted to complexity, we are not yet so willing to let go of that which we have created to ‘hold onto’ in order to not go there in the first place.”
Maybe these comments will make up the bulk of the book?
Stopping and feeling your breath is a super awesome thing to do. Our breath reveals everything.
Indeed what does take our breath from its natural depth and rhythm? To lose connection from our inner essence is also to lose that connection to our natural breath.
Our breath is a great reminder of our connection to our entire being, everything is affected by our breath, and the beauty is if we simply focus on just this one thing we will be taking care of all of us.
So simple yet so true.
Thanks for the reminder Irena – truth is very simple.
The fact is, when we really panic and get stressed out, we tell people to focus on their breathing. But what if we could bring a focus to our breath more consistently, and with more awareness of its quality? I have found that the Gentle Breath Meditation has been an amazing support with this.
‘Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first?’ this is a great one to take into the day to see how our breath changes with our emotions.
Life is set up so that we breathe in the TV series, games ,work places, emotions and dramas and stuff of others, so we absorb, absorb, absorb that we do not even realise the stuff we are carrying is not even ours. The Gentle Breath mediation is a super support to come back to your body as a first step.
but is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you? Yes, the difference is huge, feeling better is a temporary fix or a bit of escape, but does not change what we want to change, but when we are able to feel ourselves, this brings so much more honesty and awareness and we get to feel what we need to let go of and change is effortless.
The way we breath, changes everything, our whole physiology alters through how we breath, anxious, shallow heavy, staggered, hard, weak etc changes how we feel, how we move, how we perceive life. And so if we choose gentle, strong, deep, steady, wow what a difference that makes….No doubt that bringing our attention to our breath, is a choice worth making.
Without breathing we cease living… and without breathing in gentleness we continue to live in the angst of disharmony prolonging a life of dismal existence until the last breath is drawn, to then repeat it all again in the wake of new life later. Quality of breath is the giver of true life.
So true Zofia the quality of our breath determines the quality of our life.
If you’ve ever sat by the sea and watched the waves role in, or gazed at the sky and every cloud that passes by, or spent hours gazing at flowers as they dance in the wind, or walked in a beautiful forrest, then you will know the world has a natural movement, a pulse, a steady in and out breath. It’s not stressed or emotional, upset or groggy it’s steady, simple and sacred. So surely it makes sense as you present Joel that we are designed to be the same in our essence. Why settle for living less, when you can breathe in and out the whole way?
True health is only a breath away in the sense that we need only realign ourselves to our true breath in order to begin the process of nominating all that we ‘breathe in’ (absorb) that is not true to the love that we are so that we can renounce it and begin to reimprint it with more loving ways to be. It really is this simple but the thing is, we have become so addicted to complexity, we are not yet so willing to let go of that which we have created to ‘hold onto’ in order to not go there in the first place.
I often feel my in breath as a point of honest review and my out breath as a surrendering of the facades and falsehood I have adopted… each cycle of breath experienced with this presence is a liberation.
So true Liane, our breath is forever keeping up, for as our gentle-ness expands into being self-loving before we connect to the depth of being “The Love that we are,”.
“Most people breathe in reaction to the world.” – this is so easy to do when you do not realize you have a choice to do things differently, OR have had a habit of doing this for a long long time. To realize there is another way is the first blessing, then to actually make the choice to implement it (though difficult often to begin with) is the second blessing and healing that we offer ourselves.
Bringing ourselves back with our own breath is more than reconnecting to you, your also reconnecting to God and you can feel in those breaths, we are one.
It feels so lovely to start the day connecting to the movements of my breath through the gentle breath meditation. It sets me up for the day.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is so simple to be with at anytime and anywhere, but the affects on the body, nervous system and mental energy are profound.
I have certainly breathed and breathe a lot of my life in reaction to the world. I’ve breathed so shallowly so as not to been noticed, I’ve breathed fast in an attempt to try to keep up with situations where I’ve felt inadequate and needed to race. But when I come back to being aware of how I am breathing and I let go of trying to race with the world and come back to the stillness that is always there that allows me to surrender.
Connecting back to ourselves by being fully aware, in, and with our bodies is a choice worth honouring in every moment of the day.
Quite often in the past and sometimes still I find myself holding my breath completely, bracing myself against something that is happening or coming towards me. This is a process I have barely registered, but when I do I become aware of the impact on my body as it tightens. I also understand that this can also happen on a more subtle level too. I have clocked it in the swimming pool as this tends to magnify any issues around my breathing. It reflects to me a bracing against life or a panic in life that I am not enough to handle it! A great awareness to have arrived at as it gives me a lot to work on!
It is fascinating isn’t it – the bracing against life and the feeling that we can’t cope. Yet, in fact, there is nothing we cannot cope with when we stay with ourselves and don’t lose our breath to the panic!
I have used the gentle breath meditation many times and it truly helps and supports me re-connecting with myself. I sit down and catch MY breath so to speak.
I tried SO many things before but nothing helped me to re-connect-to-myself like the Gentle Breath Meditation… and this has made all the difference in the world; in how I think, how I feel, my physical & emotional health and in my life…
Once re-discovering what I feel like when I am really ‘with myself’ I find that I can breath gently in any situation (it is simply about breathing ‘my own’ breath instead of the mood/energy of the situation) and when I choose this (choose to stay me) I can live life meditativly, not just in the moments I sit down to meditate.
A true life saver; one that comes from inside me, one that is always there for me anytime I choose it.
Today I have been aware of many things, but my breath has not been one of them really until this moment, where suddenly I am brought to myself and considering my breath – thank you for the ability to return to this blog and be reminded to check in
The delicate movement of our breath through our lungs has the potential to harmonize our body and being.
So powerful to understand that if the changes in our breathing result form our resposnses to our environamnt and activity then if instead we choose how we breath then we affect our environment and activity accordingly.
The gentle breath meditation truly is a great tool to bring you back to your inner self and regroup as it were.
It’s amazing what happens, after just a few moments of catching our breath so to speak, when we reconnect with the rhythm of our bodies, it was so powerful just doing this by reading your blog Joel, and the effects of taking this forward into our movements there after are profound and amazing.
Simplicity and power in equal measure, the in and out breath, the marker of truth.
Love the title of this blog, and yes we do need to talk about our breath – the breath that breathes life into our bodies for otherwise our bodies are empty shells. We breathe our first breath when born and with our last breath we pass over…. the middle part which we call life, will greatly be influenced by how we breath, and yet our breath is more often than not taken for granted with no or little awareness of it moving our bodies. This is a great conversation to start Joel.
It is such a simple thing to check in with our breath. The more I do so, the more I use it as a marker to check in with where I am with myself and to go deeper. So often situations or the world can breathe me but I have the choice in every moment to claim my breath and breathe the fullness I am and know within. It is a magical gift to have in my tool kit – just need to keep utilising it!
Yes, the Gentle Breath Meditation is something you take into life, as it re-connects you to a quality and a flow that supports you throughout the day.
We take our breath for granted with very little awareness of it and yet it is something we do without fail, so what would happen if we were aware of the quality of our breath and is it possible that if we lived from joy our breath would naturally settle into its own natural rhythm?
Being aware of my breath has been a huge support to help me to observe what is going on around me rather than react to what I can’t control.
Incredible tool for life.
I notice how shallow my breath becomes when I feel stressed and anxious, I get a tightness across my chest and my breath feels short and fast. When I’m feeling joyful my breath has a graceful flow which feels completely natural to me.
I have definitely found that the way I breathe affects the way I move and live.
When we are supported to engage with the quality of our breath, stay in our body and become more aware of what we are feeling, we are brought back to connect with our greatest ally and hence given a powerful tool to instigate true change in our lives.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is like no other mediations that I have tried and I have tried a few. It is exactly what Joel shares, how it supports you to connect and feel you, the essence within that we know is there but not to sure how to connect with. Once I start to practice this daily I could feel the difference it was having on my day-to-day and over 13 years now is a breathing exercise that is my foundation to who I am.
Like any health condition, bad breath can be turned around. It’s just a matter of looking at the root cause – the energetic cause, as well as the physiological path. In this case, our collective bad breath is due to neglect. We’ve forgotten how and why to breathe.
I have found that how I’m breathing is a very true indicator of whats happening in my life in that moment – am I reacting to life or am I responding?! Two very different ways of being in life – when in reaction to whats going on around me or within me, then my breath will be shallow and my body tense; however, when I respond to a situation, my breath continues to ebb and flow – there is a harmony in me that then impacts those around me and the situation is resolved very easily.
Re the Gentle Breath Meditation, ‘It looks and sounds like other meditations but the reality is that it is vastly different.’ This is a crucial point Joel. It is the same with many other truths of the Ageless Wisdom – they look and sound like what many spiritual groups are saying but in fact there is a world and dimension of difference. The truth expands life into the living realm while its imitator keeps us well and truly locked into the land of the dead.
There are so many breathing exercises out there and for many ends – improving performance in exercise, keeping calm, meditation but until the Gentle Breath Mediation, I’d not come across any that have re-introduced who I am to me again. Something so simply but fundamental has supported me to know who I am again and feel at ease in situations I would have previously run from.
At first I thought you were going to say it smells! Always an awkward and touchy subject! 😄 but yes you are right we are not breathing as we could be .. for connection back to us and in all that we do. Thanks for letting us know trustfully we will take this on board! And thanks for the link to the Gentle Breath Meditation audios .. which are …. PURE GOLD! and something that our whole being will thank us for when listened to.
We find so many ways to not feel us but there are some simple techniques for reconnecting and the Gentle Breath Meditation is one of them.
Breathing and feeling the body definitely makes a difference and when we have meditated in this way as described in the Gentle Breath Meditation this can be something we can take into our day, and walk this level of talk.
“Hello Humanity – We Need to Talk About Your Breath” There is something so lovely and loving about this title. Addressing humanity in this way is a huge act of love. As you talk about something that is so life changing and so uniting I feel completely held and very loved. Thank you.
Yes, I love the title too 🙂
Its amazing the speed of our reactions – when I suddenly panic about something, my heart speeds up, my breathing totally changes and my body tenses within a millisecond – and to calm down we know to focus on our breathing – but beyond this we sort of don’t think to much about it, but its super important, our breathing is what regulates our body on a physical level, but also on many other levels – it is literally us breathing in the world and breathing our inner environment out – what quality do we choose to breath in, and what quality do we breath out.
Its a great question Joel, does a technique simply change our breathing to a different status of ‘calm’ or ‘relaxed’ or is it working deeper to connect us to ourselves? Breathe from there and its a whole different world.
Our breath is so fundamental to life it’s a wonder we pay so little attention to it.
So true Elizabeth, this is an awesome observation. I am first disconnected to my breath before I react to any situation, so the more aware I am and willing to reconnect to my breath the less likely I am to react to certain situations.
Choosing to connect to ourselves supports us to connect to others. The Gentle Breath Meditation is a simple but very powerful way to connect to ourselves.
I used to love guided meditations, believing they were helping me to live more calmly, but with the Gentle Breath Meditations, there is no imagery to follow, only a focus on the feeling of our own breath – no counting, no special way to sit, just sitting or lying comfortable and breathing gently. The stillness and connection that I feel is like nothing else I have experienced before.
Carmel, I can relate to the past of guided meditations and all -they made me feel all blissed out whilst I was doing them BUT then it made living actual life and having relationships with others more challenging. The gentle breath meditation on the other hand offers you the tools to connect to your body and hence feel how to handle each situation as it crops up. Now that offers true Evolution!
It does stand to reason that if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then so too can changing our breath change how we experience the world. If the quality of our breath effects the way we feel, then the way we interact in the world will be in accordance to that – and the resultant experiences we have. We could therefore in effect change our lives, by changing our relationship with our breath.
‘Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm’. How much during the day do I really breathe my own breath? A great question to ponder.
“Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm.” we often take for granted our breath, until we struggle breathing and it was only after meeting Serge did I even consider what is the quality of my breath. Today its something that I am aware of on a regular basis and my breath shows my exact relationship with myself at any one moment. When we then look at the breath of humanity it makes this really big picture and something that asks a bigger question of how are we all living together.
Yes I agree Susan, the situations literally feels like it is spinning inside our bodies! Breathing my own breath has been a relationship well worth devoting myself to.
I have loved being in a relationship with my breath, noticing where and when it changes. I am sure it is part and parcel of my medicine chest.
Medicine chest that opens our chest to the delights of our breath, and this is so we can breathe life!
Medicine for humanity – simple and true with amazing qualities.
Being aware of our breath during the day is indeed great medicine as has been for me for sure. Super simple and super cheap too and can be taken anywhere!
The way we breath and how we move are fundamental to the quality in which we do everything and the Gentle Breath Meditation allows us to connect to a true quality from which to move.
I had not considered this before but it is true how the world is breathing in reaction to events. With 24hr news, we hear of world wide disasters and can feel everyone gasp at the horror of the latest landslide, disaster or atrocity. We can all let go and breathe our own quality from our own breath, the result is a profound reflection, very different from all around us.
“The mind is fed information from the body, so the true source of awareness and point of presence is the body.” Our current understanding on how our nervous system works and the feedback that is carried from our skin to our brain has yet to catch up with this absolute truth. And when it does, POW! It is going to change the entire way we perceive our relationship with intelligence.
I have introduced the Gentle Breath Meditation to clients who have trauma, been abused, recovering from addiction etc and each and every one of them have settled more in their body and let go (to varying degrees) within a few minutes. It is such a powerfully simple tool, to come back to the quality of our breath.
“In my experience of meditation, it doesn’t need to take that long to be meaningful. It simply needs to come from you and connect you to you. The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.” I have a similar experience with meditation Joel, and also found that with the Gentle Breath Meditation it is very possible to take the quality and conection that can be reached very quickly, into your daily life and not loose it. It then becomes a very natural way to be and to breath, so life literally becomes a continual living meditation/connection to the soul.
How many of us just take breathing for granted, something that we do involuntarily with even little gratitude for the fact that if we didn’t breath we’d be dead. So to then look at the importance of how we breath in meditation or in what ever we do is a giant step in our evolution back to real intelligence.
Yes, the simple fact that we need to breathe to live shows the importance of our breath and brings forth the significance of the quality of our breath, as it is the stuff we are made of/determined by.
I was a person who was not aware that the breath was influenced by the outer world or by emotions . . . now I am aware and I only can agree that: “If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” And therefore I only can recommend to try the Gentle Breath Mediation and find out how it will work out for yourself.
Thanks Joel, it’s a great reminder for me to be more aware of my breath and choose to breathe me, instead of letting my breath (and hence my inner connection) be changed by the outside world.
Simply bringing attention to our breath in any given situation offers a moment to stop and reconnect to our body, to ourselves and this reconfigures or adjusts the momentum we may have been moving in, thus brining in more awareness.
Breath and movement change everything. If we move in a very conscious present way that truly honours our body our breath will match this. If we move in a jarring aggravated manner our breath will match and if we stop and change our breath our movements cannot help but change. Makes perfect sense really.
As they were created by the mind, the mind cannot come up with answers to our dilemmas; at best, the mind comes up with solutions and evermore solutions, none of which stand the test of time.
Most often I forget about my breath, and then I remember and realise how much I allow outside influences to alter my breathing. A very simple tool to keep coming back to gentle breath and live less affected by the world around me.
With all the different types of meditation I have done over the many years the only one that has helped me to really to connect to my body and what I am feeling and that I have been able to sustain being in conscious presence for longer periods throughout the day is the Gentle Breath Meditation. In fact all of the other forms of meditation I tried had the complete opposite effect, by imagining I was somewhere else, trying to make my mind blank or trying to ignore the discomfort in my body, that when I finished I would usually feel in a daze for a while afterwards. The Gentle Breath Meditation gives my mind something to focus on and stops it from running riot, and if my mind does try to take over, I can focus on my breath to bring me back into the present. Like you express Joel, “The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.”
Thank you Joel. I will enjoy exploring these different audio meditations about the Gentle Breath Meditation, and see what a difference they make. I like the connection you have made between my mind and the movements of my body, this is not spoken about much and I feel that this is something worth exploring.
‘Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first?’ It’s amazing how, when I change my breathing by choosing to focus on my breathing, on my body and put aside whatever tasks that seem like they are clamouring for my attention, I can come back to feeling the space around us and that the tasks that were once creating a din in my head are actually just tasks to be done in a rhythm that supports me and that those tasks relate to.
With out our connection to ourselves our life is just another circle or circuit going around for no purpose whatsoever! The questions ‘What is life?’, ‘What is life about?’ and ‘What is my purpose here?’ are key questions to ask. We know that purpose once we re-connect to ourselves which holds the key to all and this is where the Gentle Breath Meditation comes in and is so helpful: ‘Connecting you back to you, needs to start with something that connects you back to you’.
Joel this is so beautiful and playful in delivering a life changing offering.
I know when I have let the outside world affect me and reacted to it that I hold my breath. Everything in my body goes rigid. I feel disconnected from myself. I hold the breath midway, in between in and out. As soon as I become aware of this I let go outwards, feeling the full release of the held breath from my lungs. I pause and feel
that place of rest, of Stillness, and wait for the incoming breath to happen without effort, and in it flows so naturally and gently and I feel connected again and am
breathing gently. It only takes less than a minute. No need for hours of striving to be still and connected, it is there for us, inside us if we let go of that irregular breathing pattern. Great blog Joel, a reminder for us all.
Thank you for the reminder of the preciousness of breath. It not only keeps us alive, but keeps us connected to ourselves. High five breath! And Gold Stars to the Gentle Breath meditation – it is the real deal.
“Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm.” It is and how often we take this precious gift for granted. Bringing our attention back to the quality of how we breathe restores a fundamental relationship between our awareness, our bodies and then the outside world, the correct order as it should be.
The difference really stands out. Being asked to come back to our own breath and breath for ourselves, which in turn allows us to breath as one is very different to many other meditations out there.
Joel I love your reminder of making the connection we develop through meditation part of our everyday livingness – “The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life”
It turns Meditation from the relief that a solution can bring, into an answer – a way to be so that the problem doesn’t exist anymore.
A beautiful invitation to care for our breath.
“If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” this is a point that really changed my life, I went from feeling that I was at the mercy of life and what was around me to feeling that I had the choice to be connected and that choice came from inside and with that the real power I have. The same power we all have.
The Gentle breath meditation was a life changer for me… after years of trying many types of meditations, this is the one that supported me to come back to me… rather than all the others that never let me feel that connection. All the other were always needing it or something more than me to be enough….
Every breath is a delicate movement of our lungs, along with a rhythm and flow our whole body can begin to surrender to.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is super supportive and easy to practice, the technique is so simple to apply which means I can practice it anywhere and at any time. It is very powerful and I realise the The Gentle Breath Meditation is our natural way to breathe on earth.
Connecting to the quality of my breath is the greatest tool of all, a marker of where I am at and what ripple effect my movements are having on the world around me.
Those five to ten minutes have been the most life changing moments of my life. Simple and worth gold in how vast the quality of our change for the better when we reconnect with ourselves.
‘but is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you?’ oh yes Joel such a difference I have found thanks to the Gentle Breath Meditation. Feeling better is not a patch on feeling and being with me.
Asking humanity to look at their breath is a call to take collective responsibility for the quality that we bring to this planet. As a living breathing species on this planet we need to see and feel the full impact that we bring, and paying attention to the quality of our breath is a great place to start.
When we consider how very vital our breath is to our survival then we do need to focus on it more often, for our own wellbeing and connection to God.
This is such a beautiful blog Joel. How many of us give ourselves permission to breathe our own breath? Even though I use the Gentle Breath Meditation regularly – in between times how often do I check in with my breathing? I would say not as often as I need to. Thank you so much for the reminder and the inspiration.
‘Your breath is precious and how you choose to breathe can have a huge effect on your inner quality’ this is so true Joel and I have so often taken it for granted and not paid attention to how I am breathing. The meditation I religiously practised for years put me into a blissed out state but that ended as soon as I opened my eyes. The beauty of the Gentle Breath Meditation is that is builds a consistency and connection that is maintained for as long as I choose not to go into reaction to something that is happening around me. It is great to acknowledge that it is always our choice and we always have the resources to support us to stay connected.
Learning to maintain a steady, consistent breath of my choosing with the Gentle Breath Meditation rather than breathing in reaction to a situation has been one of the greatest things I have learnt in this life.
Our breath is indeed precious, and often we take it for granted, and don’t even notice it most of the time. To re-learn to breathe your own breath is life changing, and The Gentle Breathe meditation greatly supported me to do just that.
In the past, I had tried many meditations, and they were all about going someplace, to be out of the body. As you have said, Joel, the Gentle Breath brings us back to ourselves. We can do this with just a few breaths at all most anytime; there should be a health advisory not to do it while driving or walking though. Even before the gentle breath, how many times have we and others just before something we were about to do, make a speech, have a job interview or start a test just shut our eyes and had a few gentle breaths to re-connect our selves to us!
‘If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.’ simply reveal the error in searching for answers outside of us and giving our power away to this when we hold the truth within which does the opposite.
The beauty of the Gentle Breath Meditation is not having to sit for extended periods of time with it – a few minutes 3 times a day is a great way to re-connect and return to stillness within. This builds more awareness of the breath throughout the day – it is then natural to feel the quality of breath throughout the day, feeding back what is going on in the body moment to moment.
There are 11 Gentle Breath Meditaions so far on the UniMed living site that you’ve linked to Joel and each one brings its own qualities. Whether we feel to address anxiety and stress or explore our own gentleness and conscious presence, it is all there.
There are so many things in this world that can make us feel better or more numb but how many of them do actually make us feel what is really going on within ourselves? The Gentle Breath Meditation certainly can!
‘If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.’ This sentence shone out to me today Joel, and it also explains why other meditation techniques that I have tried in the past did not last past the door of the meditation space. The Gentle Breath Meditations have been very supportive to enable me to feel a deeper connection to my body and to my essence or quality.
A few years ago, a friend of mine pointed out that my breath, well, it smelt! Although I didn’t appreciate it at the time it proved to be a huge catalyst for change, with my diet and dental health. I am so grateful they spoke up and said something right then. So the fact that you have taken time to bring the quality of our breath to our attention Joel, is something I won’t forget. It’s crazy to me that it was 33 years before I even considered my breath might play a part in my general health when it is something I do all day every day. And still it is something I easily dismiss. The equation you present that the quality of breath may equate to quality of life is something powerful for us all to consider.
I love what you say here, Joseph, about the quality of breath equating to quality of life. Very powerful and simple wisdom.
My mind is always busy and stilling it does not work by trying, but focusing on my breath is a great way to keep it busy and stillness naturally follows
I woke up thinking about this blog this morning! Our breath – it pronounces us alive when we are born and dead when we have passed-over.
Pretty much summoned up Elizabeth, and could be added that depending on our choices and how we care for or abuse our bodies, will greatly impact our breath and how we move and perceive life.
The Gentle Breath Meditation is the first meditation I’ve ever done where I actually come back to my body through my breath, rather than using meditation to be in my head. Thank you for sharing this Joel – it has inspired me to reconnect to this once more.
As I read this I was able to feel the different situations in life where I lose my breathe and go into taking a situation on. Thanks for your sharing as it brought more awareness to how much I hold myself.
I so relate Ariana, TV and movies hooked me in also, and it was almost like I had ran a marathon after watching some shows, and this is not even real life so what is going on?
So true Doug, we are at the mercy of other forces outside of us that bring up our emotional issues and thus opening us up to being reactive. When we have an understanding of the importance and what is available by the simple Gentle Breath Meditation so we can take that into our day then life becomes simpler. Allowing life to be opened so we can observe situations and respond thus we are eliminating emotions and reactions, which are dictated by our out of control breath.
Absolutely Doug, our breath once connected to can be taken into the day so we can stay connected to our most divine aspect and God.
It’s a really interesting experiment to see how our posture, breath and mood can change when we think about a particular situation, person or event; would we choose to live differently if someone we held in high regard was with us 24/7, or someone we disliked lived with us at home?
If we revisit the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf, could it be delivering a true message, and that is all the huffing and puffing actually gets us no where? As you say Joel, ‘your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally,’ and the Gentle Breath Meditation takes the huff and puff out of your day literally.
Interesting how mindfullness has been so popular…yet never once does mindfullness consider the quality of energy one is choosing. The Gentle breath meditation on the other hand makes it all about the quality first and foremost, and explores the quality that is innate to us all…and this is the key factor that actually makes a difference.
I love the Gentle Breath Meditiation…it brings the body alive in the sense that we can hear it so much more loudly and so much more clearly. Of course the challenge then lies in heeding what the body says, for when we don’t heed it, then we silence the body and go back to not listening again! But this keeps happening till such time that we listen and heed and heed with such respect and love for ourselves and others.
Thanks Joel, a great distinction you make between meditation that supports you to shift state by a focus outside of yourself, or from within. The Gentle Breath Meditation is profound and super simple, and once you know it, it’s yours… to be utilised anywhere, anytime, no music or recording needed, not even a chair. That is empowering… l’d never quite thought of it that way.
“Your breath is precious and how you choose to breathe can have a huge effect on your inner quality”.
Thank you for this reminder, love a person from humanity x
Such a beautiful sharing of what is fully available to us from with-in, starting with appreciating and honouring how precious our own breath is. It is our own unique life giving connection and such wise words to not give this over to any external power, concept or force. So to check in constantly to make sure it remains steady from with-in us is essential to our own well-being and connection.
To be unaware of the rhythm of one’s own breath is to be at the mercy of emotions and as you say Joel, changing the breath, naturally changes the emotional reactions. Conscious presence with the body through the breath and awareness is a huge key to a re-connection to the stillness within.
“Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first?”
It’s true. How often does the regular person stop to consider how they are breathing? And how many of us are aware of how much the quality of our breath influences how we are, how we feel and how we express? If we choose to be open to this awareness it is a powerful tool for life.
The Gentle Breath Meditation has the ability to change our physiology and yet it is so incredibly simple, and all it costs is 5 – 10 minutes of our time.
Joel, i love the playfulness you have used in this very profound and deeply meaningful topic.
Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first? Yes I have, in fact I’ve noticed that the quality of my breath is very telling, to the point where it’s possible to feel within the breath where it is calling me to connect more deeply with the innermost rhythm.
A true friend indeed you are to humanity Joel, I adore your writings so lovingling exposing what we settle for.
I don’t think anyone could read this blog without coming back to their true way of breathing gently… but I stand to be corrected.
No correction just an addition Rachael, could it be that when we initiate our-self in a way that the Gentle Breath Meditation becomes our first response to situations then this is life changing guarantied, because they are “coming back to their true way of breathing gently”.
Using the gentle breath is such a simple way to reconnect at any moment of the day
What you are sharing here Joel is super simple and yet utterly profound and yet how many of us really stop to consider the importance and impact on our physiology and hence our quality of life because of our choice to connect to our breath or not?
I wonder what it would feel and look like if everyone on this planet tried The Gentle Breath Meditation for a week or more? It would be incredible to feel the stillness, connection and love, and I feel this is definitely possible.
I agree Alison and from this playfulness I can also feel the love Joel has for humanity, it is emanating through every word.
I love it when a friend speaks up and tells me things I need to know. I know they love and care… and your breath is super important!
It is so true to say that most people breathe in reaction to what is going on around them and that it has only been since practising the Gentle Breath Meditation that I have been supported to re-connect to my body and move from there and then take that out into my day and stay much more steady whatever is happening with others.
What a beautiful understanding of our breath Joel and the importance it plays in our lives . The simplicity and joy of connection to ourselves and our inner stillness through this true form of meditation is amazing so supportive and allows the real inner stillness to be connected to felt and lived bringing this into our everyday life . It has transformed by life and the links you aadd here are a real bonus to keep with us to return to when needed and an amazing gift that really does make al the difference to our day.
Great blog Joel, ‘if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world’ it most definitely has for me I was always reacting to the world so affecting my breath, doing the Gentle Breath Meditation has made a profound difference with this, it is quick and can be done anywhere and is such a great support to live my own breath in daily life.
It is so interesting how we take something as vital as our breath for granted. If we were to stop and consider how intricately our breathing enables every single cell in our body to function, perhaps we would bring more attention to the way we breathe. The Gentle Breath Meditation is definitely a wonderful way to appreciate the depths to which our breathing supports us in our bodies.
Reading this blog again the sentence that stands out for me this morning is, “The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.” I spent many years practicing meditation prior to encountering the Gentle Breath Meditation and any connection I gained with myself was short lived once ‘back in the world’. With the Gentle Breath Meditation one never ‘escapes’ from the world, in fact the opposite, as it confirms one’s commitment to it and one’s connection to oneself deepens as one lives in the world.
So true Jonathan, and may I add a commitment to life that brings a divine purpose.
Yes indeed, Joel. If everyone committed to connecting to themselves through the Gentle Breath Meditation each day for 5-10 minutes, the world would be a very different place.
I agree Janet – the breath is such a powerful tool to reconnect us back to who we are. The more this is lived the less we need external distractions to escape the void that the otherwise disconnection brings.
It’s great to present like this that breathing is not just something to be aware of in meditation but in life. An amazing tool that can bring back a support to how we are in any situation that we face in our daily lives.
What I do know that by taking control of the quality of my breath, that over time it has become very sweet and gentle, a quality that I can return to in the day and keep on building. What a God send it is, empowering me to keep a steady demeanour throughout the day, enabling me to tackle many stressors that previously would have had me huffing and puffing with frustration.
When we stop, and connect to what you share, Joel it’s true that our breath changes when we are anxious, excited, sad or angry, yet when we live life it’s not something we readily notice. When I was sharing The Gentle Breath Meditation, just for 6 minutes, with a friend who had not done it before, she was amazed at how her body felt afterwards and exclaimed, ‘Why are we not taught to breath properly?’ She then explained to me that when anxious and panicked she was always taught to take deep breaths through her mouth, which never changed anything, but with the Gentle Breath her body felt calm and still.
I like what you share here Joel about breathing in reaction to life. It has certainly been true in my experience. Choosing the quality of my breath using the Gentle Breath Meditation has changed this for me and I find I live less and less in reaction. This is a simple but very beautiful change and truly supportive of a more self-loving way of being.
I love that you have highlighted that if the trigger for the connection that one seeks is something outside yourself, then the power remains outside you, but if the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you’…this is a great way to not get fooled by the countless meditations out there, of which there are many with few offering what they claim. The gentle breath meditation is for me, by far the simplest, most powerful and deeply profound mediation I have tried to date when it comes to true connection.
I absolutely love this line, if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world. This is profound and so true, at work I can totally change how I am feeling and how my day is going by connecting to my breath as I work, what I was experiencing as hard becomes a pleasure with flow, the hard part is stopping my wayward mind from taking me away from this flow.
The title of your blog Joel is a classic and reminds us all that we can discuss serious topics in a very light-hearted and playful way.
Breath and movement are key in how we feel, and Joel has presented so beautifully how our breath can be dictated by outside factors, when in fact if we can come to realise, it does not have to be the case, that we can actually work with the body to allow a breath that is natural and in line with our gentle way of being and living.
Joel this blog and this comment is Gold: “The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.”…I used to sit and meditate sometimes for 2 or 3 hours but then could never hold that in life, and in fact found it harder to return to living life. These days I practice the gentle breath only ever a few minutes a couple times through the day, but I am bringing more of that quality into the day with my body and what a difference this has made!
Yes, Henrietta, I cringe to think of how many hours I wasted sitting on a meditation mat rather than being out there embracing life…meditation can certainly be used to avoid and escape, but with the Gentle Breath Meditation, as soon as I feel connected to my myself I feel a strong urge to get up and go about my day.
Looking at my breath and its quality was one of the healthiest things I’ve ever done Joel.. seeing, feeling, and experiencing my breath absent of true gentleness, i felt the absent way of my living….to restoring my breath to this quality the restoration of it.
Zofia the same for me, what if this was done on a humanity level with us all looking at the quality of our breath, life as we know it would change in an instant as I know when I focus on my breath I can’t move in the same way as I had before. The quality is far deeper not only in my breath but in my movements and thoughts.
Its the stuff of life, so simple, inexpensive and powerful. The more I feel my breath, the more I feel me, and the less I need the outside world to entertain.
“Is there a difference between something that makes you feel better and something that helps you feel you”? You bet there is! I used to meditate for hours which made me feel ‘better’ but it left me feeling dependent on the meditation to feel better and we cannot live all day on a mat! In all those hours of mediation I never discovered a real sense of me or the power I have to choose how I live and respond to life.
What you have shared here Fiona is Gold – I too used to meditate lots and feel ‘great’ whilst I was meditating, but it did not help me handle life outside of my meditation cushion! Where as the gentle breath meditation asks us to connect to the body and feel everything, a completely different approach, and yet a very empowering one as it allows us to live in life rather than just be a bum on a cushion meditating! 😉
Great blog Joel about what true meditation is, explaining that it isn’t about listening to lots of music and clearing your mind. It is about feeling your breath, going into you body, that it doesn’t have to be for a long time and that it is very powerful.
Most people breathe in reaction to the world” . . . this is a great point Joel. This is something I am going to observe in myself today; that is what situations change the rhythm of my breath.
I know that until I met the Gentle Breath Meditation I did a lot of breathing in reaction to my life and events in the world and I fully understood the term “letting the tail wag the dog”. Learning this simple meditation and practising it on a regular basis has brought about the most amazing changes in my life, health, emotional stability and commitment to life. It really does put the dog back in charge of its tail!
Do we want to do meditation to feel better or to connect us back to us … cuts to the quick with all those techniques out there, do they bring you back to you or distract you with different stimuli. This is so insightful and exposes how we live looking for solutions and how even our meditations have become that whereas there is the Gentle Breath Meditation which just connects you back to you, not dealing with the surface but going right for that inner heart … honestly when it’s put like that why would you chose differently?
There are many gems in this blog Joel, but here is the jewel in the crown for me: ‘We can try to still the mind by focussing on the mind, or we can still the mind by bringing its focus in line with the movement of the body.’ This would have benefitted from being formatted in bold as a key wisdom in the blog! This message contains that vital shift from creation to bridge to co-creation
Gold. Love this. Similar theme to the ‘Can we talk about your boyfriend one’. I just realised I have a bit of an aversion to the word ‘meditation’ reading this as it is laced with sooooo much that is not true .. that we have to look outside ourselves, be a certain way, seeking bliss, feel superior (I have met some people that have felt this because they meditate), giving our power away to something else, escaping ‘reality’ .. the list goes on. But, the Gentle Breath Meditation is completely different to all or any of this it is simply about reconnecting within via the breath. And it is simple. As you have shared here ‘if the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.’ The focus being our breath that is within us. I would recommend everyone to try these meditations.
It is so true Joel how we react to the world around us which definitely affects our bodies. I know for myself when I notice a reaction, I can feel my shoulders up round my ears, my heart is closed – and of course my breathing is shallow and tense – it feels horrible, let alone not healthy for the body! When we respond rather than react to life there is a flow and harmony within our bodies and all around us too… and the most magical constellations happen at these times, which beats a world of tension any time!
‘For a long while now I have noticed how you breathe. At times it’s heavy, at times racy, at times calm, but the majority of the time it changes in reaction to what is going on around you’. This is such a simple statement of truth but the potential for change and absolute body/mind healing that is on offer is huge. What I love most about this comment is that the power to choose whether to continue our old way or to choose something different sits within our own grasp and is not controlled by anyone else. Beautifully simple and exposing.
“… how you choose to breathe can have a huge effect on your inner quality,…”Wise words that make you consider our breath, … do we choose gentleness as its quality or is it so automated?
Much gold to ponder on throughout this blog. Meditation or connection does not take much. As Joel says it’s action continually in your day. Focus on the gentle movement of the body and the gentleness of the breath. I like this line out of many “The secret is to start as you intend to finish.”
Bring attention to our breath – awesome Joel – its where our connection starts.
I was quite struck by your comment of other meditations “that don’t return the breath to you”. And so saw clearly that is the purpose of the Gentle Breath meditation to return your breath to you, to breathe your own breath.
Before coming across the Gentle Breath meditation, I never really thought about how much I let my breath be affected by the world around me, and how little the myriad of other meditation and methods did not ‘return my breath to me’.
I did struggle when I first tried the Gentle Breath meditation as it is so simple in its offerings, and I preferred racy and complicated but I persevered and gosh I am glad that I did. It is so simple, powerful and easy to use at any time. So when I find myself getting a bit stressed and notice my breathing has changed, I do a few quick gentle breaths, and am back with me again.
Beautifully encapsulated – the difference between breathing our own breath and the breathing in line with an external stimulus. It doesn’t matter if the breath is calm with a feel-good factor at the end of it – if it’s a breath in line with something outside of us, be it soothing music, a mantra or whatever it may be, it remains that we are removed from ourselves. Life will continue to be an onslaught with us as a yo-yo – from panicky breath to the fleeting respite of calm, and back again.
When we breathe our own breath, through the very simple Gentle Breath Meditation, it brings us back to us. It’s the bridge back to our inner most connection. When we connect once again to that precious place within that we all have, the world outside of us remains outside – we can observe without being carried along in the overwhelm that characterises modern life.
The very fact that the expression “don’t forget to breathe” even exists shows how easily, frequently and willingly we are prepared to throw in the towel of our truth.
Hello Joel! Your expressions are a gift to the world, to humanity, to our evolution back to the one breath.
Making the difference and truth super simple Joel – thank you.
Joel your sharing of connecting back by choosing what is already with-in is so simply profound and an incredible insight that makes the most amazing sense.
‘Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm.’ So true, something so obvious and yet I know I ignore this fact. When I am feeling stressed I have now remembered to come back to my breath and just breath me, not the world, me. It can take a while, it can take a discipline to say no to the outside, the thoughts of what’s next and simply return to what is, my body, and breathing. but when I do return I get to feel how big I am compared to all the things that I put in the way as being more important or bigger than me.
There is nothing more important than me breathing my own breath because with that comes the space, the wisdom to respond to the world in a way that is healing, not harming.
Speaking on behalf of humanity, thank you for the wise words, it is rarely someone ever offers such a simple and clear change I can make to improve the way I live.
Thank you Joel – a must watch and practise for humanity. There is no such thing as unability to breath you.
The Gentle Breath Meditation has been the most amazing tool ever! Applying it has supported me enormously. How something so simple (is so short a time needed) is so effective is profound.
In fact Joel I was very aware of my breath as I read this, and it showed how staying with ones breath supports being able to focus and understand what is being read.
In two succinct sentences you’ve exposed the difference between ‘better’ and ‘true’ – “If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.”
Haha that is really cute Joel! But a very serious subject! We can only go without breathing for 3 minutes yet we pay absolutely little to no attention to our breath as we go about our daily activities. Simply an interesting observation of how we are being with ourselves.
‘The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.’ Super words of wisdom Joel.
I love your invitation Joel. So warm and, well….inviting! I can highly recommend anyone taking it up, as the resulting positive benefits for doing so will potentially blow your socks off 🙂
Your blogs standout as Joel, blogs a mile off, I love the way you express.
This way of meditation is the best way to check in to connect and feel the body. It can be quite surprising how simple but effective this can be.
Joel – Another gold sharing delivered so beautifully – This sort of sums it up for me ‘…if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world….’ And if I reflect on this personally, I know it to be true that my breath changes when depending on what has happened to me or what I am thinking about – therefore my breath is a victim of circumstance. What an opportunity to change this around.
With the experience of a lot of other meditations, the Gentle Breath Meditation was the first to truly make a change in my way of living not only when meditating but in my day to day life. I never went back to the others, just simply breath in and breath out me.
I like the way you write to humanity and address our things in a big way Joel, these things need to be talked about, left out in the open and understood – and can always be done in a light hearted and playful manner 😉
Something I never noticed I do until it was pointed out to me was that I hold my breath in reaction to the world, and with it other parts of my body like my jaw or my toes. Releasing the tension in parts of my body it feels like it releases a hold on my breath where I can breathe once again. Sitting here writing about it now it makes me wonder if the silence to the harmful situations we feel in the world could be broken if we stop holding onto our breath (and expression).
Wow Leigh what you offer here is truly insightful and very worth being aware of next time silence falls over harm feel where/how my breath is.
This is a very sweet blog, lighthearted but with a serious message, for many of us our breathing is affected by the world outside of us and we can change our experience when we breathe gently no matter what.
Very true – do we ‘check in’ to check out or to truly reconnect?
Ha! I only read the title and I knew this was one of your pieces Joel. Instantly engaging as always. It is true what you say for we have based an entire way of living according to a rhythm (breath) that is not our own, hence why for the most part the majority of us are completely exhausted (out of breath). I would go so far as to say that because we are so caught up in excess motion due to the lifestyle we have adopted, constantly on the go and living life through our nervous systems and ready at the drop of a hat to fight or take flight, we have a dangerous imbalance within us where we are breathing out (in the push) at a far greater rate than we are breathing in (taking pause to feel where we are at before we move), leading us to an overall state of collective disconnection and hyperventilation!
However, reconnection is literally only a breath away, therefore it is simply a case of us realigning to the source of energy (Fire/love) that will allow us to breathe our own breath once again. It really is that simple, however – once realigned we need to be consistently breathing from this source or we will lose our breath again, thus why techniques such as the Gentle Breath Mediation are such a valuable support during this process.
“The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.” very wise words, when I grew up I thought medication was to escape and so I would use it for such. The world is not a great place and their is a lot of horrible things that go on, so I felt I was justified. Yet looking back I had it back to front, the Gentle Breath Mediation for me is a support and a foundation to living daily life, one where I work to live in connection and not out of connection.
I thought this was a Joel Levin blog – once again, awesome blog Joel 🙂
Great questions you ask here Joel and I think it’s super supportive to ask ourselves – is the rhythm and quality of our breath something that is in harmony with our whole body or are we breathing situations and emotions and if so what effect is that having on our state of being?
How often do we go about our day and are completely unaware of our breathing or even that we are even breathing. Sometimes we even hold our breath and don’t know. Its sad really because one of the the most beautiful things is to simply enjoy it, enjoy our breathe and how we breath, especially as we go about our day.
Joel, I just knew this was your brilliant work the moment I started reading it. It has your unique absolutely divine touch that simplifies and brings home the meaning with so much love. Beautiful, and just what is needed.
Joel, thank you for reminding us about the preciousness of our breath, and how focusing on it can be such a practical tool to connect to ourselves.
Wow you just write so lightly clearly and tenderly another masterpiece and worth gold with absolute no judgment just absolute care. It’s worth gold reading this. Thank You for this amazing expression.
Yes the movement we always do whether we are active or sit still is breathing. So making the movement of our breath one that supports us to be with ourselves in our day is not a silly idea, actually it is a very awesome idea and it always works for me.
Until enjoying The Gentle Breath Meditation as presented by Serge Benhayon, I was completely unaware of how I was NOT breathing my own breath, but being caught up in the rhythm of breath of other peoples stress and external situations which was exhausting to say the least.
“People seem to be affected by the world in different ways but the impact on our breath appears to be similar. Most people breathe in reaction to the world”.
Indeed the way our breath changes with the impact of life and the outside world is a clear sign of when we lose connection with our own body and are at the whim of the outside world.
One of the biggest realisations that discovering the gentle breath meditation was that it was possible to connect with a breath that felt like me – it was very natural with no rules or instructions or pictures or images, just a returning to something my body and my being already knows.
Brilliant blog Joel, I love what you shared and your style of writing. We breathe 24/7, so many of us forget to check the quality of our breath and how this affects us on a daily basis. Awesome reminder for me and for humanity, thank you Joel.
“If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” What a brilliant way of discerning where the power lies in any technique or tool we might be thinking of using to support us to reconnect.
Brilliant Joel and something I have brought more attention to recently as I realise how I was being affected by life around me more than usual. Breathing gently and becoming aware of my body is like coming back to home base, it really does connect me to me.
This is gold, Joel – “If the trigger for that connection is something outside you, then the power remains outside you. If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” Just this one sentence explains why connecting back to yourself through the quality of your breath is the only truly supportive meditation technique.
“Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first?” Yes I have but it’s simplicity felt to simple and I had not considered that it would make such big change….until someone said it to me I had not considered the shift that it would have. It is huge to breathe your own breath and not be swayed and shifted by emotions and challenges.
“… if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us , then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world.” True and makes so much sense.
Oh do I remember the days of “tinkling music” and those “guided journeys” that were supposed to calm us down, but what I found was that any calmness that was felt didn’t stay around too long and I’d be back into my anxious patterns once again. So, it was a huge wow moment for me when I sat down to do my first ever Gentle Breath Meditation as for the first time ever I could truly feel my breath and how my very tense body began to respond to the gentle breathing so very quickly. This beautiful meditation is now part of my day, my life. It something that you can do anywhere, anytime and even for a few minutes with wonderful results, as taking the time to be with ourselves is something that our body absolutely loves.
Beautiful post. Checking in with how we are breathing makes so much sense. Breathing my own breath, not as a reaction to life events – the way to go…..
It’s so true that we attune ourselves to particular exterior sounds, influences, people and reactions and change our breath (and thus our feelings, emotions, stance and choices) as a result. This is why in this day and age we change our personality so much, because we’re always ‘adjusting’ to fit in.
It is true, there are many types of meditation out there which are believed to help us to calm down, but none of them to my recollection even mentioned anything about connecting back to myself, or coming back to my body. Great reminder Joel, of how important it is to breath our own breath.
Great blog Joel! I have noticed how so many breath so heavily too. I used to do that but did not realise how tiring and exhausting this way was until I choose to breath more gently.
I do enjoy your writing style Joel, playful but to the point. This blog bring so many questions to the fore as well. Like, how in touch are we really with the breath that is essentially our life force? How often do we check in with the quality of that life force?
I love it Joel, so simply put. The breath is such a great marker to check in with ourselves. As you say it is a way of reconnecting and then the expansiveness comes when we move, walk and live with this quality then everything becomes like a meditation – but not in a mundane way rather a full expansive way bringing our all to everything we do.
“The real benefit of meditation is not how long you can sit in meditation, but the degree to which you can live that level of connection in real life.” …and this is the difference. Do we do meditation and get up and lose that quality? Or do we step forward in that quality and stay connected? Ultimately it’s the quality in which we live that matters.
Another superb blog, Joel, in which you make some great point. The one in particular that stands out for me this morning is, “The mind is fed information from the body, so the true source of awareness and point of presence is the body.” Appreciating and truly exploring the implications of this raises so many questions of how we perceive our body, intelligence, consciousness and more.
What if our breath was like the new cars that have the HUD (heads up display) that project information, like speed on the inside of the windscreen, Google Glass uses the same concept. What if it presented breaths per minute? But, we don’t need technology to tell us we are racy our calm, we already have the equipment that doesn’t require batteries, our body!
I’m sure for most of us breathing is just part of what we do because if we didn’t breathe we would die. So it is something we don’t take a lot of notice of we just breathe. But to actually feel that there is so much more to breathing and how we breathe I feel is a science in its self. The Gentle breath meditation is a great way to connect and feel what is actually happening within our bodies.
“If the focus for that connection is within you, then the power remains with you.” The Gentle Breath Meditation reconnects me to the stillness and beauty of who I am.
Hello Joel, on behalf of humanity I thank you for this blog, what you write makes so much sense, so many of us look outwardly for solutions when all the answers lie within and the key to within is all in the breath, the gentle breath that is.
The majority of us would think of breathing solely as a physical action of bringing air in and out the body. Many of us have noticed that we tend to react to life and change our way of breathing and when we do, we feel different. In the same line, some of us may have experienced ways to use breathing to try to change how we feel inside. Meditation is a technique that comes to mind regarding this. Yet, there is a range of thing people do and call it meditation. This is where this article comes in. To what extent how you feel throughout and after a meditation is not just another episode of living at the mercy of the outside.
When you get to be aware of the fact that breathing is an instrument to create order inside us and to create space between our particles, the obvious question becomes, do I want the order inside me to be created based on an external source? Or do I choose a meditation technique like the Gentle Breath Meditation that allows me to connect with myself in a way that I become the source of the order and spaciousness I then am able to enjoy?
“But it stands to reason that if our breath can be changed by our experience of the world around us, then changing our breath may well change how we experience the world.” This is an interesting and true concept that shows that we hold the quality over our life (breath) in our own hands.
How often do we blame the world for the way we are feeling rather than accepting that we are the ones that determine how our inner environment feels?
“The mind is fed information from the body, so the true source of awareness and point of presence is the body.” – This is such a game-changing statement, Joel, because if we go about trying to quiet the mind or control it’s thoughts and emotions, thinking that it is the source of these thoughts rather than the truth of it being from our bodies, we will be like the proverbial dog chasing its tail, with no resolution and never getting to the source of the problem. Alternatively, I have noticed that after practicing the Gentle Breath Meditation and feeling very connected to my body, I have been naturally much less reactive to the crazy things going on around me at work or otherwise, and less likely to get on an emotional roller coaster as I had in the past when I tried literally dozens of other New Age and Buddhist meditation practices. The stillness that comes from just doing 5 min. of the Gentle Breath Meditation has been way more effective than hours of other meditation practice as well.
Thank you Joel. We can never underestimate the simplicity and power of the Gentle Breath Meditation. We have at the tip of our nose the most precious resource, breath, available to us all. Knowing how to use it is the key as it is often misunderstood and abused. Over the years I have followed many different meditation techniques, most short-lived and without much effect. The Gentle Breath Meditation practiced for a few minutes each day, its impact integrated in everything we do. Like you, It ‘supports my connection to me’ and with it I am less likely to be unsteadied by outside forces. it is an amazing tool and constant friend.
Very practical and wise in its offering – breathing our own breath is surely worth a go.
Awesome blog Joel, thank you and a great reminder for me as I go about my day to check in with my breath and see how present I am with my body.
A brilliant analogy Joel, I had never considered it quite in those terms, that we allow our breath to rollercoaster to the events we live in and sometimes take part in. How different can life be when we step of the rollercoaster and breathe our own breath, living from the body to the head, not the other way around.
Yes I really connected with this too Stephen. The difference of living body to head rather than head to body. It takes a while to feel which one is dominant but the Gentle Breath Meditation can build a relationship with the body and the breath to support building awareness of the distinction.
I had practiced loads of other meditations over the years with no real impact to my day to day life. When I practiced the Gentle Breath Meditation my day to day life started to change. The connection I surrendered to during the meditation supported me to be more with myself during the day which made a huge impact on all my relationships as well as work and home life. Such a simple but deeply profound meditation and another beauty of it is that it only takes 3-5min max.
“Have you noticed that you can’t change your emotional state without changing your breath first?” Yes very true Joel. Having recently gone through surgery recently and some invasive diagnostic tests I can say that without the connection to my breath and making sure I was present and connecting to my body while either having the tests or recovering I have noticed a significant change in how I feel and I am also more aware of what my body needs to support too. Choosing our own breath and connecting to it’s divine rhythm brings a deeper understanding to the super intelligence that our body holds and that is a deeply healing tool for us all to grasp and to deeply respect.
So true that most of us breathe in reaction to the world, and that is accepted as how it is, and we blame the outside world and others for all the woe and misery we hold inside. Choosing to breathe our own breath is the first step in reclaiming our power and responsibility.
Beautiful blog Joel ‘Your breath is a precious gift, it is the stuff of life, quite literally, yet you allow the world to dictate its pace and rhythm’. The breath is a sure-fire indicator of how we are giving away our power to the rhythms and dictates of the world . . .or not. I can remember when I came to my first esoteric healing course with Universal Medicine, the person I swapped with said – ‘you have everything at your fingertips, you just have to learn to breathe your own breath’. I at once knew exactly what she meant and yet didn’t! It has taken years of practice to establish this rhythm in life but it is so precious it is well worth it.
Thank you Joel. I’m inspired to give the Gentle Breath Meditation a shot.
This is great. I could think of loads of excuses not to give this a go – like, I never thought ‘I’ was worth connecting to compared to the magnificence of what I heard was out there far beyond my reach and I was just this measly little lump of flesh, and if those visualization techniques are calming me, sitting cross-legged hours on end not speaking to anyone for 10 days would make me not feel anything (ok, numbing); and sure, we do get affected by what is around us, but there are many techniques that teach us how to protect us (not admitting that I am already in reaction when I go into ‘protection’) – so what is wrong with that? And thing is I had never even considered a possibility that I was not breathing my own breath. How could it be possible? But it actually very is – the fact that I thought I was breathing my own breath even when I was being affected by what was around me was a big give away – what doesn’t belong would never reveal itself as such.
Awesome Joel, “Hello Humanity – We Need to Talk About Your Breath” – certainly a different take to understanding and discussing the sensitive subject of “bad breath” ; )
The Gentle Breath Meditation™ audios are priceless. I can vouch for that. And yes our breath is a whole exploration on its own. So much to look at and understand about our reactions to different situations and activities and how these affect the very rhythm of our own breath.
It’s somewhat embarrassing to face up to this, like someone pointing out you actually don’t know how to walk or to talk, but the truth is so many of us don’t seem to breathe in a loving way. I count myself in this group, and from what I can see, there’s an honesty and heightened awareness that comes as a result that part of me resists and prefers to live without. The thing is, as you show Joel that when we connect with the Gentle Breath this way, we naturally do everything differently. This one simple thing changes it all and we get to see we don’t walk, talk, make love or cook in a true way currently. Ouch!
The Gentle Breath Meditation is a godsend in the quagmire of different techniques, promises and ways of disconnecting us from the body even more than we already are.
This is such a great discussion to have. Our breath is taken for granted and it is not till we have an asthma attack or get a stuffy nose/cold and can’t breathe that we realise how important our breath is. What you have shared Joel brings another dimension to our understanding of the power in our choice to connect and stay with our breath and it’s relationship to our body. Choosing our breath and breathing the breath in connection to our body is much simpler and definitely cheaper in holding ourselves in ‘whole’ health.
Could it be that simple that our body will follow the instructions and the head or “the mind is fed information from the body, so the true source of awareness and point of presence is the body”? I also Love the simplicity of this Joel, and the benefits in being able to take this into my day to return me to my connection to me. The connection within me is the source of energy that makes the day feel complete in all I do, being connected is a simple process that starts with breathe and then flows to the “movements of the body”. When focused on our breath and movements the reactions that go on around us are felt but we can respond in a loving way and not go into our normal pattern of reaction. So the world necessarily has not changed we change within the world. “People seem to be affected by the world in different ways but the impact on our breath appears to be similar. Most people breathe in reaction to the world.”
Breathing our own breath can totally change the way we experience the world… and also changes the quality of the world we are breathing in and out of.
The notion that we can be ‘the boss’ of our own breath, rather than have the world breathe us, is both profound and empowering. As suggested here, it offers us a real way forward in terms of us being able to begin to regain a mastery over our lives.
I agree Victoria, in those moments where the outside world feels chaotic, if I remember to choose my own breath, I can feel and stay steady inside.
Beautifully presented Joel and a simple invitation to have a go re-claiming such a fundamental gift of life, the quality of our breath. The more we practice this gentle meditation, the easier it becomes to keep a steady quality of breath regardless of what is going on around us. A superb support in these incredibly busy and often very stressed lives we tend to lead.
Do we breath ourselves out in to the world or do we breathe the world into our body? One worth pondering on – thank you for the blog Joel.
Joel, I so love the beautiful and clear way in which you express and the lightness, flow and connection I can feel as I read your writing. This article is gold – makes it all super super simple and practical, thank you.