Written by: Christina Marlett, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
A number of years ago, I saw a book called Breathelying on our bed. “What is that?”I asked my husband. “A book about breathing,” he replied, stating the obvious (but Captain Obvious wasn’t a thing yet, so I didn’t have a witty come-back.)
I thought to myself: That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. How could there be a whole book about breathing? I mean: inhale, exhale, repeat. It seems pretty straightforward. I didn’t realize how oh-so-naive I was about the big wide world of breathing. Since then, I got a little less know-it-all and a lot more curious about breathwork, and – wow – am I ever glad I did. It has literally changed every part of my life for the better. I would never go a day without doing my conscious breathwork rituals and practices. The etymological roots of the word inspire demonstrate its importance.
Etymoline states the following about inspiration: c. 1300, "immediate influence of God or a god," from Old French inspiracion" inhaling, breathing in; inspiration" (13c.) It goes on to say: The sense evolution seems to be from "breathe into" to "infuse animation or influence," thus "affect, rouse, guide or control", especially by divine influence. Inspire (v.) in Middle English also was used to mean "breath or put life or spirit into the human body; impart reason to a human soul." To me, that information conveys what I didn’t use to understand. Breathing is literally our connection to the divine. It reveals our purpose, it infuses us with life force and gives us energy. 7 things I’ve noticed since I started incorporating conscious breathwork into my everyday ritual:
I have overflowing energy (and if I feel a little tired, there’s a specific breath for that; it’s better than coffee – although I’ve never had coffee ‒ because I don’t need it; I just breathe and voila!).
I used to do a multitude of practices every day and although I saw gradual improvements, they were painstakingly slow and annoyingly minute. Now that I do breathwork, the reverse happens. I do only a handful of potent practices and the results in the rest of my life are far better than I’ve ever experienced. In fact, I have to keep up levelling my dreams and intentions because they keep falling into my lap with way less effort.
I speak my truth more easily. It used to take me approximately 3 days to speak my truth. I spend a heck ton of time ruminating on how to make what I wanted to say come across in the least assertive way possible. Now it flows out of me at the right time and I don’t have to plan my thoughts by writing essays in my head.
I have surrendered control. I don’t need to be right, I spend far less time defending myself (especially to myself) and I don’t feel the need to convince people that my way is the right way or the best way. As a result, I have far more unconditional love for myself and others which opens the door to miracles; Miracles I tell you!
I’m way less reactive. Things that used to trigger me are now more like water rolling off a duck’s back. That’s probably one of the reasons I have way more energy. Plus, I’ve become more adept at staying in my own energy and not letting other people’s ups and downs dictate how I feel. (That comes in very handy with two teenagers in the house.)
I don’t take things so personally. My feelings used to get hurt a lot. Like daggers to the heart. Now, the exact same or similar things happen and I find that I can consciously choose how to proceed rather than it being a subconscious and immediate reaction.
I think way less, which means I overthink things way less too. Thanks to the less thinking, my intuition has gotten so much stronger and I’ve become more adept at following it, even when it makes no rational sense.
So what do you think? Are you interested in any of those 7 things? If yes, I highly recommend learning some breathwork. Need an easy place to start? I have a recommendation for you.
Recommended Practice
Over the last 15 years, I’ve become a connoisseur of the daily practices and rituals that make the most impact for the least amount of time invested.
To make it easy for clients to know what to do and when, I created the Courageous Self-Care Resource Centre. It’s a series of instructional done-with-you videos and audios that takes all the guesswork out of self-care. All you have to do is press play and follow along.
I would love to give you the gift of a practice called Affirmative Stretching. The 5-minute practice involves combining powerful intentions with breath and mindful (simple)movement to really amp up your energy.
The affirmations help you make great choices and really connect with the bird’s eye view of life. The Affirmative Stretching practice gets your life force flowing and magnetizes you to more of what you really want.
I recommend that you do it every day, ideally in the morning. Then, be on the lookout for subtle (or significant) shifts that happen as a result of taking time to cultivate your energy.
It’s one of my favourite things I do every day because it just feels so good. Enjoy!
May your next week be filled with many deep, conscious, life-affirming breaths. With inspirational love and exhilarating courage,
If you have any questions or want to share your Affirmative Stretching results with me, please use the contact form here.
Visit my website for more info!
Christina Marlett, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine As the creator of Courageous Self-Care, Christina is passionate about helping stressed out high achievers learn to lead their communities, families and themselves from a place of wholeness, overflowing energy and deep self-respect. She excels at helping overwhelmed leaders revitalize their energy from the inside out so that they can be productive and peaceful at the same time. Christina is a certified Embodiment Coach, Body Awake Yoga teacher, Happy for No Reason Trainer, Energy Codes Facilitator and BEST Practitioner who helps you take inspired action so that you have epic relationships, vibrant health and so much energy that people will ask you what you’ve been doing differently.
