Focused Breathing

You've often heard that there are three parts of you, mind, body and spirit. The spirit is the mystical, invisible part of you that you can't see, but you 'think' you might sense it. It is the first glimmerings of the invisible world that most people have. Some people are not even sure that it exists. Practice is what usually brings proof. Let's look at a simple way to 'get in touch'.

Living is an art. To keep a balance between mind, body and Spirit requires diligence and focus. Many times the Spirit within us is looking for ways to communicate with us but it is swimming in the soup of our minds trying to get ever closer. Many times I hear, "If I could only get in touch with my intuition, I would know my purpose....I would know what to do...I would know whatever." Guess what? It's simpler than you think. You may not necessarily find it easy.

It's called breathing, only it's focused breathing. Breathing empties your cup in the appropriate place. When you breathe "normally" through your lungs you are what the yogis called "bottom empty, top full." This is an unnatural and chaotic energetic situation for most people. In order to feel and communicate with the inner you, the one that knows it all, you need to be grounded, receptive and focused. That means you need to enhance the flow of "energy" through your body and create a "bottom full, top empty" situation within you. This is where the Chinese expression "the usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness" becomes apparent.

Being in such a busy world creates many opportunities to look outward and observe the many fascinating things around us. The phone is wringing; the Canucks just scored; the cat wants to be fed. My my, how busy we are. Our minds are full of thoughts and our bodies are full of feelings. How do you tell what to pay attention to now and what can wait until later?

Let's do an experiment. Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Come on, just try it. Now, sit up straight and take a deep breath in. Concentrate on breathing in. Imagine that your breath is going right down to your pelvic floor. Keep breathing in until you can't breathe in any more. While the breath is pushing at your pelvic floor, also imagine that it is also pushing out your lower ribs at the sides and back and your belly at the front.

Now breathe out until you can't breathe out any more while you pull your navel in and up. Breathe in and repeat the process. By continuing to breathe this way you will notice that you are starting to get warm. That invisible energy that fuels your body, mind and spirit is beginning to build in the lower pelvic area and flow through the pipeline that is innately there.

See how long you can focus doing this before your mind takes over and you forget the breathing pattern. Practice until you can do in for longer and longer periods. The trick now is to stand up and bring movement to the breathing. Since the breathing is long and slow, your movements should be long and slow as well. Breath and movement together will power you into a "bottom full" condition.

With a "bottom full" condition you can sit and meditate and begin to be in touch with yourself, that place deep within you that knows what you are to do and how you are to do it. You begin to focus and to be aware of who you are, what you are doing, where you are going and the appropriateness of it all. Then of course, the next thing for you to learn is trust, trust that what you feel, sense and know is 'right' for you.