The Breath of Life

(An invitation to listen to this in a relaxed position that allows for ample breathing space)

For most of us Type-A personalities, this idea of surrendering into your feminine. This idea of BEING instead of DOING can be PETRIFYING.

You may ask us, “Hey love, would you rather manage a team of 10 for a 6-month project or spend a day forced to do absolutely NO WORK?” I think we all know what the absurd answer is here.

“Yes, managing a team of 10 can be highly challenging and 6 months is a freakin long time in comparison to a day– but it has STRUCTURE. You are asking me for a tangible task to execute with a clear deadline. In this other scenario, I just have to like sit and like do what exactly?

What am I doing? Oh right I’m not doing. I’m being.

So like what do you really mean by that being?

What do I need to do to be?

Am I doing it correctly?

Did I “be” the best way I can?”

It’s PETRIFYING.

It’s CONFUSING.

Our minds get it and they don’t get it.

At the last Embody, in an attempt to give some pretty scared bodies something to anchor in, I cued participants to always go back to their breath when they feel lost in the lack of choreography; when they are grasping for structure, for a spine, for a game plan.

I’m not inventing the wheel here. In meditation, in yoga, in somatic movement and freeform dance, this is a key principle.

This idea of using your breath as your ally.

This notion of looking for your inhale to power you up

… and your exhale to deepen you in.

I talk about breath a lot. And clearly, still not enough.

My invitation for you this month as you work on your journey of being, as you let yourself soften into surrender, as you allow yourself to melt into openness, as you deepen into your feminine energy:

Let your breath be the structure you are so wired to crave.

Let your breath anchor you into being.

Let your breath renew your trust in open flow.

Let this be your game plan.

Let this be your ally.

Let this be your secret ingredient.

Every time you are not sure what to do next, breath.

Every time you are trying to do too many things next, breath.

Every time you want to hide back under the veil of excel spreadsheets, inhale.

Every time you find yourself tying your self worth to how many tasks you completed this week, exhale.

Sometimes, we simply overcomplicated our lives. This is a place where our impatience, our need to get shit done, our need to solve the problem BECOMES THE PROBLEM ITSELF.

Instead, breath.

Feel yourself unfurl and unfold with each inhale

Feel yourself surrender and deepen on your exhale

Feel yourself expand and take up space on your inhale

Feel yourself fold back in and reflect on your exhale

I honestly cannot remember if I’ve told you or not but Spacious Deepening is my phrase for the year. These words came to me as a gift from a meditation and have been sitting on my workspace wall all year.

And the more I sit with these two words, the more I try to embody them, the more I realize that this was my unique way of handling the lack of structure and plans that existed in this realm of the feminine I have been cultivating for myself…

Inhale spaciousness

Exhale to deepen.

Whether in business, partnership or friendships, with every step I took I would inhale, power up, move forward, stretch in and then I’d exhale. Then I’d surrender, Then I’d open myself to receiving.

Sometimes, I’d get magic. Sometimes, I’d get a shit-storm.

And then I do it again.

I let my inhale power me into my masculine.

I let my exhale help me surrender into my feminine.

I breath in forward motion action,

I breath out attachment to outcome.

I pull in agency and commitment and work and dedication.

And then I’d leave the rest to fate, divine intervention, god, magic, cosmic energy whatever you want to call it.

I’d let my inhale power me into my masculine.

I’d let my exhale help me surrender into my feminine.

Stop looking  for the answers in a self-development book, a coach, a guru. Nature has got this formula mastered HANDS DOWN.

Let her guide you.

Let your body guide you.

Let YOU guide you.

Your breath is truly your structure. Your structure for integration. Your  game plan for balance. Your blueprint for life.

…Now, have at it!

(Song: They Move on Tracks of Never-Ending Light by This Will Destroy You. Additional soundtrack to this theme: Ingrid Michaelson’s Keep Breathing)