New year, new path part 1: Breathing is your superpower

I was getting ready to do a presentation in front of a crowd of people recently and was in a heightened state - we have a phrase in Ireland for where I was at mentally, which is "bricking it." Feel free to Google that one if you’re not familiar with the origin! I've had a lifelong fear of public speaking - I sat there in my seat waiting to be called, all of the things that could go wrong passing through my mind when I remembered Thich Nhat Hanh’s voice saying, “Breathing in, I arrive in my body.” And after some mindful breaths, I was back - back in the present moment, back from the catastrophic future that I has created in my head. 

 All of us breathe, its something we do all the time, so it’s a very powerful link to the present moment. And the present moment is the only place where we can be happy. We’re not happy when we’re worrying about the future, we’re not happy when we’re regretting the past. Breathing is our anchor to the here and now, its something we can turn to at any moment when we’re feeling stressed or angry or sad. In the practice we call this returning to the breath and we train ourselves to do this when things are rosy, tickety boo, going well, no big emergencies so that when the cat needs to go to the vet or a pipe bursts in the house or we have to speak in front of a crowd of people we can reduce the impact that difficult emotions have on us. The breath is an opportunity for us to stop, let go of the future and past, return to the present moment and notice all of the different dimensions of our breathing. 

 Why is breathing so important and why does it work? Returning to the breath calms us, allows us to take a step back and observe how we’re feeling rather than being swept away. The breath might seem boring, mundane - but an important part of the practice of mindfulness is to focus on the everyday and take joy from simply being alive. The key thing to remember is that its focusing our awareness on the breath, rather than the breath itself, that liberates us. Focusing on the steadiness, the repetitiveness of the breath gives us a break from constant stimulation of work, TV, the kids and most of all ourselves and our own thoughts; it allows our mind to settle. When we let our mind settle it becomes calm, calmness leads to insight into our suffering. Letting go of suffering leads us to peace; when we’re peaceful we’re more compassionate and compassion creates a kinder world. And it all starts with your breath in this moment.

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