“Humbly, we are asked to keep the flow real between what is taken in and what is let out. We have only to breathe to remember our place as a living inlet. Experience in, feelings out. Surprise and challenge in, heartache and joy out. In a constant tide, life rushes in, and in constant release, we must let it all run back off. For this is how the earth was made magnificent by the sea and how humankind is carved upright, again and again, by the ocean spirit that sets us free.”
Here are some resources on: the neuroscience of habit formation and cessation (spoiler alert: It’s not about willpower!), the power of breathing practices to support wellness , and the importance of deep presence when meeting grief.
An excerpt from Proper Breathing Brings Better Health, in Scientific American, By Christophe André on January 15, 2019
MIND UNDER THE INFLUENCE
“Even a rudimentary understanding of physiology helps to explain why controlled breathing can induce relaxation. Everyone knows that emotions affect the body. When you are happy, for instance, the corners of your mouth turn up automatically, and the edges of your eyes crinkle in a characteristic expression. Similarly, when you are feeling calm and safe, at rest, or engaged in a pleasant social exchange, your breathing slows and deepens. You are under the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system, which produces a relaxing effect. Conversely, when you are feeling frightened, in pain, or tense and uncomfortable, your breathing speeds up and becomes shallower. The sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s various reactions to stress, is now activated. Less well known is that the effects also occur in the opposite direction: the state of the body affects emotions. Studies show that when your face smiles, your brain reacts in kind—you experience more pleasant emotions. Breathing, in particular, has a special power over the mind.”
Megan Devine, a psychotherapist and creator of Refuge in Grief and author of, It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand, narrates this animation on the importance of presence when grieving.