It was Martin Luther King who wisely stated,
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
But where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
We are all wired to choose the easy,
Comfortable path,
To resist the unknown,
To migrate away from what we fear.
And this does not make us good nor bad.
It is simply tied to our ancestral drive to survive.
And so,
As humans,
We do our best to create a life of safety and security until we are offered moments of contraction,
Until we are gifted periods of pain and suffering.
And I say gift because this is truly where growth happens.
This is where we are pushed and pulled and forced to dig deep,
To evolve into our highest selves.
We can meet these opportunities for expansion kicking and screaming and resisting and crumbling.
Or we can meet them with calmness.
We can choose to trust.
We can let go into the energy of acceptance.
In order to thrive in this chaotic experience of contraction and expansion,
Of ups and downs,
We must be willing to redevelop our relationship to that which feels uneasy.
This practice has been designed to use the simple tool of your breath to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Please know at any time you can return back to an easy long inhalation and a long audible exhale.
But see if you can try to push and meet the resistance in an effort to overcome whatever it is that may be holding you back,
Consciously or even subconsciously.
Please come to find any comfortable position,
Whether it's seated,
Maybe resting your back against a wall,
Or you can even come to lie down if that feels like the most supportive place for your body right now.
And just taking a couple of moments to fidget,
To move,
To adjust in any way.
And when you feel as though you are exactly where you are meant to be,
Please allow your eyelids to close down heavy and just welcome darkness.
Take a centering breath in through your nose and a long exhale out through your nose.
And do that again,
Breathing in deeply through your nose and exhaling out fully through your nose.
One last time,
Breathing in as deeply as you can and just allowing all of the air to leave your lungs through your nose.
The next time that you take a breath in,
Take a small and minimal amount of air,
Just like you're sipping a little drop of air into your lungs and then pause for a moment.
Hold that little breath in.
Take another sip of air in and then pause.
Hold.
Take a third sip of air in through your nose.
Pause there.
Take a fourth.
Hold full.
Take a fifth sip of air in.
And hold here.
And if you have space,
Take one more little sip of air in to fill up and then pause here.
Relax the face.
Relax the jaw.
Relax the shoulders.
And then with that same depth of air,
Very minimal,
Breathe or puff the air out through the nose.
And so if there was five or six breaths in,
You'll do the same five or six breaths out.
Puffing and pausing.
Breathing more out through the nose and then pausing.
And doing this until you are completely empty.
When you reach the base of that exhalation,
Take another sip or minimal breath in and pause.
Breathe in,
Taking another drip,
Another drop.
And hold.
And continue to do this,
Breathing in as many minimal breaths as possible.
Pausing for just a moment after each inspiration.
And doing this until you feel that there is no space for even another drip,
Another drop of air into your lungs.
When you find your maximum,
When you're at your top,
Hold for the count of four,
Three,
One.
Puff the air out.
And pausing.
Releasing a little bit more with a puff through the nose and then pausing again.
Breathing out and pausing.
Over and over.
Little puffs to release through the nose.
And when you reach the base of that exhalation,
When you are completely empty,
Draw the belly button back to the spine.
Remove any stale or stagnant air from the base of the lungs.
And hold empty for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Breathe in a small sip and hold.
Breathe in another sip and hold.
And continue to do this,
Just drinking in tiny drops of air.
As many small sips as you can take to fill up your entire lung cavity.
And when you reach the top,
You hold for that slow,
Easy count of five.
Relaxing all the muscles of the face and the body as you do that.
And then begin to puff the air out.
Breathing out and holding.
Breathing out and holding.
Breathing out and holding.
And when you reach the base of that exhalation,
When you are completely empty,
Draw the belly button back to the spine.
Remove any stale or stagnant air from the base of the lungs.
And hold empty for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Breathe in a small sip and hold.
And you move through that cycle another few times on your own.
The goal is to breathe in as many times as you can these small sips.
And to breathe out as many puffs of air as you can.
The next time that you come to exhale all of the air from your lungs,
Squeeze or draw the belly button,
The navel center,
Back to the spine.
Let all of that stagnant air leave the lungs.
And then very slowly,
Allow your breath to return back to a natural,
Normal rhythm.
Notice how you feel.
When you feel ready,
You can very mindfully begin to find some movement through the fingers and through the toes.
Maybe moving the head from side to side gently,
Being mindful of that cervical spine.
And you can float your eyes open and welcome yourself back into this space.
Have a beautiful day.
