Inspired Conversations
What if we were all committed to only having inspired conversations? From a yogic perspective, inspiration is the act of drawing air into the lungs. My 8 year old daughter said to me on a walk the other day, “Mommy, isn’t it amazing that if we stop breathing we die, but all we need to do is breathe in, and then we live”.
If we stop breathing, we die.
I started to think about how the current authorities, systems and hierarchies in our world are quite literally not breathing anymore...they are dying. This is a good thing. But what do we collectively want to breathe in? Can we cultivate this new intention for the world within our own breath, and bring that new life into our conversations with others, thereby literally co-creating a new and better reality?
All we need to do is breathe in, and then we live.
The symbolic wisdom is there in every step of the inspiration:
- Start by relaxing your lower belly, allowing it to soften and expand outward. Notice and relax all that you hold tightly to. Surrender thoughts of lower vibrations (fear, doubt, shame, blame, judgment), making space for new expansion in your consciousness. Feel this softness in your soul as you release what no longer serves you. Stay with this belly breathing as long as you need to, and return to it like a “coming home”.
- Now notice how, when we breathe into the belly, the diaphragm (an umbrella-like organ below the rib-cage) lowers down, making room for the lowest portion of the lungs to expand and absorb more oxygen. As you notice the lower lungs expanding with new freedom, trust the “opening to the unknown”. We need this Trust when we are committed to raising our vibration. Feel the new breath of life entering your Beingl
- After breathing into the belly, and allowing the breath to rise into the lower lungs, now allow the rib cage to expand outward, freeing the middle portion of the lungs to expand. Suspend any striving upward but instead a lateral expansion. Allow a sense of neutrality, witnessing, listening and “being with” what is as you commune with your own energy in this moment. Consider someone you have difficulty relating to. Remember that you misunderstand them deeply. Be on the same level with them. Remember that they know something you don’t know. Receive the wisdom you’ve chosen for them to teach you.
- With belly relaxed and rib-cage expanding outward, now allow the upper lungs to rise and fill to their potential, breathing in a little more than you thought you could. Did you know you could elevate this high? Can you feel the fullness of life beyond your current reality? Notice any resistance to being your Highest Self, and how we doubt our worthiness, or fear our failures.
- Exhale easily, slowly and gently. This process of elevating our consciousness is not supposed to be hard. It is a surrender to the sacred flow of Life. It is a letting go of the need to judge, change or fix ourselves or another human being. We can release the need to know or control the future but, rather, trust the present moment, and the next breath.
- At the very end of the exhale, gently lift the perineum, engaging these muscles for a moment and then slowly releasing with the the next inhale into the belly. This “lift” of the root chakra is called moola bandha, engaging our life force and re-directing it upward. We can decide what energy we want to bring into the world with every moment. We can have inspired conversations with whomever crosses our path, supporting and uplifting one another with a spaciousness, trust and love. As we focus upon this intention, this vibration, we co-create, cultivate, uplift and manifest the future of our dreams in the here and now.
For a pdf of Julie's breathing practice please click here Breathing_Life_into_Your_Relationships.pdf
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Video tracks - Breathing Life Into Your Relationships 13:04 minutes; Harmonious Conversation 16:39 minutes; New Growth and the Color Gray 2:13 minutes; Reframing Annoyances 2:06 (click on the photos to access the videos).