Mid-month Meditation – October 2014

If you’re following my Mid-Month Meditation, you will know that September was about the breath of longevity, focusing on a longer outbreath than inbreath. Apparently, it’s on the out breath that all the goodness gets transferred from the blood to the cells. If we keep practising breathing in through the nose for a count of 4 and out through the mouth on a count of 8 our brain adopts this pattern and does it naturally. Under stress, our instinct is to either hold our breath or over inhale, which triggers our fight or flight response. This in turn produces an adrenaline rush which just races around the body with nowhere to go. Don’t worry if you’re finding the outbreath difficult, it will become easier with practice. I myself found it challenging to begin with as I had a lung biopsy when I was younger. No matter the state your lungs are in, this breathing technique is a postive goal to aspire to. Keep thinking, in for 4 through the nose, out for 8 through the lips, whenever you can and wherever you are. This month I want you to focus on enhancing the exercise. On the inbreath, imagine silver, energetic light entering your body through the nose, filling up the billions of cells in your body. On the outbreath through your lips and pores, imagine grey mist evaporating out of your body to be burnt off by the Sun. This grey mist represents all your negative beliefs about yourself, your emotional pain and your physical ailments. In turn, the silver, white light fills up the empty cells with positive energy.

Until you become confident with breathing correctly, practice by watching yourself in the mirror. Remember, our lungs are not in out shoulders! Keep your neck and shoulders very relaxed. See your lungs as two balloons that you are gently filling up and the movement you’re aiming for is the ribs expanding sideways as the lungs inflate and the shoulders should remain relaxed and not rise up towards the ears. Have you noticed how many people go around with their shoulders hunched and raised? Make sure you’re not one those people.

Next month, we look Beyond the Breath ...